Label: Forward, inch by inch             

This week were talking about production. A little earlier in the day, we were successful in putting together a sort of assembly holder to increase the rate of production. This particular holder is for wheel sets. A great many of these are needed. This is the most numerous thing on any railroad unless it rides on magnetism which this one does not. I am always a little apprehensive when I enact a new idea. I really don't know if something will work until I see that it works. I made the components. Put them together. Did a test. Saw some minor issues. Did a little tweaking and voila`! Success! That's what I'm talkin' about. Now for some more ideas. See you next time, omscaler

Label: A little more info

Well, well, it now seems clear that the omscaler is a little prone to exaggeration if not hyperbole. If you recall last weeks blog, I said that the shifter parts count was going to wind up between one hundred and fifty to two hundred parts. What I put together later was a spread sheet showing the parts and number used on the locomotive. The sheet is in fact date May 8^th. What I got was a part count...drum roll please... of one hundred thirty two!  A little lower than that stated previously. Why do people do this? I believe it is just human nature. Like seeing organic shapes in clouds. In my case, I think the enormity of this rework of the shifter began to take a toll on my judgment. The completion of the shifter also marked a sort of mile post on The Omega Scale Railway. Now, we have a clearer picture of the future direction. For sanity's sake, I am not going to set any firm deadlines. This project can be expanded so much that boundaries are needed. Tentatively, we have plans for a number of modules. The first one planned is, guess!... MURPHYSBORO, ILLINOIS! Why Murphysboro, Illinois you are probably wondering? There are a number of reasons. Murphysboro was home to a major center on the old Mobile and Ohio Railroad. I say was because in 1925 a tornado, one mile wide, tore up the town including the M&O shops and yard. Some say the town never really recovered. Also, the railroad crossed the Big Muddy River just south of town. Big Muddy, you gotta' love the name. Sounds like a little boy's dream. I remember playing in the mud myself. You can see the old passenger station still at 17^th street and Walnut. What's left of the old round house is now a label printing company. And the old Illinois Central station has been re-purposed. Plus, Murphysboro has an apple festival each year. What could be more Americana? To restate, Murphysboro was an important railroad center. It had passenger and freight stations, an express station, a large railroad shop, roundhouse complex, a cold storage and icing facility as well as numerous businesses that shipped by rail. You can now see why boundaries are needed. This may actually be enough to keep more than one person busy. As far as shapes in clouds and things, last winter, on the way to work, I saw the Man in the Moon smiling at me. until next time, omscaler

Label: Whew! Now we're done!

It is now 11:28 P.M. A few minutes ago at 11:24 P.M. I looked at the clock to mark the time of completion of the previously mentioned shifter (switcher). I am working this late in order to complete this project and get it written about on the blog. A few statistics. The shifter is an 0-6-0 steam switcher, a very common type on the railroad in the steam era. I noted the project sheet with the date 3/10/18. It is now May 7^th. I plan on doing a part tally for my own curiosity. I am guessing the count is between one hundred fifty to over two hundred parts. The shifter has a prototype road number of 45 with the initials G.M.&O., on both sides of the tender and a number on the rear of the tender as well. I am going to get pics up on the blog and Facebook with the latter being more numerous. As mentioned before, this project seemed to go on forever. For a while, I felt like I was building a real locomotive. The more I did, the more there was to do. Yours, a now relieved and resting omscaler

Label: A little more...about the trip and on the railroad

I thought I would mention a little more about the Chattanooga trip. As I said before, it was a railroad buff's paradise. When we went through the tunnel, the conductor said to shine our cell phone lights out the window. He went on to say that the tunnel sides were only about six to eight inches from the sides of the car. It looked like he was right. The wall was right there! Let's go back a few minutes. We started out by getting our tickets in an “old fashioned” train station. It was actually a new building I believe. Then we went out to the yard area in front of the station. We actually walked through this area to get to the station but I wanted a further look at all the equipment. What a collection! Everything from a 4-4-0 American to modern diesels. The trip took us on the old abandoned Southern right of way to the TVRM yard and turntable. Along the way we could see the old roadbed of the pre-Civil War railroad that was parallel to the roadway we were on which was parallel to the new Norfolk Southern roadbed(s). Lots of railroad action that day. The TVRM also runs along the Georgia Railroad for a little bit. Hope you readers can check it out.

     Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Our shifter rework is well along. Right now we have the lower frame with wheels. The boiler has been jacketed with the crown sheet. Drilling for stack and dome attachment has be done. The cab is underway. Progress continues. omscaler

Label: Back in time

This week’s blog is about a little trip I took with a family member. We went to Chattanooga Tennessee. There we visited among other things, the Tennessee Valley Railway Museum. What a rush! We had a sunny but very cool day. The wind was from the north right out of the blizzard states, like Iowa. Some of the train passengers were from Ohio. They said they thought they would enjoy the warm Southern April weather. Such was not to be. Anyway, back to the excursion. It was great. Such history! From before the war for Southern Independence, “The Waw” (colloquial term), aka, the American Civil War to the changes brought about by the great Southern Railway, all could be seen on the property. Really!  The grounds were stuffed with classic and vintage rail equipment. All was inspiring to your blogger, omscaler. Who, it seems, needs a little inspiration now and again. Well, we got it. Now I am ready for a big push to get immediate goals accomplished. Until next time, all aboooard! omscaler

Label: What's taking so long?

Good question. What is taking so long? Your omscaler has been waiting/working weeks on a reworked 0-6-0 shifter (switcher). To remind readers, it was severely damaged due to a back fitting of track retainers. So, Microlotive©, where is the beef (old Wendy's Hamburger tag line)? Well, as it turns out, a large real life locomotive has around ten thousand moving parts. Yep, that many. And, Microlotive© is insisting on doing a first class job. The last shifter was a “quick and dirty” project. So, again, patience is called for. Hopefully the results will be worth it. Keeping you posted, omscaler

Label: The Towns Along the Way

The current dilemma: where to put the railroad? I don't mean I don't know whether to put the railroad in one room or another. I mean, where should the model railroad be situated as far as depicting a location. As many of you know, I model the GM&O during the late forties. The current idea is to put a “staging” yard at a farther point on the model railroad. This area will represent both a large northern destination as well as a southern destination. In model railroad usage, this area will be used to build respective southbound and northbound trains. Many modelers use this technique. It gives a lot of planning flexibility with regard to making up trains. But the real question now is what actual locations to use on the modeled portion of said layout. I currently have diagrams for the Union City Tennessee freight house, which has been built, and the union station. I also have a diagram for the Humboldt Tennessee freight house. Right now my thinking is to build Union City on the layout. Have Humboldt as well. And, lastly, I am considering Murphysboro, Illinois. I have pictures of the passenger station here as well as a track diagram showing the location of shops, roundhouse, freight house and other buildings. Looks like things are shaping up. (Aren't you glad I didn't say on track?) omscaler