# AWNUTS Again



## MarkLewis (Jan 2, 2008)

There's a new home for whimsy nuts. By all means check out AWNUTS Again.

Mark


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Very cool site. I didn't have time to really take a deep look, but I'll have to spend some time over there this weekend. I have a few structures that would fit in over there nicely..


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## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!. Right up my alley!


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeeahhh! /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/laugh.gif


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

A bit empty in there, yet.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Give it time!


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## Josef Rieder (Jan 18, 2008)

Wow, I havent seen A.W.N.U.T.S. in ages!


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## Joe Johnson (Jan 2, 2008)

I remember when I first saw the original site a few years ago.  It was great and I couldn't wait until it added new sections.  Then I waited, and I waited, and I waited........

I hope it does take off.  The original really was a fun place.


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## Fritz (Jan 11, 2008)

Hi,

I am not too Happy with their "Forth Reich" in the title story .  I do not not which one was the first or second Reich. Heard horrible things about the Third Reich,  Home of the Nazies. Do not really trust in any Reichs, whatever the number might be. That´s not my tradition. 

AW Nuts was a great and funny railroad magazine, which started in the early Nineties. I occasionally contributed a story or two from Kraehwinkle to its pages myself- . Still miss the Balducci Brothers. Got aquainted to some fine and strange people over there.   Who´s work I still admire. Peter Barnfield, Peter Jones, Chris Walas,  B. Bates, Graham Stowell etc. 

So I´ll keep an eye on it and see, how it develops. I bit of light vein and some humor surely would  do the largescale hobby good. 

Have Fun

Fritz / Juergen Zirner


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

"Fourth Reich" was an immediate turn-off for me also.


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## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

I skipped the intro bull and headed to the forums..... That Forth Reich crap is going to stop me from posting anything in there. Thanks for the heads up Fritz and Charles.

Craig


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## hcampbell (Jan 2, 2008)

After a couple shots at the foolishness of the registration form I say "Awnuts!" I'll pass on this one. 

Harvey C.


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## MarkLewis (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By sheepdog on 02/22/2008 3:33 PM
I skipped the intro bull and headed to the forums..... That Forth Reich crap is going to stop me from posting anything in there. Thanks for the heads up Fritz and Charles.

Craig

It struck me as an obvious joke. If that sort of thing offended you, then you probably wouldn't be happy with anything whimiscal.

Mark
/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Some things can be joked about in a veiled way and others need OBVIOUS cues to the joke. This one has no OBVIOUS cues and thus is not a joke to those that know the effect of what they are referring to.


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## Fritz (Jan 11, 2008)

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Kraehwinkle/Nuts2.jpg

Have Fun

Fritz / Juergen


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## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Whimiscal? Nope, it is not for me........


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By sheepdog on 02/23/2008 8:16 AM
Whimiscal? Nope, it is not for me........









Pretty wild, Craig ! Just . . . wild! Nope. Not for you. Yes, indeed.


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## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a link for you Ron..... Please keep in mind that I don't care for whimsical.... Nor do the others mentioned in the article. 

Prop Car

Craig /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif


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## cjwalas (Jan 2, 2008)

/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gifAs someone without a whimsical bone in his body, I have no interest whatsoever in this AWNUTS Again site...no matter how long I've been a member there. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif
And while I don't particularly think the "Fourth Reich" joke is entirely appropriate either, let's be fair.  The website is titled "the Whimsical world of AWNUTS again"  with the image of a large cartoon rodent and the line is repeated just below it.  The Fourth Reich line is immediately followed by an apology as well. I think it's a stretch  to say that that there are no obvious cues that it's a joke. 
Personally, I'm with Fritz / Juergen (Juergen, my old friend,  I never asked you why you go by Fritz?) when he says that some humor would surely do the largescale hobby some good. So let's see some silly train stuff!
Chris
PS. Juergen, does that dragon powered, gnome driven car really run???


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By sheepdog on 02/23/2008 1:29 PM
Here is a link for you Ron..... Please keep in mind that I don't care for whimsical.... Nor do the others mentioned in the article. 

Prop Car

Craig /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif







You've made a believer out of me, Craig! No whimsical Craig-world. No. None.


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By cjwalas on 02/23/2008 7:02 PM
/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gifAs someone without a whimsical bone in his body, I have no interest whatsoever in this AWNUTS Again site...no matter how long I've been a member there. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif

Personally, I'm with Fritz / Juergen  when he says that *some humor would surely do the largescale hobby some good*. So let's see some silly train stuff!
Chris
Couldn't agree with you more. _More humor_ is definitely needed (at times) in our hobby/avocation/obsession.  I never understood how some people could become so serious and even _humorless_ about . . ._ trains_ ?  of all things!  (Especially_ model_ trains). For me this is_ both_ pleasure and business. When I find myself becoming too wrapped up about some aspect of it, I find something else to do.


