RAILWAY OBSERVER CHANNEL

[pdeaves]

For those of you who have grumbled at the Editorials in the RO go and read the one by Phil Deaves in the January issue - what a positive breath of fresh air.

Well done Phil for cheering us all up, it's a far cry from the gloomy days of the 1970s - I have always considered the period from 1969 to 1973 to be the most depressing in the history of our railways.

And, its all up to us to report it all.

Windsor_lad

Thanks for your kind comments!

[Des_potter]

Sorry to be a pain. But I can't access the digital files, on my iPad.

Can this be sorted out or do I have to wait for the paper edition

Thanks des_potter

[D3796]

Why not click 'download', then 'download all' (top right, opposite side to the select/select all options)? That way you don't have to compile anything.

Hope this helps.

Ok, I've just had another look at this on my Desktop PC just in case there was an issue with my Tablet not displaying the options available.

To obtain a copy of RO I did the following:-

1: Clicked on Download PDF's (as you described)
2: Select all
3: Download selected pages
4: Clicked to open download page
5: your download is being prepared (compiled)
6: your PDF is ready for download, click here to download and rename the file!!!!!

To me that is a far cry from the original option of being able to download "RO Jan 2015.PDF"

Why a PDF file cannot be made available I don't know.

Anyway, it would appear that I am the only member on here that is concerned about this issue, I will say no more on the matter. So long RCTS.

[MIKER]

D3796 wrote - Why a PDF file cannot be made available I don't know.

Quite simple! Someone has to do it and that someone, like everyone else who produces the RO, is a volunteer.

Without members volunteering there would be no RO - or indeed any Branch Meetings - and we are always seeking new recruits.

If D3796 - or indeed any other member - would like to volunteer their support by devoting a few hours each month to the RO production task, I am sure we would be delighted to welcome them aboard.


Mike Robinson,

Managing Editor

[ttrains]

By the way, where can we find the house style for RO?

[MIKER]

By the way, where can we find the house style for RO?

These are currently being updated but the following rules should be adopted for submissions to ed Reps:-


RO HOUSE STYLE
Rolling Stock Numbers - Use Numerics ? eg - 66188 or 165118; for multiples show as 66123/45/56 or 156467/98/9;sequences of three of more consecutive numbers should use a hyphen ? eg - 66015/8-21/6/33.
Rolling Stock Type
Locomotives and Multiple units - Cl.66; Cl.165
Coaching Stock - Mk.l; 2a; 2b; 3 or 4
Train Formation
Double-headed trains and HST's - 66562+66701, 43039+43192. Top and Tail - 37603TNT37604.
Abbreviations. The RO Index lists typical abbreviations used. When introducing an unfamiliar abbreviation define at first usage, e.g. OCB (Open Circuit Breaker). DMU; ECS; ECML; WCML, HST should always be capitalised.
mph ? show as e.g 40mph, with no full stop
distances ? show as eg 23ch, 12km or 45ft. Do not abbreviate mile or miles.
Dates. 26th October or 20th December in alpha - do not abbreviate the month except for Fixtures etc. Include the year in picture captions or only if earlier than current. Do not use superscript eg 15th - NOT 15th..Time ? Use 24-hour clock e.g 09.26 or 21.45
Named Trains. Show in quotes ?Torbay Express?
Locos Names :- Italicise eg Tornado .
Train Services.
Passenger Trains ? Show as ?the 10.00 Kings Cross-Edinburgh? or similar; Do not use headcodes.
Freight Services ? As Passenger Traisn though headcodes may be included.
Light Engines / ECS ? As passenger trains
Days Operated ? use : M, T, W, Th, F, S or Su plus an appropraite extension O for Only or X for Excepted. Eg SuO, MTWX.
Overseas Place Names . Use the English version (e.g. Prague, not Praha).
Platform Numbers ? use numerics -eg 8, 11 , 13
Rail Facilities. Initial capital letter for place name only -eg Darlington station, Peterborough yard
Saint :- to be shown as St. Pancras, St. Albans or Bury St. Edmunds ? Note full stop after St.
Sub Headings. Follow by a full point. e.g. Euston. Hull.
Street : -e.g Liverpool St. or Glasgow Queen St. Note full stop after St.
Junction ? e.g Watford Jct. or Dolphin Jct. Note full stop after Jct.
Railway Workshops :- e.g Alstom, Springburn or Bombardier, Derby.
Apostrophes / Hyphens ? eg St. Philip?s Marsh, Stratford-upon-Avon

Book Etc Titles :- Italicise e.g. Railway Magazine, The Jubilee 4-6-0s, BBC
Films mentioned in Branch News to be shown in italics but no quotes.

DATA ENTRY

End paragraph using return key - not shift+return.
Two spaces should be positioned between sentences within a paragraph.
Documents should be submitted as
MS-Word (.doc), or Rich Text (.rtf) format, the latter being the preference. Please ensure that if your word processing package normally defaults to other formats these should be converted to RTF software by using the Save As command.
When saving the document it should be given it a name identifying both its content and datea - eg Western Jan 08 RO.doc.



A full set of RO Ed Guidelines will be placed on the website when we conclude our review - hopefully in next month or two.


Regards

Mike R

[ttrains]

'A full set of RO Ed Guidelines will be placed on the website when we conclude our review - hopefully in next month or two.'

Thank you. That should be very helpful.

[MIKER]

The 2014 RO Index is now available for download or on line browsing via the usual digital RO access port on the Website

[MIKER]

Check out the latest RO - probably the most illustrated edition ever published!


Miker

[MIKER]

Digital RO for April now on Line.