Welcome to the second edition of NERR’s monthly newsletter, Ramblings. If you missed the first issue, you will find it archived at http://www.vnerr.com/hq/media.htm – it’s full of useful MSTS tips and NERR info.
The explosive growth of the railroad has continued over the past month, and this newsletter is jam-packed with great news for all NERR engineers. In addition, we talk to Bob Artim, NERR’s founder and Operations Director, share a useful tip for those long point-to-point runs, and a whole lot more.
I’d like to thank all of you for the great feedback regarding the initial issue of Ramblings. Employee Communications has received countless pieces of praise regarding the issue, which motivates and challenges the entire staff at NERR to continue producing high-quality entertainment for the MSTS community. None of us would be here without your interest and support. Although none of you have taken the opportunity to write any articles for the newsletter and submit them to eic@vnerr.com I do thank you for your notes of praise.
There are six full pages of reading here, sportsfans, so I’ll cut it short here so that we can get to the good stuff!
Enjoy,
Cedric Nagy,
Director of Employee Communications and Public Relations.
Engineers wishing to complete the certification process in order to receive their training certificate will be pleased to learn that NERR will soon be moving to a self-paced system to accommodate the various time constraints of NERR engineers. Training at NERR is not mandatory, however it is recommended as even experienced engineers are sharpening their skills, participating in the many training activities, and acquiring their NERR hours.
Time Acceleration Tip
You can make TS go faster than normal speed by setting up an alternative shortcut for it. Create a new shortcut to TS on your desktop as follows:
1. [Right Click] on the Windows desktop
2. Choose NEW and then SHORTCUT.
3. Click on the BROWSE button and find TS. (Usually c:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator)
4. Find train.exe and click and choose it.
5. Call it something so you know what it is. "TS Fast" is what I chose.
Now you have a new icon on your desktop called TS Fast. Right click on it and choose properties. On the line that says TARGET, you will see a window with the full path to TS in quotations. At the very end of the line after the last " add a space and /TIMEACCELERATION. So the line inside the target window would read
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Train Simulator\train.exe" /TIMEACCELERATION
Now when you are ready to play TS, use this new shortcut. Once you are driving you can press CONTROL T to accelerate the time. You can press up to 4 times. At the highest increment, you can watch the TS clock jump in 7 second intervals. This scoots you along nicely when testing activities. To slow time back down press SHIFT CONTROL T until time normalizes.
New Routes and Equipment Available for Download
The routes map has seen dramatic changes since we last published Ramblings. Visit http://www.vnerr.com/divs/routes.htm for the latest. In addition, several routes and associated activities have been updated, including Ohio Rails (updated to build 10), and Seattle (elementb’s passenger update). NERR-logoed F45, F59phi, Bombardier coaches and a Commemorative Tank Car have been added to the equipment downloads, or will be added shortly.
Last month’s Engineer of the Month, elementb (aka Brian Element) has joined the staff at NERR. His official position is Superintendant, Maintenance of Way, and I’m sure many of you have noticed his increased presence on the forums. Make sure to welcome him to the team!
Have You Read The Forums Recently?
Stay up to date with the latest news from NERR! As the railroad is quickly evolving, checking the forums at least once a week will keep you in the know as to the latest policies, activities, routes and other NERR-related information. If you haven’t signed in for a while, make sure you check them out. http://www.vnerr.com/forums/
NERR is currently looking for several individuals to join our Quality Review Team. Due to the rapid expansion of the railroad, it has been determined that in order to maintain competitive advantage, several dynamic individuals are required to ensure that we can deliver our freight and passenger contracts in a professional, efficient and timely manner.
These individuals will be responsible for performing the initial run on these new routes and verifying the feasibility of new contracts. Persons interested in these positions should be engineers in good standing with NERR and have at least 15 hours of experience with NERR equipment and other experience with MSTS.
More information will be posted at http://www.vnerr.com/hr/jobs.htm on 1 November 2002, when the recruitment for this position officially begins.
Vandalism Found on NERR Equipment
It has recently come to our attention that NERR engineers have been to vandalizing our equipment. Management recently found “Hi MR” written inside one of the SD40-2s. Graffiti has also been found in the ac6000cws, among other equipment. Vandalism will not be tolerated at NERR and anyone found to be responsible will be subject to progressive discipline, up to and including dismissal.