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## Fritz (Jan 11, 2008)

Hi,

No, that dragon Gnome car does not run on its own. Somewhere I have a small wagon with an Aristocraft drive (Art-29356)  in it,
which pushes it around.  Use it for my Narrow Gauge King as well : http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Kraehwinkle/NarrowGaugeKing11.jpg
Sorry, do not know how to insert pictures in this new server system.

I sometimes use the name "Fritz" in American forums, because it is a typical German name. Nobody would suspect me to be from France, Italy or  Scotland  with such a name. And of course the last name is "Kraut" and I live in Krautzenburg, spending my time behind a huge beermug, dancing the Polka all of the time, wearing Lederhosens, while eating lot´s of  Bratwurst. 

Have Fun 

Fritz / Juergen


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## cjwalas (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmmmm, I think I like you as Juergen better! I like the Narrow Gauge king! Seeing your work reminds me I need to start making trains again! 
Chris


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

I could not join AWNUTS because I do not fit any of the criteria... 

I am deadly serious about my locos -why else would people go "You cannot be SERIOUS?"all the time? 
My locos are to scale either 16mm or 13.5mm. 
All the locomotives were (are) real. 

It is interesting to note peoples reaction to them. One person (a senior member of 16mmngm) remarked that they were "not the type of models that he would like to see on the builders stand". One member of the Gauge 3 Society remarked "I have heard of the name..." 

To quote the great Dali "The only difference between a mad man and me, is that I am not mad!" 

regards 

ralph 

Post Scriptumn: Mr Walas the fourth experimental protoype ran for 2 hours, destructed at 15,000 RPM and developed a constant 12Nm from 3,000 up to 12,000. I therefore am going with this design for the "production" model.


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## MarkLewis (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Fritz on 02/24/2008 7:31 AM
I sometimes use the name "Fritz" in American forums, because it is a typical German name. Nobody would suspect me to be from France, Italy or  Scotland  with such a name. And of course the last name is "Kraut" and I live in Krautzenburg, spending my time behind a huge beermug, dancing the Polka all of the time, wearing Lederhosens, while eating lot´s of  Bratwurst. 
Pictures please!

Mark


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By sheepdog on 02/23/2008 8:16 AM
Whimiscal? Nope, it is not for me........









Although not normally into the whimsical, I made an exception for this model which I found on Ebay. It will be used, appropriately enough, in the fantasy NX-Cicely model:


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Well I'm just the opposite of Ralph, no matter what I just cannot take model railroading too serously, its a fun thing to do, first and foremost. When it ceases to be fun and becomes work, that for me is when its time to pack it in and go fishing. 

Thats why I left HO, or at least was a long time Lone Wolfer, way too many people taking things waaaaaay to seriously. 

I forgot that recently and cracked a offcolor joke online about a well known guru of HO prototype and operations, it was a stupid joke and I later apologized online, but it still got me shunned buy members of that sect of the hobby, Oh, I feel so Amish! ......despite the fact that these were the same guys who have posted all sorts of disrespectfull comments about a modeler I truely admire, Malcomn Furlow. Double standards are just the soup de juor in HO, so thank the gods for large scale where most of us have a slightly different and irreverent take on the hobby of model trains.


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## blackburn49 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 02/24/2008 6:35 PM
 . . . no matter what I just cannot take model railroading too serously, its a fun thing to do, first and foremost. When it ceases to be fun and becomes work, that for me is when its time to pack it in and go fishing. 
Thats why I left HO, or at least was a long time Lone Wolfer, way too many people taking things waaaaaay to seriously. 
I forgot that recently and cracked a offcolor joke online about a well known guru  . . . I later apologized online, but it still got me shunned buy members of that sect of the hobby . . . so thank the gods for large scale where most of us have a slightly different and irreverent take on the hobby of model trains.
I have to admit that I have very little patience with those who take the  model train avocation _in any scale_  too seriously. It is, after all, _nothing more_ than a _hobby_. Nothing more.  Such attitudes kill it for me, and I would think, for many others as well. 

I guess part of this impatience on my part for those "with attitude"  is due to my experiences from tending bar for so long. Some people come in with a bad attitude, like they are looking for a reason to be miserable or to spread their misery around. I really have to wonder why such people with such negative attitudes even bother coming out. After all, as I am fond of pointing out, it makes no sense to enter a bar--any bar--_without_ having your sense of humor to accompany you, but _especially_ my bar.  So it should be with model trains.

