It wasn’t until the end, that I figured it out. This might be the best one I’ve seen in MR since subscribing. [:O]
(I don’t think everyone has their mag yet, so no spoilers from me)
As the one who wrote it… thanks! [:D]
I’m still waiting for the April issue, it should arrive next week.
The placement in the issue is clever.
Joe
Yes, that made it less obvious than some previous ones.
–Randy
Goldfinger eh Steven! Are you planning on writing some new 007 movie scripts too? I’m sure there would be lots of trains involved in the plots.
Very funny April Fool’s joke!
Thanks
Dave
Are there April Fools jokes in other MRs? I have 2016 and 2017 should I be looking for something?
Every April issue has something in it, you have to find it. I don’t know when this tradition started.
Mike.
That was good. Hidden in plain sight.
“Alas, poor Auric, I knew him…”
Being a Bond fan, if I hadn’t already figured out that it was the April Fool item, the name at the bottom would have sealed it.
The tradition of an April Fool article in MR goes way back, but it wasn’t always consistent. In the early days they were more or less one-offs, like the article on getting more layout space by removing those pesky support columns in the basement and pressurizing it to support the first floor. Of course there were some drawbacks. There are some who say the Fyre-Pruf stove polish debacle was all an April Fools joke, but John Page always insisted he was serious, he painted a loco with stove polish and it worked well. But angered the Floquil people so much they pulled all advertising for several years. until they noticed the reduced sales from failing to advertise in the #1 magazine of their target consumer.
There have been a few in recent years, it’s been fairly regular now. One was the NoTrack modular standards (what with all the rail to trail conversion projects - who needs railroad track?) and the subway modeling (just need sidewalks, structures, and a subway stairway even few blocks). Sometimes they are way too obvious, I know one of the recent ones had people named Apryl and so forth mentioned constantly in the story so there was no chance you could possibly miss that it was a joke. Especially with a last name of Phool.
–Randy
The yearly talk of the town. But I never have a clue what the big deal is because I haven’t read the April issue of MR for a long time.
The name’s Bond, James Bond.
Anyone kind enough to tell me the page the 2016 and 2017 April fools appeared? I skimmed through them and can’t find it!
I found the 2016 one via a forum search and flipping through the issue again, but I still cannot find the 2017 one, perhaps Mr. Otte can tell me if there even was a April fools in that issue.
2016 = 68
2017 = 98
Also, FYI there is a DCC Corner article about adding a decoder to an Athearn AMD-103 on P. 60 of the 2016 issue.
Cheers! Ed
Well, Ed beat me to it.
I still haven’t gotten my kit from 2016 yet! That kit really does take time to build… And shipping is atrociously slow evidently, 2 years and counting!
And as far as this years is concearned… I might know a guy… [;)]
Ed, thanks, I saw that article it’s great!
Awesome April Fools joke. I imagine some Powerball winner one day will try to do this to his layout one day claiming he saw it in some past issue of MR!
You shoulda let him figure it out. Your too nice of a guy! [tup]
Mike.
Hi, Mike —
Tossing in a lifesaver now-and-then can’t hurt [swg]
Model Railroading IS fun! Ed
I won’t spoil it either but this one was the easiest to spot of all of them. Like you I had to get to the end to but then it was obvious.