Last month, we chatted with NERR’s Train Master, Martin Roberts. This time, we were able to catch up with NERR’s Director of Operations. Bob’s been a busy man. Out of the more than 3000 posts on the forums, he’s been responsible for about 30% of them and is quickly nearing his 1000th post.
Q. Let's start out with some of the basic stats. What's your full name, age, and place of birth?
A. Robert John Artim, 47, I think, gotta ask my wife. Born in McKeesport Pennsylvania, on a cold snowy day at 3 am. 37 inches of snow fell that day.
Q. Have you any railroad related formal higher education? Either way, tell us a little about what you studied.
A. In HS I excelled in Mathematics. Algebra, Geometry, Physics, then Chemistry and Drafting/Mechanical Drawing. That was my freshman & sophomore years; junior and senior years I went to a VO Tech for Civil Construction. I studied steel and concrete design of bridges and other structures, had to draw detailed blue prints of these, way before the days of CAD, with a pencil, a compass, a T-Square and some Triangles. I studied surveying, did benchmark scenarios using logarithms, and I studied architectural design. I designed several homes that got published in Floor Plans Magazine and I am sure someone built them somewhere. My blue prints were 36" x 30" and usually had at least 30 sheets, as all electrical, heating, plumbing, nails, you name it. All were diagrammed so you could build it yourself from the plans. I obtained a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and was getting ready to go for an Engineering degree, but I was also watching Vietnam on TV every night, so I joined the Marines instead and became an airborne heavy equipment mechanic along with some other duties that, well, let's say you had to been there and leave it at that.
I got into computers with an Atari 800 XL, a BASIC cartridge, a Cassette drive and an A.N.A.L.O.G. Magazine, and started to teach myself BASIC. Got a 360k floppy and was in heaven. Over the past 16 years I have learned BASIC, BASIC A, PASCAL, FORTH, FORTRAN, C, C++ and several database languages. Of course there is Photoshop, Illustrator and other graphics packages I dabble in too.
Q. Wow! I remember BASIC on the Commodore 64s. Tell us about your family.
A. My great-grandfather came to the US from Czechoslovakia in 1939, and changed his name from Artimovich to Artim. He settled in Duquesne, PA and worked in the US Steel Mill, as did my grandfather and father, who just retired from there. Brother Gary is in Cleveland at LTV, brother Greg is a business lawyer for Payne & Meyer.
I’m on my 3rd marriage and I believe the 3rd time was the charm as Kerri is my life, we argue and play like kids, I think we keep each other young. She has 2 sons 18 & 19, who live with their dad, and I have a daughter 18 who lives with her mom. She has just entered Community College. She's a 5'10" knock out, how fast they grow. My dad has threatened her boyfriend several times, just playing around, but the poor kid don't realize it's play. My dad is kinda gruff. But harmless.
Q. How did you get involved in the tombstone business?
A. My great-grandfather died at age 99 shortly after I got out of the Marines. He got to see me in uniform and was so proud. My Uncle bought him a monument and was talking to the owner, who said he needed help, he told me to go see him, and they hired me on the spot. At first I had to take them to the cemetery, pushing them around on a dolly and digging footers and such, then I went inside and one guy was supposed to advance, but he didn’t really want to, so they taught me, and I fell right into it. Working with my hands and a finished product to see. It's great. So I got 22 years into now.
Q. What's your favourite book? Why?
A. I have 2. "I Will Fear No Evil", by Robert Heinlein, and “Illusions” whose author’s name escapes me right now. Fear No Evil was futuristic, where a guy had a brain transplant into another body and the conciseness of the other body was still there, and it was his secretary. So now he is in a woman's body, with her there too. Very obscure. "Illusions" was about a guy who was the modern day messiah (Jesus), and it was time for him to pass it on to the next messiah as he had grown tired of performing miracles and he was hiding, but people would find him because they would get healed if they touched him, and tell everyone nd he would have to move on. One thing I remember most about it is he flew a plane, and when he came back it was always clean, no bugs or anything, his mechanic became the new messiah.
I read a lot in the Marines, every chance I could. In 3 years I guess 400 books. A lot of them the little novelettes, like the Mack Bolan Executioner series and such.
Q. Let's switch gears now and talk about railroading. What has attracted you to this hobby?
A. I’ve always liked trains. Have HO trains upstairs, all over the place. Expensive. Then came TS. I can make routes, trains, scenery. I have Photoshop. I don't have to spend any more money for a new train. I am the kinda guy who stops on the side of the road to watch a train go by. I look at the colors, markings and slogans and such. Love trains.
