North American Railcar Operators Association
NARCOA Excursion Calendar

We have a lot of new EC's and some may not be familiar with the protocol used to publish listings on the Narcoa Excursion page. If you're a new EC, or an old one who may not be familiar with our protocol, please review the info on this page.

To get your ad published quickly, please follow the instructions below. If I you send an ad that complies with the formatting instructions before you go to bed, it is likely it will be published when you get up the next morning, if it can be copied and pasted. If it needs editing, it will either be bounced back to you or delayed until time is available for me to edit the ad.

Please send your ad from a recognizable email address so I know the source. Use your full name so I can confirm it is a from Narcoa member. If your ad is not published in a few days, it may have been flagged as spam.

Do not send ads to the Setoff editor. Setoff ads are copied from the web page. Since we still have a few members with no computer who rely on the Setoff, an included phone number may be the only way they have to contact you.

E-mail addresses and club URL's are not published, but are hot linked to a persons name for e-mail or "Click HERE" for club websites. This makes it is harder for spammers to "harvest" the info.

EC's should send their full e-mail addresses and web URL's (complete from http:// and not just acmerailcars.com) so they can be hot linked to the EC and affiliate names as appropriate.

Do not include statements such as "All Narcoa rules apply, Narcoa certification required, Narcoa insurance required, etc. These statements are unnecessary as the following statement is at the top of the excursion page: "Not all excursions listed on this page are sanctioned or insured by Narcoa. All Narcoa sanctioned excursions require operators be Narcoa certified, follow Narcoa rules and have Narcoa operators insurance." This will save a line or so on each listing. EC's - Please don't include this information in your listing.

Abbreviate the month by using the first three letters only. Do not include the year as all excursions on the page are for the same year.

This is how some listing I receive begin.

Mar 8 - 9 - OH posted 01/26
Union Industrial RR
Acme Railcar Operators is pleased to announce an excursion on the Union Industrial Railroad Saturday, March 8 and Sunday, March 9, 20xx.

Let's assume that if Acme Railcars was not pleased to announce the trip, they would not have done so. Also note that everything in the first two lines is a repeat of what is in the header. By eliminating trite information and not repeating the header, many listings can be shortened by a few lines with no loss of information.

Since all of the major affiliates have their own web site on which they list upcoming excursions with as much detail information as they wish, let's include only the need to know info on the Narcoa Excursion page, and put a hot link to the trip listing on the club page where as much detailed info as desired can be included. A prospective participant can click on the link to have the club listing open in a new window. The Setoff reader would have basic info and could contact the EC by phone for details.

This saves a great deal of space, simplifies my job and make it much easier for members to find new information quickly. The clubs can update the listings on their page as needed.

(Geek Note: Have the club webmaster install an "anchor" at the start of the listing and send me the full URL to the anchor beginning with http so that the click through goes to the start of the listing.)

Please do not request a listing change for things that only affect those going on the excursion. Contact your participants directly.

I'm aware that some of the smaller affiliates do not have web sites. Some of these folks create a flyer that they mail to members in their area. I can convert these flyers to PDF documents for clubs with no website that can be download from our web page. (Geek note: I can convert Word or Pages documents and even e-mail text, but no WordPerfect files.) If it is not possible for an affiliate to have a web site or produce a flyer, I will cut them a bit more slack and provide more information in their listing, but not include info such as hotel contacts, restaurants, the history of the RR, a complete list of every activity, etc. Only the important stuff.

So what should be included on the Narcoa Excursion page? Please include the following in addition to the excursion date/s, state(s) and railroad name in the header:
1. Places the excursion starts and ends including a brief description of the route if desired. No need to repeat the state abbreviation as it is in the header.
2. Total mileage
3. Cost
4. Affiliate/club name and club URL which will be hot linked to the club web site if available)
5. EC name (and e-mail address.)
6. EC Contact phone number
7. Any special affiliate rules above Narcoa base rules or a link to those rules.

Each listing gets 3 lines after the header to provide all the info.

If the trip is canceled, it needs to be noted on the Narcoa site, but when a trip is full, that info is better only on the club site. Full trips frequently become un-full. All of this now requires updates.

The NARCOA Board of Directors has decided the all EC's must be contactable by e-mail. No listings will be accepted by phone or snail mail.

I don't want to be a major pain, but please try and follow the above described procedures. If I get overly long listings I have no choice but to bounce them back to you or edit them as I see fit. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Keith Mackey
Narcoa Webmaster