Fast Tracks

Tim or Ron,

could you toss around the idea of making a simple Users Guide for those who purchase a Cross-over fixture and want to make standard turn-outs or crossings from the fixture. I know you mentioned on another post that its a matter of choosing the correct places to put the PC ties. To some of us, even having the template as a guide, it is still not easy.

Let us know

_________________
Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!

We just finished a major re-write of the 3-Way users' guide and were just recently talking about what document we should work on next. We are working our way through all of our documents, updating and enhancing all of them. I think your suggestion to write a guide for building standard turnouts in a cross over fixture is an excellent one, so I have added it near the top of our documentation to-do list.

Thanks!

Ron Warris
Fast Tracks

Tim and Ron, I have really enjoyed the new Users Guides you have been upgrading. The new photos and step by step details make it easy to follow along. I also like the finished products photos you add to fill space. It lets us know what can be done.

How about adding a seperate discussion forum for users to post photos of work done and there layouts in progress. It would keep the photos out of the question and answer areas.

Have a nice day.

_________________
Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!

I think your idea for a pictures only forum has merit and I will talk it over with Tim. Certainly not hard for me to add a new forum.

Thank you for the feedback on the new users' guides (now called Builders' Guides). A lot of work goes into the creation and editing of each one of these guides, and until we started Fast Tracks we really did not appreciate just how much time and effort it really takes.

First Tim has to build the trackwork, taking pictures at each step of the way while making notes about what he is doing. This alone can be quite challenging as he does all of his own photography, so he has to learn new and inventive ways of holding the trackwork or tools while composing the shot and setting up the camera. You would be surprised at how complex some of the shots can be to setup! If he forgets to take an important shot while building the turnout, then he often has to start a whole new switch and build it up to the step where he needs an image. I know when that happens as ungentlemanly language can be heard from his workbench.

After he has taken all of the images he needs, he then transcribes his notes into step-by-step procedures for building the turnout. From there he hands off the images, notes and step-by-step procedures to me for editing.

Once on my desk I go through each image and crop, color adjust and otherwise fix them up. Because we like to use lots of pictures in our documentation, this step can take me several days to complete.

Next I import all of the instructions that Tim has written into my desktop publishing software and start the editing and layout process. Tim is not a bad writer, but I still need to spend time 'fleshing out' the copy and editing it for style and grammar. As I work away at this I start to insert the images at the right spots and enter in cross reference details. I also add other graphics as needed. This process can take a week or more to complete. Once I have the final draft, it goes back to Tim for his first review and then back to me for fixes. We do this several times until we have a finished document that we both are satisfied with.

The process of writing and creating documentation is a long and arduous task, which is probably why a lot of documentation from manufacturers these days is pretty skimpy. We believe however that thorough and detailed documentation with lots of images have been a key part to our success so far, and remain committed to taking the time to prepare quality documentation.

_________________
Cheers!

Ron Warris
Fast Tracks

I just finished building a #8 switch using my crossover fixture. It was very simple. I precut all rail pieces using the downloadable template available on the website. I found that using the template to cut the rails for the points at full length provided an easy method. I precut 8 rail sections, filed the points, frogs and stock rails in less than 15 minutes. The toughest part was actually laying out the ties. I have tons of ties from my pre-fast-tracks efforts and the tedium of laying out and cutting ties to fit the template caused me to mutter under my breath numerous times when I bumped the template or one of the ties.

I think we need some tie jigs for turnouts similar to the jigs already available. <aking the "standard" switch sizes like 4, 6, and 8 would provide us with an extremely valuable tool. I LOVE the sticky ties but occasionally I still enjoy "rolling my own".

Regards,
Nick Kulp

Ron, the process sound a lot like what it took to get a new or revised regulation or OI (Local Operating Instructions) developed and approved when I was in the Air Force at the Hosiptal. Had to start with the AF level document and make all references done locally to the correct section of the AF document, and get it approved by every section withing the medical group with it might effect, then send it back for editing and then on to the upper management for review, editing and final review and maybe approval in 3-6 months.

Have you ever heard the term "its like mating elephants"? I have heard the term used, when it replies to diffuclt tasks, as with mating elephants "1. its a take done at high levels, 2. It takes lots of squeeling and noise making, 3. It only takes 22 months to get the results, 4. The task only happens once every 3-5 years."

Keep up the good work on the improved user guides, I have seen some of Tim posts on upcoming new products and his distain for doing the documentation.

Kurt

_________________
Kurt Konrath

SP was king of the road, Cotten Belt will run forever! D&RGW will rule the hills!