This is sure to be a fun one!!!
http://mrr.trains.com/news-reviews/staff-reviews/2017/02/trainclap-2000-audio-dcc-controller
I’m afraid of what my trains would do if I used the TrainClapper 2000 AND the Broadway Limited Lightning and Thunder effects at the same time???
[:|][(-D][:|]
Happy 1,000th, MR!
Happy Modeling, Ed
You may want to put a spoiler warning on your subject line. I’ve already read it, my digital edition came Friday, but a lot of people haven’t seen it yet, and April 1 is over a month away yet.
–Randy
Oh and if you combined those products, your loco would just sit in one spot and oscillate back and forth until the BLI sound effects ended, at which point it would take off at top speed randomly either forward or reverse depending on how many thunderclaps there were.
–Randy
I dunno. I think this was on one of those infomercials for something like $29.99 and for an additional S&H charge they would send you two[:P][;)].
Gary
Thank you for spoiling the surprise.
The link that I provided is right at the top of the M-R header under News & Reviews there for ALL to see…
Enjoy! Ed
When my parents were explaining the birds and the bees to me they advised me against getting the ‘Clap’. I’ll have to take a pass on Neil’s device![swg]
Dave
Until I got to the Product Review section and found the Train Clapper 2000, I was convinced that the “Human Model Railroad Interface” was the April Fool’s story. I kept thinking, boy have they devoted a lot of pages to this year’s April Fools Joke. When I got to the end of the article and didn’t find the April 1st date reference, I began to think that the HMRI was actually serious. Hmmm, I’m still not so sure it was.
Ray
The Clapper could be particularly useful if you have fallen down and can’t get up.
Rich
Unless you use Tsunami decoders, then no one would hear the horn blasting away signaling that you were in trouble.
–Randy
Yes, the Human Model Railroad Interface is a real thing.
It’s the least expensive and most flexible signalling system available!
Eric
This is a bit frustrating. Ed posted this seven days ago. His copy arrived February 27, and mine still hasn’t arrived. According to Google, Ed lives just under 300 miles from me. Did you know it would be possible to WALK 300 miles from Ed’s house to mine and hand-deliver my magazine in less than 7 days? Google says you can drive it in 4 hours and 37 minutes, although that’s probably optimistic. I do not understand why my issue hasn’t arrived.
I have been reading MR for about 60 years, and have never subscribed until now. I bought the February issue, which arrived at my LHS in early January. Then I decided to subscribe in mid January because I wanted to get the subscription delivery before the magazine got to the LHS; I wanted the subscriber extras; and I liked the price. I forgot to tell Kalmbach to start with the March issue, so I got my first subscription issue, an unnecessary February issue, in late January. I expected this pattern to continue, and expected my March issue to arrive in late February. Didn’t happen.
I waited and waited. The March issue showed up at the LHS. Still nothing of my subscription. Finally I contacted Kalmbach & they said they would send a replacement. Two days later my subscription issue finally arrived so I contacted Kalmbach and told them not to send the replacement. They didn’t respond, but the unnecessary replacement arrived anyway several days later.
Ed’s April issue arrived February 27 in Ohio, and has been on the stand at the LHS for several days, but mine still hasn’t arrived in Maryland as of today, March 6. The April Fools joke was ruined for me a long time ago.
I’m also unable to access any of the subscriber extras, so I’m getting nothing out of that. My inclination is to cancel the subscription and ask for a refund of the unused portion of the subscription. As for the “better” price, I can save money by buying only the issues that interest me the most, and ignoring the rest.
Hi, Tom
I’m far from being familiar with present-day periodical distribution but I do recall a thread here about a year ago about the scattered arrival dates of certain MR issues.
Some folks in Europe were getting their mags before North America residents were.
I don’t know who does the printing and distribution of the magazine anymore but at one time I’m pretty sure Kalmbach had contracted with Quad Graphics. These days they use satelite printing/distribution plants that get the magazine digitaly then print, collate bind, label and ship from several facilities scattered across the globe.
Same holds true with the big periodicals, USA Today, Time, etc. I wonder if any of the periodicals do any of their own printing and distribution anymore. I’ll bet it is all contracted out.
Add to the mix the huge variable in how the Post Office treats bulk, presorted or “media mail” and there’s bound to be delays at some distribution points more than others.
I also have problems with the “All Access” accessability. Usually if I use Internet Explorer it works but not with Chrome.
The days of Al Kalmbach carrying the entire press-run to the Post Office (and then probably right on to RPO cars!) under his arm are far departed…
Ed
I’ve been using Chrome. I guess I’ll try other options.
Thanks, Ed.
I just got mine today, and I’m 30 miles from Kalmbach. I have resisted using the digital edition I can see with the archive subscription, along with the hard copy.
I use FireFox, but there are some things that don’t always work, such as the quote thing and, lately, the live link feature.
Mike.
My issue arrived today. I used to belong to a motorcycle group with a newletter and it was 2 weeks spread in delivery to the members by bulk mail. I don’t know if magazines work the same way. Certainly some that are time critical like TV Guide or Barrons don’t seem to have any problems of late arrivals.
I’m not sure why there is a problem accessing the free stuff unless windows 10 is involved. Everytime there is a major upgrade, a new problem crops up. Firefox can also self destruct over time.
Dave, that’s only a problem if you buy it by the case in bulk. Just avoid getting a case of the Clap and you should be fine.
I thought another April Fool’s joke was the authorship of the MR&T layout tour article purportedly by Boomer Pete’s son, John “Boomer” Pete, Jr. I was always under the impression that Boomer Pete was Al Kalmbach (as a rule) but sometimes other staffers such as Linn Westcott – sort of like how “Ray L. Rhodes” of the 1960s was usually Bill Rau, but sometimes Westcott. And it never occured to me that Pete was a last name – I figured it was “Boomer” Pete like it is “Weird” Al. And in the article, the supposed Boomer Pete Jr says that the last time Boomer wrote for the magazine was in 1984 when he drove up from Missouri to re acquaint himself with Kalmbach Publishing. In the very next paragraph he says that Dad (Boomer) passed away in 1981, which would make his 1984 drive from Missouri pretty remarkable. Also remarkable would have been for the “real” Boomer Pete to die in 1981 without a word being mentioned in MR itself. Hmmm. But it’s a very nice article, and a wonderful layout which I have seen a number of times over the years. (I once saw the “old” MR&T at 1027 and it too was very impressive although the room it was in was not finished anywhere near as nicely as at the current location.)
Dave Nelson
Does that mean Boomer Pete was Paul Larson?
Al died in 1981. Wikipedia seems to think he was Boomer Pete. Even Amazon has a reference to the book “How to Run a Model Railroad” that lists the authors as Boomer Pete and Albert Kalmbach - the book itself has always been listed with Boomer Pete as the only author.
–Randy
Guys,
We made an error with Boomer’s date of death – he died after 1984. He was not Paul Larson. Boomer and his son are rather elusive fellows, and you’ll just have to accept the gray areas concerning their backgrounds - 
Neil Besougloff, MR editor