Looking back some more

I was thinking back when I was writing the anniversary post but somehow, I could not fit every thought in. What do I mean by this? Well, after I was through writing, I kept remembering. I asked myself, “What have we done here?” I will try to list the accomplishments, not necessarily in chronological order. A working plan. A number of ideas were discarded. Specifications. Everything had to conform to rigid parameters, otherwise, no go. From the bottom up. First, naturally, the roadbed itself. But not just any ordinary roadbed. This roadbed covered a subsurface conveyor. The conveyor had to be developed. And the material? We layered foam board. Easy to cut. Next came the grade or roadbed itself. It is in fact cardstock. We had to indicate ties and rails. What looked good here?  The printer we tried to use said no go. A marking guide was fabricated. And what about going around a curve. We built our own dual beam compass to make radii that would work for us. And what about the railcars and locomotives? Tiny wheels to be sure. But how would they behave. This had to be solved. The equipment is so small that sneezing at the rail-yard caused a disaster. A solution was developed. We tried to get printing done commercially but results were disappointing. We now print in house at great cost savings. The turnout story has been related recently. We'll just say, “We got 'er done.” We like modules. We're doing modules. Our reference resources are so vast, we can't do everything we see. Decisions must be made. What lies before us now is an infinite realm of possibilities. A lot of things are still either on the drawing board or in our imaginations or maybe in the notes. Optimism rules. omscaler