The SETOFF

WANTS TO PUBLISH YOUR MOTORCAR PHOTOS, RUN REPORTS, AND TECHNICAL ARTICLES

Please support your newsletter by sending materials to The SETOFF Editor Brian Davis at:

setoff@neo.rr.com

While all materials about NARCOA activities and motorcars are welcome, here are some guide lines about what formats and sizes best fit our limited number of pages and current production process.

THE SETOFF DEADLINE, established by NARCOA policy, is the 15th of the month.  This is when the data disc leaves to the printer.  All materials are needed in advance of the 15th.  Board of Directors messages are due by the 10th.

Original vertical format cover photos should include some sky for placement of The SETOFF publication name.  (Photo by John Gonder)

COVER PHOTOS

To score the front cover of The SETOFF for your photograph it must have been originally shot in a vertical (or portrait) format such as the one at left.

It must be high resolution with a .jpg file size between 2200KB to 3200KB.  For many electronic cameras this is the highest resolution just short of "raw." Raw format files are too big for e-mailing, and have more detail than is needed for our newsletter.

If you're still shooting with film, that's OK!  Have the negative  scanned to disc by your local discount photo processor.

Finally, send all photos in their original form, don't make any changes in Photoshop.  You can e-mail photos if you only have one or two.  The editor's preference is to get all of your photos from one event on a disc.  You never know what might get picked!

Center cutting this photo to get a vertical format for the cover does not work.  In addition, the Editor does not like "rear view" photos of motorcars.  Have your passenger turn around, and shoot the car following behind you.

The above horizontal format type of shot is suitable for placement in a run report on the inside of The SETOFF.  But, vertical format shots also work very well in the three column format of the newsletter.

Directors Messages, Run Listings, Wanted, For Sale, ETC.

The SETOFF is limited to 28 pages under normal circumstances.  In order for "something of everything" to be published in each edition, here are some guidelines the Editor has for space allocation. (Photo by Dan Page)

Directors Messages are an important communication of NARCOA and represent the "official" in The SETOFF "publication."  Directors are asked to target their messages in the 300 word range.  The President gets a little more. 

The deadline for these messages is the 10th of the month.

Run listings represent another one of the "publication of record" items in The SETOFF.

Run listings are downloaded from the web site a day or two ahead of The SETOFF deadline.  Run listings are not limited in size on the web site because those little bits and bites don't cost what ink and paper cost.  Therefore, The SETOFF edits the run listings down to "just the facts" in the 150 word range and uses a smaller type face.  Tour events taking place on multiple railroads get more space.  If participants can book the tour events individually, each railroad of the tour should have it's own listing.

Wanted and For Sale listings are also downloaded from the web site a day or two ahead of The SETOFF deadline.  These listings should be in the 100 word range for a motorcar, 60 word range for a part.  Wanted listings are repeated for only two editions (for some reason people don't cancel these off the web site in a timely manner).

Supplier listings are at the discretion of the editor.  These listings are like a business card.  They show what the supplier sells (radios, motorcars, etc.) and give the contact information.  Suppliers desiring a listing should contact the editor directly at setoff@neo.rr.com

ARTICLES

RUN REPORTS

The new format of The SETOFF has more space allocated to run reports; about six pages per issue.  Run reports should be e-mailed to the editor in MS Word format with .doc file extensions within two weeks of the event.  Rich Text Format and Plain Text format are also fine.  Those files would have .rtf or .txt file extensions.  Please set your word processor to put two spaces between sentences after the period.  This is important for later paste up in the justified column format used by The SETOFF.  (Photo by Jamie Haislip)

LENGTH: Run reports should be in the 300 to 600 word range.  Shorter for one day events, longer for two day events or tours.  This length allows for a photo or two to go with the report.

Reports must have this basic info:

Set-on location - City and State.

Set-on date or the first day of operations date- or show dates of the multi-day event.

Name of affiliate sponsoring the event.

Name of the Excursion Coordinator(s) running the event.

Number of motorcars setting on the first day.

Name of Railroad.  Please use the railroad's current name, not what it was formerly know as. 

Name of Railroad escort and / or officials.

Direction of travel to first turnaround spot (or overnight stop) and the name of that place.

