Back in December, 2012 I started a blog ( http://steamerafreightcars.blogspot.com) intended to highlight steam era freight car modeling. First things first: It wasn’t, and isn’t, intended to replace this group in any way. Although the chat list format is great for our wide-ranging (long-winded?) discussions, I feel the blog format offers a more user friendly approach to presenting modeling projects, sharing impromptu RPM meet and show reports (with photos), and showcasing new products. Even complete clinics can be readily converted into blog posts.

When I announced the blog here I got immediate feedback that there was a planned revamp of the Steam Era Freightcars website. So I left the blog alone and it has languished in the internet waste land for more than 18 months. Even without any activity on my part it has had close to 10,000 views.

But considering the information overload discussion we've been having I figured it was time to see whether the blog is worth keeping around. I’m going to start by cross-posting some of the freight car posts from my “main” blog (centralvermontrailway.blogspot.com) to generate some current activity.

My vision is to have numerous contributors - if someone wanted to contribute only one or two items they could send it to me and I’ll format it and post it to the blog (full credit will be given to the modeler of course!) That’s exactly how I handled Charlie Duckworth’s posts that are on there now.

If someone wanted to share a lot of projects/photos and the like I would give them "Author" permission and they would be able to post away without any interference – or any additional effort - on my part!

If I get little or no response I reserve the right pull the plug - but I will give it a month or two and see if there's any life left in the thing. If you're interested in participating in any way please email me at steamfreightcarATgmail.com! – Marty McGuirk