Gondolas! Ah, Venice. 

Well not really. Omscaler is working on gondolas, but not the floating kind. As readers may know, a gondola is a railcar with low sides and an open top. Sort of a flat car with high sides. This ubiquitous car hauled anything that could be loaded and hauled out in the elements. Pipes, steel, sand, coal, gravel, wood. You name it. Sometimes, if hoppers were short, you would see more “gons” than hopper cars in the train. Once when I was riding in a car many years ago, the car was traveling alongside the railway. A couple of L&N gondolas had turned over and dumped many cubic yards of coal right beside the road. Why they had done this was a mystery to me. Both the road and railway were in a perfectly flat area. As a side note, sometimes gondolas come with bottom doors or side opening doors to dump the load. Normally the load is taken out the top. 'til next time, O sole' mio!, omscaler

A few more thoughts and ideas 

As you readers know, omscaler has acquired an electronic die cutting machine. To give you an update, the critical first trial of a hopper car side was not good. I was in fact expecting this. As you know omscaler deals in micro-engineering so I knew tolerances would be tight. Still I am not discouraged as I will be testing the device on large radius curve cutting and building sides and roofs as well. If these go well, it will be a big help. I suspect this is where, hopefully, the machine will come into its own. Still a-buildin', omscaler

More on flatcars

Since I now have one flatcar working and another almost complete, I thought I would clue in the readers on what we will be doing. The initial loads will be ties and rails. The cars were built originally built to a forty foot length. This accommodates thirty-nine foot rails. So now M&O 11013 or M&O 11025 can carry material to the railhead to further extend the line. We will be working south toward Union City Tennessee. Still busy, omscaler

Dateline: Murphysboro, Illinois

Wednesday, August, 21, at approximately 11:13 A.M., the first of possibly many flatcars was successfully brought onto the Gulf Mobile & Ohio Railroad property. This was followed by a great sigh of relief by yours truly, omscaler. We did bring it on without graphics due to my high state of excitement. As readers know, omscaler is easy to excite when it comes to the Very Small Railroad, also known as the OSR. Anyway, we will have graphics is short order and flatcar number two likewise. Working along, omscaler

What a difference a day makes!

Woke up early to find the sky as clear as a bell and temperatures actually pleasant. What a glorious day! So what's the catch? Well, it seems that on days like today I have to get some chores done. And then there is the siren call of sunshine and fresh air. All of this competes with OSR time. Decisions, decisions. Have you ever wanted to be two people at once or maybe hire a housekeeper. Oh well, and by the way, the first flatcar looks great. Just like I hoped. Now we can get some real work done. If that is possible on an imaginary railroad? Yours, trying not to be ambivalent, omscaler

Moving forward 

Last post I discussed the flatcar project. The cutting guide is working well and we are moving along. This cutting guide idea will, as I probably already mentioned, let me make a variety of different car types. This is important because the real railroads used different car types. Obviously, the boxcar is relatively simple to fabricate. The refrigerator car is basically an insulated boxcar with roof hatches or mechanical refrigeration machinery depending on the year of manufacture. All of this uses simple rectangles. What has just been completed, hopefully, is the flatcar project. Just a simple deck supported by side frames, right? As stated before, there is little to no room in the upper area. When I redid some boxcars, I was able to put a retaining pin up into the car body proper. Not with these babies. No room. I have to stop any intrusions below the deck or it will be unnaturally visible. Gotta' maintain realism. So care is required. Also, as I said above, side cutting guides were developed. This is because some flat cars had simple rectangular sides. The ones I am doing have angled sides. More fun, right? Actually, they are a challenge to get right. Next will be gondolas. Same thing. The first types had simple rectangular sides. Later on, angled lower ends, similar to flatcars.  Another cutting guide is called for. After that, coal/material hoppers. The sides have an upper angle extension. Down under triangle like extensions, which are recessed to boot.  Still another cutting guide called for. The bright side of this as I said before, these guides have a tendency to help speed things along. They also help with accuracy. Working along, omscaler

A little more flatcar progress 

As readers know, I have been working on flatcars for the OSR. This has been an unusually slow project. But now there is light at the end of the tunnel. Another pun. I was able to develop a cutting guide for the car sides. So far this type of car has been the most challenging due to small tolerances and little room. But as The Omega Scale Railway readers have learned, omscaler practically thrives on challenges. The cutting guide is simple but keeps specs in line. Also, the same technique can be used on other railcars as well. By the time of this post, flatcars should be on the property. Working onward, omscaler