Cliff Green, Grab Iron Editor

Welcome, new 4th Division (PNR) NMRA members (or former members recently renewed)! An e-mail notification is sent out to all Grab Iron subscribers every time a new Grab Iron post is made (or on a regular basis), so this may be one of the first messages you see from our Division. Our 4D web site has clinic info, modular group info, an events calendar, some excellent model train photos, and many pages of other related info as well as all of our Grab Iron posts – click here to navigate to the front page.

As many of you have noticed, there have been problems with Grab Iron post e-mail notifications for at least three weeks. We have been troubleshooting and understanding more of the inner workings of WordPress (and PHP e-mail), e-mail servers, spam blacklists, and SQL tables with plugins. (You can safely ignore the technical words I just wrote – if you’re interested in the details send me e-mail at the address at the end of this message).

We have switched to using the Constant Contact e-mail service that the PNR (Pacific Northwest Region of the NMRA) is using to send out regular (at least monthly) newsletters (typically written by Jack Hamilton). For now Grab Iron post notifications will be sent out by me on a manual basis versus an automatic “post by post” basis (“automatic” notification will be put in place in the future).

Note that Grab Iron posts are always visible and available on the 4D web site (whether e-mail notifications are working or not):

https://4dpnr.com/grab-iron-posts/

This is a busy time of the year in the 4th Division, whether modeling skills related (e.g. all of the 4D clinics) or railroad historical group activities or railroad museum events. Click here to see the 4D calendar of events. I enjoy promoting the 4D clinics, which (to me) is one of the best benefits of belonging to the NMRA – click here for more info.

The PNR (Pacific Northwest Region) Regional Convention – Selkirk Express 2016 – will be held June 15-19, 2016 in Salmon Arm, BC. If you have never attended a regional convention, consider attending this one – Salmon Arm is a gorgeous area with a large concentration of skilled modelers. Both the model related and prototype events and excursions will be interesting and memorable.

Please contact me at gi_editor@4dpnr.com with any questions or comments or articles that you would like to submit.

Thanks go to Al Lowe, Russ Segner, David Yadock, Jack Hamilton, and others who have provided support or comic relief as I’ve worked the various e-mail issues and put the new e-mail newsletter capabilities in place.