Member postings for Diane Carney

Discussing ideas makes progress.

Calling someone else's work 'rubbish' is not constructive criticism. It is derogatory, disrespectful and there's no place for it here. People stop listening.

Diane

Just in case anyone was actually thinking of posting a reply, to let you understand, the following is the email I had from Julian (copy and paste) :

i also apologise for calling henry 'harold hall'. no idea where that came from!
my first loco that i started when i was 16 was don young's RAILMOTOR described in ME in 1968/9. i knew don very well. unfortunately nothing in henry's design improves upon what don designed in 1968! i have received many emails and messages on the forum expressing the same view ie basically what a rubbish retrograde design it is. and with those huge cylinders i doubt if it will steam ok either!
cheers,
julian

I'm all for respectful, open discussion, comment and debate but - please, can this thread be let to die a death.

Diane

(Henry, if you wish to post further comments please start a new thread.)

1) Hopper - thank you. You have it in a nutshell. It was indeed a problem caused by the print file substituting images from the wrong folder at the point of going to press.

2) There is no 'team', professional or otherwise. There is one person responsible for proof reading. Full stop.

3) To everyone else - I can and do take all kinds of criticism on this forum. I take on board some of the points raised but the one thing I absolutely refuse to accept is any accusation of laziness / lax attitude / carelessness. And I mean ABSOLUTELY REFUSE!

Diane

Yes - something very odd has happened there. The proofs were all okay the first and second time. The pics managed to get swapped somehow on the hi-res final version which I didn't spot (as you wouldn't after seeing them correct twice!). Anyway - correct pics here. Phots 5 and 8

Hi Jason

Thanks for your interest. I am hoping to have all the detail on the homepage tomorrow plus a link to ordering directly from MHS. You will be able to see a Contents page plus a few more sample pages. It is indeed a Special Issue about full size engines - starting with the origins of steam traction in general and includes features on the national Clubs and Societies dedicated to specific sections of the preservation Movement.

The plans are desribed on the Contents page but they are Bill Hughes' 2 inch Marshall 5-ton Steam Tractor plus a sheet of 1 1/2 inch 'accessories' suitable for any traction engine, also by W. J. Hughes. The plans are stitched into the centre pages (as with the 300 Years)

I have a review from the Chairman of the Road Locomotive Society here:

Diane has sent me a copy of the new publication which is really excellent. Called “A Celebration of Road Steam” it contains 114 mainly colour A4 pages and costs £6.99.

It begins with Chapters entitled The Ancient History of Steam Traction, First Steam Carriages, Trevithick, Golden Age and the Demise of the Steam Carriage, First Traction Engines, General Purpose Engines, Steam Cultivation, Light Steam Tractors, Road Locomotives (including Showman’s Engines). Then on page 38 begins a series of pages devoted to Steam engine clubs beginning with the RLS (5 pages), then Steam Plough Club (4), County of Salop Steam Engine Society (4), NTET (3), Steam Apprentice Club (5), Sentinel Drivers Club, (2), Road Roller Association (4), Yorkshire Traction engine Club, (4), National Steam Car Association (3), Rempstone Traction Engine Club (2) and Steam Car Club of GB (2), In between there are articles on The First Steam Rallies, Steam Lorries, Preservation of Road Rollers and 'A Head Full of Steam' by Jim Stevenson. In addition there are five really excellent A3 size paintings by Malcolm Root.

All together a really superb publication which should sell well.

Regarding availability of a digitial version - I am afriad I do not know whether this is planned or not. I shall find out in the morning.

Thanks again for your interest.

Diane

ON SALE DATE: 23rd May

Edited By Diane Carney on 19/05/2014 19:58:42

Ray

I also have tried to get our office personnel to have a look at the problem and will report back any findings.

Diane

The article by Alex du Pre started in ME 4468.

Diane

I agree with this. It reminds me of Eric Morecambe's piano playing (yes, I've been told I have unconventional thought processes before) - but do you see what I mean? A particular kind of genius ...

