Label: Continuous quality improvement

That's right. We at The Omega Scale Railway believe that doing the best job we can is paramount. That is why when we began testing “roadability” of our rolling stock and did not like what we saw, we decided to more or less go back to square one. That is we reworked the equipment specs from the ground up regarding what we needed for the rolling stock to operate as realistically as possible. I proud to say that results were good, may be even above average. Anyway, there was a marked improvement. I did not want to delay development, but we needed to provide a base line of reliability for the rolling stock. We now have that. So, forward we go. As a little teaser, we have received unofficial word that certain “entities (?)” will be paying us a visit, hopefully in the near future. Once again, an enigmatic omscaler

Label: Our New Arrival!

Our new arrival is pictured above and the boxcar has been moved to the archives. We are so proud! Join us at The Omega Scale Railway in welcoming our newest member of the family. After some challenges and delays our new baby is finally here. The new member is our 0-6-0 Shifter, a steam switch engine. This type was used by hundreds of railroads. We at The Omega Scale Railway have remiss in the fact that we have components for hundreds of rolling-stock and nothing to haul them with. Sounds like the national government has been planning this doesn't it. Well, in fact some of the problem was due to the necessity of placing a bulk order. Nevertheless, management at The Omega Scale Railway takes full responsibility for the preponderance of boxcars. Next we will need a road engine. The little switcher we have now will probably need a brother as well. But, going forward, let's see if we can get some freight shipped over the main line. What is in the works is a type 2-6-0 mogul. A work horse of the early days of railroading some of which lasted until diesels came into full use. As usual, a newly motivated and industrious omscaler

Label: How to get from A to B          

As was previously mentioned, a formidable array of railway car information was being assembled. Often, lesser known roadnames were omitted. The task was still Herculean. I exaggerate a little, just a little. Why this effort. Well art and craft imitate life. Particularly in the miniature world. And another thing, the railways always had many railcars on the property that were not their own roadname. Even though this was not always the case. Back in the day, railways trans-loaded cargoes. A strenuous task no doubt. Then as time and service became more important, the railroads worked out a plan to exchange cars. The carriers paid or charged a daily fee if cars stayed off their own railroad an excessive amount of time. This charge was called demurrage. Never heard of it before I read about it. A legal term no doubt. Anyway, this is why such distant roadnames appear in such out of the way places. omscaler

Label: The essence of time and place

Among my trove of railroad related literature is an edition of the GM&O Historical Society News which has a cover photo of two boys. The photo was taken, of course, back in the heyday of American railroading. The reason I like the picture is that the two boys appear to be about the same ages as myself and by younger brother. And they are pursuing that great American past-time, watching trains. The train is traveling through or by the edge of town. Big red and maroon engines, heavy freight in tow. “What a great shot.”, I say to myself every time I see this picture. Two boys, bigger and littler just watching trains. Americana at its best. Actually, my younger brother was more interested in cars. Understandable. And no railway was located near the house. But still, that picture reminds me of me and my brother when we were younger. Til next time, a nostalgic omscaler

Label: The Legion vast

     As previously reported, freight car reporting marks were elaborated upon. This part of the project has indeed expanded. This is due to research in rail car numbers as well as road name reporting marks mentioned in the preceding post. What was determined was that railroads had hundreds to thousands of rail cars in service. This fact, though seemingly obvious, becomes acutely to the forefront when one starts this kind of research. The problem is, which do you include and which do you leave out? In my case, I will be injecting some of my personal favorites just for fun. You would do the same if you were me. Still, the preponderance of choices is immense, very immense. Further still, we at The Omega Scale Railway specialize in overcoming challenges. We believe that we can reach a balance that will be both enjoyable and practical at the same time. The work has begun! Or, should I say, “The fun has begun!”. Your omscaler

Label: The devil in the details

That's right, the omscaler has been working on the details. “What details?” you may wonder. Well, what I did was compile a list of freight car reporting marks series. A rather extensive list by the way. I did use some abbreviations to ease the task of course. Real railroads, they were large, had thousands of rail cars. The reporting marks were required by law. They were simple identifying letters and numbers for each car. The minimum required reporting were the railroad's initials and the individual car number. These were required to be placed in a specific place. Some railroads had just these reporting marks. Others had logo's, the railroad's motto, i.e., Ship it on the Frisco!, Etc. some went so far as have advertising or a blurb for the railroad's name passenger trains, “The Broadway Limited”, for example. The Santa Fe had a stylized partial route map with popular passenger destinations featured. Many variations on the rail cars appeared. So for right now, we have just the basics. Further details will be posted. Omscaler

Label: The one to three eighty-four landscape

It has just occurred to this writer that the Omega Scale landscape might be sparse indeed. I was thinking back to the article that got me started down this road. I have only seen one “live” example of the scale some years ago since then. I guess I am looking forward to the day when everyone has a least a little knowledge about Omega Scale or has even seen it if not owns some of it. But still, I can't help wondering, “Who else is out there?”.  Where are the fellow developers users? Am I like the fellow in the nursery rhyme, with lantern in hand, “...searching all through the night...”? Well fortunately, I can see the sunrise and it indicates a clear blue sky. And speaking of landscape, what will I build the grass and trees from? And what about buildings? And what about water features? And what about lighting? See, the fun never stops on The Omega Scale Railway. Until next week, omscaler