Q. Do you have any other hobbies?
A. I build 1/35 scale armor. I collect coins. Not a fanatic, but I do. I started collecting stamps too. I was able to obtain an M-16A1 and I have a pistol, I like to shoot targets. I do not hunt, animals. I was on the Marine Rifle Team for a while. I like to play paint ball, usually me and 3 other guys, (a fireteam) against as many people as we can get to go against us at one time. I love the wanna-be mercenaries. Haven't done that in a while as it is too expensive also.
Q. At the same time, two trains leave Swik and Philadelphia. They move towards each other with constant speeds. The train from Swik is moving at a speed of 40 miles per hour, and the train from Philly is moving at speed of 60 miles per hour. The distance between Swik and Philadelphia is 1000 miles. How long after their departure will they meet? [Martin avoided the question, so we’re still waiting for an answer...]
A. Hmmm, thats pretty easy I think. 40mph in 10 hours is 400 miles and 60mph in 10 hours is 600 miles, 10 hours, they'd meet at the 400/600 mile markers in 10 hours.
Q. Why form NERR? Weren’t you in a position to make decisions at another virtual railroad?
A. I got TS in July 01, ran a canned activity, and gagged. Went right to the activity editor and started my own. Didn't have a clue. But if you go to http://www.train-sim.com, and go to the beginning, you'll see my first activity with over 3,000 downloads. Around July 28th I saw a post about ACR, went there and thought, "This is really cool, I want one", so I joined and they had a few activities, played them in short time.
They were asking about a HRD, I volunteered. Entered all the trip reports, processed the new apps, started making activities, then I discovered "Skins" and TGATOOL as ACR was looking for it's own trains. Pretty basic stuff I discovered, since I already was using Photoshop. The repaint began. 70-80 I guess I dunno. Then I did the Ops Manual, plagiarised from a VA, but restructured for a VR and created the entrance exam. About October 5th, I thought I am doing a lot of work I could be doing for myself and started laying down the NERR web site, and while I was painting ACR trains I was also painting NERR trains, you may notice similarities. Then I set up the payroll at VASM and things were looking pretty good at ACR, except there wasn't much help or it seemed to me interest. Little things like none of the other staff running the activities or making them was wearing me out.
Then I was offered a job (with whom I can't mention as of yet) and as part of a no compete, can only function for NERR since it is my personal property and a proving ground, and had to leave ACR.
Then I got a hold of MR, and he said he could do all those things to the trains, and I wanted more routes than the NEC, MR liked that too. Then Jim said he could train them and he has some other surprises too. Wayne came along as resident engineer and keeps us "real", you [Cedric] joined up and look at this and now Brian hacking away on the routes.
As Colin once said to me, "ACR is a club, I wish it were a company. If only we didn't need activities, it would be great."
NERR is a railroad, that’s what I wanted to do.
Q. How much time do you devote in the average week to NERR?
A. About 6 hours a night during the week, every waking moment on the weekend, unless Kerri takes me away.
Q. That’s really impressive! What sacrifices have you made in order to devote the amount of time that you do to NERR?
A. None. Well, I haven't sacrificed anything. Nothing I can think of.
Q. Anything that you would like to see change?
A. I would like to see our engineers running only NERR activities (work orders), but until we have enough, what are you gonna do. Other than that I wish I would have made the web site in 800x600 from the beginning.
Q. Look ahead a couple of years. Where do you see the railroad?
A. I see us having several hundred activities so the engineers will run only NERRs. I see a completely automated Time Slip system, with immediate update along with engineers stats pages. I see a ranking system that does not let you play activities that you are not qualified for, in a fun way. We also have a Virtual Extra Board in mind for even more advanced TSers. I hope if a new version of TS comes out it will be backward compatible. I would hate to have to do everything again. But I would.
Q. Now that’s dedication! Tom-eh-toe or to-mah-toe?
A. Ta-may-toe of course.
Great answers, Bob. Thanks for the detail!
All I can say is WOW! I love the first issue of
Ramblings!
Stan Mattos
NERR Engineer
#029
VASM comeback announced - The Virtual Airline Stock Market, which introduced the BVI bank, has been shut down for some time. However, it has announced that staff are being hired and it will be reinstated shortly. Engineers can pre-register at http://www.vastock.com/
North Eastern Roundhouse Ramblings (NERR) is published monthly by Employee Communications. Contact eic@vnerr.com with any inquiries.