Who is V.P. Pidpoda??

[John]

New NScale Railroading mag arrived .. Great coverage of the Naugatuk Valley RR .. .but who is the V.P. Pidpoda guy that wrote the article

[skytop35]

I'm guessing a pen name as it contains all the same letters as the name of the actual builder of the railroad.

[wm3798]

That explains why there wasn't room for the "N Scale Approach" this month...

[Catt]

Lee, since when has "The N scale Approach" been iin N Scale Railroading? Have you been holding out on us? 

[Chris333]

This name has appeared in MR before.

[wm3798]

DOH!

I'll have to go get a copy.  Mr. Pidpoda is one of my favorite authors.

I wonder if he'll start posting on The Railwire!

Eel Nodlew

[Philip H]

It would be a  hoot if the V. P. came here . . . . but considering his employer . . . . I'm just grateful he got a byline at all.  And it was a good story to boot.

[Catt]

I wonder how long it took to come up with that letter scramble to create such a interesting alias?

[mplsjct]

Any one else notice the typo on the cover?

[C855B]

Any one else notice the typo on the cover?

No, I don't think that's a typo. That must be about modeling their Irish branchline.

[OldEastRR]

May be cynical, but I'm taking this as a sign of just how uninterested in N scale Model Railroader is -- when one of their own editors doesn't get his N scale article published in the mag he works for. Oh wait, maybe it's because N scale is so over-covered in MR they had to pass on this one!
I'm hoping that Mr. Popp writes a book on how his New Haven layout came to be -- from the articles and sub-articles I've read about this layout over the years it is a very interesting and engaging story. How he even decided to make an N scale layout instead of going with HO is entertaining.
Someday I hope to see N scale get the respect it deserves in this hobby. And I mean from other scale modelers.

[John]

I think it's good that this got published .. its a good looking layout and give a little variety to the magazine ..

[johnhale]

when one of their own editors doesn't get his N scale article published in the mag he works for.

His railroad has been featured in Model Railroader before.

I'm hoping that Mr. Popp writes a book on how his New Haven layout came to be -- from the articles and sub-articles I've read about this layout over the years it is a very interesting and engaging story. How he even decided to make an N scale layout instead of going with HO is entertaining.

He has several books about the layout published from Kalmbach. Those of us who are NH fans, are very familiar with his layout and his "Popp" trees.

There was a video layout tour on MRVideo Plus about his layout when he talked about his construction phases and his mistakes. It was eyeopening to hear him talk about "if I could do it again, I would have done xxx".


The funniest part of the article to me was the picture of him and his wife, and she is wearing an MR shirt.

[Rich_S]

Thanks for the heads up on this article. I've been following Davids layout for years. Yes he's had several articles published in MR on his Naugatuk Valley RR, plus a MR book on how he built the layout (http://www.kalmbachstore.com/12467.html). Remember, the Naugatuk Valley RR started as a HCD layout. Anyone who is a member of the MR Video Plus website, check out David's video under the "How To / Operations" menu, on how he operates his "River Job".

[kalbert]

I wouldn't automatically assume Mr. P was turned down, take his n scale article and beat it. It's possible he didn't give MR a chance at the article and did it as his own freelance venture, choosing to write for fun rather than for riches or fame or to contribute to the big wheel. Perhaps it gave him some personal satisfaction beyond his career goals.