Tie laying was started last week at the North end of town. Only a small amount of progress has been made. Also, the east yard area is completely ballasted with all turnouts in place. The so called “Boys from Bruceton”, NC&StL track gang, arrived Monday to lay ballast as well. The end of this week should see all main line ties in place. We are looking forward, omscaler
Omscaler is continuing to work on turnouts. So far, fourteen ground throws have been built. Twelve support sections are being made. Two others already having support sections. In addition to turnouts, ballast sections have been built. These feature a method using an embossed side which gives a realistic slope to the side of the ballast section. If blog readers look close enough to the older pictures of tracks, a stair step appearance can be seen. This new method eliminates the steps and looks better in omscaler’s opinion. More updates to come, omscaler
Omscaler continues building sub layer roadbed support. One thing that took place last week was redesigning the standard turnout. The old turnout length was three inches. The new turnout length is one inch. This was necessitated due to the planning of an interchange track. This track area caused the main yard area to be shifted to the North. The old turnout length was found to be problematic in not allowing enough room for usable straight track sections. In other words a cramped condition was created. Initial testing of the new turnout was done at the South end of the interchange track. Although this was successful, yard turnouts have yet to be installed and tested. The geometry in the yard area is more acute and may yet cause problems. Keeping fingers crossed, omscaler
As this post is written, the building of the Union City module is well underway. Not to be trite but the method of construction of the top layer is being done in a modular way. The main drive channel sections are being built as one half or three eighths inch wide sections. The length varies according to the need. After this, main terrain sections will be installed. The number of turnouts needed for this module is a record twelve. Sounds small but, trust me, it gets bigger as you begin building. Still, the newest turnout building method will help. The a fore mentioned PS-1 boxcar project has turned out well and more car diagrams have been included in the laser project file. All in all, things have gotten very busy on The Very Small Railroad. Onward and upward. Or is it downward? Onward and littler? You pick one. Until next post, omscaler
Now that the Hull house is complete, the next phase of The Very Small Railroad will start. Specifically, the sub-roadbed building will start. This is on the new Union City module. An idea for an improved PS 1 boxcar has been implemented as far as the basic car diagram is concerned. This improvement will go hand in hand with the overall railcar upgrades being planned. Unfortunately, omscaler can only do one thing at a time so we will just move forward one thing at a time. This is not to say that work on one project will be halted in order to work on another. Sometimes inspiration strikes. Still inspired, omscaler
Well, the big day finally arrived. Last Thursday the Hull house was completed and installed on the module. I have to say this has been the most challenging build I have done. It was supposed to have been started in February. The more time it took, the more I seemed to have to do. If one looks closely at the pics, lines that are supposed to be parallel are not. Angles that should be right angles are not. If I seem to be satisfied overall, I am not. However, on the plus side, this is another landmark project for the Very Small Railroad. The William Hull house actually exists in Murphysboro, Illinois. The home is an asymmetrical, Italianate style building. Formerly a bed and breakfast, it is now believed to be a private residence. I have never seen a roof like this one. I hope I never get the urge to build one like it again. The real house has much more exterior decoration. One each upper and lower windows were left off by accident. The actual roof is very dark gray. We did learn a more precise way to use the hobby laser as evidenced by the porch railing and “wrought iron” front fence. The direction the house faces may be changed in time. Where to next? The Union City, Tennessee module beckons. Gearing up for the next phase, omscaler
Note to readers: This post in large part is a duplicate post that was entered on the TrainBoard forum last Friday. Omscaler posts there under the name gmorider.
Omscaler has noticed something always happens. As projects are being worked on the timeline for completion somehow automatically expands. The the Hull house project for example. Omscaler keeps thinking, “If I do one more step then the project will be complete”. The next thing I know, I am thinking “It would be good to make this addition”. And so it is with the Hull house. Right now the house proper is complete. The porches are done. The family has moved in. So what is the hold up? As it turns out, omscaler has decided to add a front fence. It is a challenge to make a wrought iron type fence in this scale. Therefore a compromise will be used. Ya’ gotta’ do whatcha’ gotta’ do. It is expected that the last part of this project will be completed by the end of the week. With much anticipation, omscaler
