A little aside on our quest to implement The Omega Scale Railway. I recently sent a series of e-mails to Hallmark Cards® and Lionel® the train manufacturer. After Hallmark finally understood what I really wanted, they stated that the Lionel hanging tree ornaments were indeed made by Lionel. The ornament itself has made in China on the bottom of the box. The ornaments themselves have a reference to both Hallmark and Lionel. As a further aside to the aside, the reason all this rig-a-ma-roll is going on is that the dog gone ornaments are almost the correct scale (or maybe the exact scale [insert sneer emoji here] :) . Some of you are probably reading my mind. Why not get these scale items manufactured? Wow! What new vistas would open up. Back to the e-mails, so far no response from Lionel other than an acknowledgment by robot that the e-mail was received. However right as I was preparing this blog entry I was examining the above mentioned artifacts. On the flap of the little box I notice a promo message “Join our ornament club!” “Learn more at www.KOCmembers.com” The mystery continues...

Hello to all. I hope everyone had a good Easter. Imagine a rabbit that lays colorful eggs. It boggles the mind. This week I would like to take the blog in a little different direction. No it's not about colorful eggs. The Saturday before Easter I had an opportunity to attend the Coosa Valley Model Railroad Association Train Show. I would like to thank one of the organizers, Jim Bertch for his invaluable assistance with show information and background. The show was held in beautiful Gadsden, Alabama which is located right next to the storied Coosa River. It was a beautiful day for the show. Plenty of sunshine. This show has been held for thirty-one years. Imagine, a generation and a half, roughly speaking. The show was held in downtown Gadsden in the convention center (344 South First Street) which is easy to find being situated off highway 411 and overlooking the river (the front door is on the “city side”). This writer took a number of photographs with one overlooking a large part of the display floor. A number of great layouts were participating. There were also plenty of vendors to satisfy visitors desire for equipment and literature. Mr. Bertch commented that they were hoping for more young people, but on the other hand sales by vendors were good. Door prizes were given out to both adult and young visitors. People were indeed enjoying themselves. I think all of this bodes well for the future for the modelers, collectors and others. As a further side note, the Coosa Valley Model Railroad Association has a permanent layout located at the Gadsden Center for Cultural Arts, 501 Broad Street, Historic downtown Gadsden (downtown looks like the 1920's or so) and admission to the Center was included with admission to the train show. Next time I go I plan to see even more of the beautiful Gadsden area. Until next time, the recently traveled omscaler.

This week I will talk about the importance of vision and a little bit about my personal vision regarding the project. Vision is a critical factor for success in any endeavor. No great accomplishment in the human experience was achieved without this component. This is what keeps people going through times of adversity. Believe it or not, I sometimes need something to help me persist. This is probably true for most people. The next two phases for The Omega Scale Railway are critical for the concept itself to be more than a static display. In the end I can visualize a small layout with a hard-working freight train working its way through a vast rugged woodland. This when it is achieved will encompass the completed development of new skills, techniques and ideas. This will indeed represent the next wave of miniature scale railway development. To my knowledge, very few others have done work in this area. I feel like am repeating myself somewhat here but some explanation for slow implementation is called for. But, like all good pioneers, I press on. Til' next time, from the cutting edge, omscaler

The quest for power. Power. Most people want power. You want power. I want power. All God's chilun' want power! It's true. However, with last week’s release of the new wood sheathed boxcar, the need for power is ever more critical. Case in point, all the Omega Scale Railway has right now are boxcars. Only two fully equipped in fact. Side note: there are four deficiencies with the new boxcar. Can anyone tell me what they are? Okay, back to the power issue. Now is the time for something to do the haulin'. What do we want?  What is on the project board, figuratively speaking, is the 0-6-0, a small shifter, yard engine, also known as a “switcher”. A common type for many years. If you will note, this is a steam shifter. It was chosen for faithfulness to chronological engine development history. The downside to this decision is that steam engines are complicated beasts. Many details to include. Harder to build to boot. I will update readers with progress in the blog. See you next time. Please send me your construction suggestions. All assistance will be appreciated. Omscaler