Direction of travel to second turnaround (or overnight stop) and the name of that place.

Junctions, switches, changes of direction.

Setoff time (and date for multiple day events).

 

After those basics, time for some interesting story, or things you saw, etc.  Weather reports are useful if they reveal that a nice sunny day gave good scenery, or rain created slick rail conditions.

Throw in a little history of the line.  Be sure of the facts.  One escort recently told of rescue conditions at a wreck site as being effected by icy water, but the wreck really happened in August.

A personal story is of great interest.  Recently "Boomer John" Schmidt told a story of riding the railroad past his college alma mater. He had lots of local railroad details.

Please include photo captions with who's in the photo, where the photo was taken (town or mile post marker), and who took the photo.

 

Please understand the the Editor will do his job which is to edit and create a pleasant layout.  Items may be shortened for space, syntax corrected, facts researched and corrected as needed. 

Technical Articles

Technical articles should be e-mailed to the editor in MS Word format with .doc file extensions.  Rich Text Format and Plain Text format are also fine.  Those files would have .rtf or .txt file extensions.  Please set your word processor to put two spaces between sentences after the period.  This is important for later paste up in the justified column format used by The SETOFF.  Please include photos with your technical articles.

Technical articles vary widely, so the editor will make the best decision he can on each submission.  Please include photos when possible.  For example, if writing about flange lubricators a good photo is at left below.  The additional close up shot at right below really shows how a lubricator works.  Wide shots with close ups together "sell" articles.

Photographs

 The Editor is pretty particular about photos.  His preference can be summed up in one sentence:  I like photos of people and their motorcars, and I want to see both of their faces!  He dislikes photos taken of the rear of the car in front of you. If you're taking a photo of the group at a rest-stop, walk forward and point your camera back down the length of the group.  If you're on the rails, shoot the car behind you, not the car in front.

Composing interesting photographs is easy.  It involves using the "rule of thirds".  When you look in your camera viewfinder, in your mind draw two vertical and two horizontal lines so that the view is divided into three equal parts across and three equal parts vertically.  When taking any photograph you put one of the major features in the scene on these lines, preferably at the intersection of the lines.  Check out the examples below.

The weight of this photo is on the left "thirds" line with the orange car touching two of the intersections of the lines.  The distant  tree horizon follows the upper "thirds" line.  The use of the method of "thirds" here has created a shot with lots of depth with the viewers' eye pulled to the orange car.  This is a great run report photo.

This vertical photo was shot too quickly from a moving motorcar.  The water tower should have been placed at the intersection of the lines.  Thus, this photo needs the "missing" part seen in red above. 

Note how the track and motorcar fall on the left "thirds" line and the tree / sky intersection is on the upper "thirds" line.  This photo is a nice composition example, but it would not be published because it shows the rear of the car ahead. 

Imagine this shot with the moving motorcar dead center...boring!  This is a good shot because we see the motorcar's face and the operator's face!

Putting the horizon on the upper "thirds" line gives this photo good balance.  This is a nice composition example, but it would not be published because there is no motorcar in the shot!

Photos by Wayne Parsons

Placing people on one of the "thirds" lines makes this portrait interesting.  If the people had been dead center it would be just another snapshot.  Corrections to framing can often be made by The Setoff doing some cropping.  So, send in everything you took.  We might like something!

Putting the motorcar at the intersection of the "thirds" lines opens up the shot to see the diagonal line of the repaired track.

This shot was done out the rear window with no time to really frame it up.  However, by placing the track and following motorcar on the "thirds" line the oncoming car on the left was revealed.

Lots of stuff happening in this shot.  By placing the walking men on the right "thirds" line they get the desired emphasis, and we are drawn to wonder what they're talking about.

Please write captions and photo credits for all submissions.  Make the captions the body of your E-mail and include the photos as .jpg file attachments two or three at a time to:

setoff@neo.rr.com

Please do not paste photos into Word documents.  This reduces their resolution.

The motorcar is placed at the intersection of two of the lines, and so was the apex of the roof.  The open left side of the frame shows where the cars are going.

  If you have more than half a dozen photos, please burn them to disc and mail them to:

Brian Davis, SETOFF

5626 Chadwell Circle

Ravenna, OH  44266