Diane

The author provided no illustrations at all so the decision was taken to try to relive, in part, the monotony of very plain text on white paper which, believe it or not, would probably not have been read at all. (Odd, isn't it?)
I agree it might or it might not have worked for some people but at least I know that a lot of people have tried to read it.

If anyone here is genuinely interestd in the article but cannot read it, I would be happy to send a PDF of the pages without the background. Please email me directly (please do not PM me on this).

I have already been told today that "if this continues I will not be renewing... etc etc." Really - it was just a one-off, done for a reason, and is far from the way the magazine will be going in future. Take heed...

Diane

Have to say I have just tried quite a few and find no problems. Firefox and Safari. :-/

Diane

Thaks Russell. I wil try to find out what's happened but it might be after the B/H.

Diane

It's looking good Neil. Well done!

Diane

To pick up on a a point made above; not that long ago Model Engineer had a Chief Editor, Assistant Editor, Techinical Editors, Commissioning Editors, (note the plurals) and (and this is highly significant) an Administrator. In other words, all those above mentioned, in their editorial capacities, could spend their days Editing and Comissioning and advising and building etc. The Administrator would deal with all correspondence, payments, enquiries, the requests for telephone numbers (yes - I still get them and am happy to oblige!) etc. All those roles, editorial and admin, are now the responsibility of one single person. We do have a head office with a small staff, but they provide the admin service to all the titles in the MTM group.
There is no need to go on to state the obvious and Neil has more or less covered it anyway but, whilst we do attend exhibitions, visit clubs, read club magazines and generally do the best we can to generate copy, one person still only has so many hours in the day and having spent, at the very least, 12 of them at the Editor's desk editing and covering admin, I am afraid that we are, to a large extent, reliant upon contributors coming to us, rather than searching them out. As Neil say ... changed days!

Diane

Edited By Diane Carney on 18/03/2014 10:30:34

Someone I know had an earth leak on a lathe. He didn't know until he got a metal splinter in his thumb - then he knew! He didn't know he'd got a metal splinter in his thumb until he used the lathe either.

This whole subject is very intersting. I would love to have the time to properly research and write on this subject. I have read quite a lot about women working the canals in wartime. There is a quite a lot written on that subject, but not, I find, so much about in engineering. That may be becasue more highly skilled technicians were reserved occupations anyway so women were not extensively recruited. Whereas women continued to work in many fields after the war, especially in transport and agriculture etc., they rarely went on to work in engineering. Even now they attract attention due to their being relatively uncommon. The painting in question here was perhaps not very tylpical, I don't know. As I say, I would love to have the time to properly research this.

I also have loved this painting for a long time. I think I first saw it reproduced in the Daily Telegraph some years ago.

Diane

You will be following Alan Hearsum's currently running series then ?

Diane

I do.

I think you also have to consider that for some series articles (i.e the ones that would potentially be turned into books - construction articles, for example), an author will be paid several thousand pounds in some cases, especially when drawings are published. He or she has also had the work professionally edited and 'produced' and has no further costs whatsoever. Just something to throw into the mix ...

Diane

MyTimeMedia are pleased to announce that MEW has a new Editor from 1st March.
Neil Wyatt will take up the reins officially on 1st March, taking over from David Clark who has been Editor for seven years.
Neil, a practising model engineer, has a particular interest in stationary engines and making workshop tooling. He has written for both ME and MEW over the last few years, his most recent series being the construction of a model stationary engine, ‘Norden’ in ME. He intends to continue writing as and when time permits. He is known to many on this forum as Stub Mandrel and - from a moderator’s point of view - as the calm ‘voice of reason’.

Neil is full of enthusiasm for the role of Editor and has lots of fresh ideas. He has been in contact with a number of this magazine’s established writers in recent weeks and is currently preparing Issue 215 but he would be very pleased to hear from any writers who have submitted articles that have not yet been published or from anyone who has, at any time, considered writing for MEW but has not yet submitted an article.
Everyone at MyTimeMedia wishes Neil well and looks forward to a bright new era for the magazine.