I have heard elsewhere about this odd almost exclusive clubby attitude that seems to exist, maybe even prevail, among some in the HO  scale segment of this model train hobby. Makes no sense to me.  

Maybe it is not such a bad thing that so much within our own large scale hobby is _inexact._


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## Fritz (Jan 11, 2008)

Hi,

Sometimes I spent some hours  behind the counter at public model train excibitions. Looking at thousands of people passing by, it is difficult to believe  that it can be a relaxing hobby. The major part of visitors look as if they are on their way to the next labour exchange or to their own execution. It is very difficult to believe, that Railroading can be fun for some people. 

I hang around with some people which are called  "Die Kreativmeile" . We meet a few times a year, put our modules together and play with our trains.  No electricity on the rails, only live steam, wind ups and battery, no running around in circles.   A very simple concept. 
Have a look at the galley: http://kreativmeile.lasergang-shop.de/CMS/node/316  You can see some very straight modelling and some very unusual creations. It is possible to run different attitudes on a common track. 

My favourite loco at the moment  is this one: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Kraehwinkle/Bierpower.jpg   Scale 1 : 22,5, for 26,7 mm track, Accu / RC and it is made out of paper. Built by Christoph P. from Bavaria. 
It does not get its energy from the beer bottles in the picture. They simply were standing around in the backstage area, when I took the picture last year in Paris.  One of our members is a beer brewer by trade, so he brings some of his work along most of the time. 

Next  public appearance of "Die Kreativmeile" with a larger layout (approx 170 feet long) will be end of June near Leipzig as part of the huge Schkeuditz exibition.  : http://www.ig-modellbahn-schkeuditz.de/Startseite.htm  Everybody is welcome. 

Have Fun 

Juergen


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## MarkLewis (Jan 2, 2008)

Juergen, really great stuff. Thanx.

Mark


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## dana (Jan 7, 2008)

what are they talking about a heptagon and anti bot ? thats the stumbleing block for me to register in . shame cuse i have great ideas and great prototype photos that could help others but no im blocked out cuase of this .


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## dana (Jan 7, 2008)

/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif a ski jump car for the 2010 whistler games  thats what im thinking /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif but i cant get into registering into the site to explain my ideas fustrating


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## dana (Jan 7, 2008)

found this on the web 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Heptagon.svg 

anwsered my own question


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## pdk (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi gang,

I just spoke with the new webmaster and the reich comment is no more. He didn't even know it was there, having simply cut and pasted the intro from the old source. Says he's learned a lesson to read things before posting them. 

But I think we can cut him some slack...he leads a busy life. Besides that, he manages several web sites that promote our hobby, and he doesn't charge anybody a nickle as far as I can tell. He carries the large scale banner at model train shows too, and gives helpful clinics.

Cheers...pete

ps: Fwiw he is a  total rivet counter when it comes to his own models, but never criticizes those (like me) who make it all up. To me, that's a good attitude. Wish I could do the same in reverse 






Posted By Fritz on 02/22/2008 1:11 PM
Hi,

I am not too Happy with their "Forth Reich" in the title story .  I do not not which one was the first or second Reich. Heard horrible things about the Third Reich,  Home of the Nazies. Do not really trust in any Reichs, whatever the number might be. That´s not my tradition. 

AW Nuts was a great and funny railroad magazine, which started in the early Nineties. I occasionally contributed a story or two from Kraehwinkle to its pages myself- . Still miss the Balducci Brothers. Got aquainted to some fine and strange people over there.   Who´s work I still admire. Peter Barnfield, Peter Jones, Chris Walas,  B. Bates, Graham Stowell etc. 

So I´ll keep an eye on it and see, how it develops. I bit of light vein and some humor surely would  do the largescale hobby good. 

Have Fun

Fritz / Juergen Zirner


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## pdk (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By dana on 02/26/2008 11:45 PM
what are they talking about a heptagon and anti bot ? thats the stumbleing block for me to register in . shame cuse i have great ideas and great prototype photos that could help others but no im blocked out cuase of this .


I just went through the registration process myself, and I can tell you that the form is there to prevent spammers from invading the forum and spoiling it for serious members. For example, by selecting the antibot box you identify yourself as a human being and not nasty spam software trolling the web.

So, the form is a good thing, which perhaps could have been explained more fully. I would suggest you try to register again. 

Cheers...pete


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## wildbill001 (Feb 28, 2008)

Don't know if it is a personal problem or not but I can't get any pictures to show up on the AWNUTS website.  Do I have to register ?

Bill W


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## dana (Jan 7, 2008)

yes bill ya do but if ya do register  the first time  ya login ,id pu your member name in then you pass word then select always logged in . hen yu dont have to logn all the time you enter the site .


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