Label: Serendipity, that's the word.

As previously related, I am working on a town named Murphysboro. Located in southern Illinois. It is situated in an area known as the Shawnee Hills, actually the Eastern Ozarks. What is less commonly known is Murphysboro was the unlucky participant in the Tri-state tornado of 1925. The storm was one mile wide. Its effects were deadly. Thirty-five people killed when a roof came down at the M&O shops. Also, five hundred injured here as well.  A school was struck and children were killed and injured. After-math photographs show wrecked houses and buildings. The place looked like a war zone. A tragic time. The M&O passenger station was not damaged. The old roundhouse is now a printing business. Still, I was hoping to find some good pictures of the roundhouse. I looked and looked online. Many were there. None were what you would call a close up. Still, what I saw gave me hope. I felt like I could get the job done. I could not find any with the turntable showing. It is long gone. However, and this is what gave me hope, I did find an old aerial picture of the roundhouse with what looks like the turntable. The picture is grainy. But still, Serendipity! I think this will help me get the measurements I need. As a last note, the main roadbed through town has been started just a few minutes ago. Til next time, a once again elated, omscaler

Label: Module has begun!

Yes, the long awaited first module has been started. As previously stated, this module will be a partial section of Murphysboro, Illinois. A once important hub of the old Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Then later, the Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Designing the module has been very challenging. I must admit. But the reward outweighs the difficulties. The hardest part was determining what to include and what to leave out. A scale Omega Scale mile is thirteen and three quarter feet long. The section of downtown Murphysboro I was looking at was just over ninety percent of a mile in length. The old railroad shop area was several blocks wide and even more in length. I am going to use a module size of three feet by one foot. This situation mandated eliminating and rearranging actual physical elements of the actual town. Model railroaders call this “selective compression”. My goal is to capture the flavor of this location. I believe it can be done. Until next time, omscaler

Label: Good old summertime

Well, hot and humid weather is upon us. It seems like I stay in more in the summer than in the winter. As previously mentioned, I have decided to model Murphysboro, Illinois. The town having a connection with the GM&O railroad and an apple festival and all. It seems that the folks in the Shawnee Hills area would have cooler summers as well. Maybe I should research on location by living there? Maybe not! I heard on the radio that the government in that state (maybe just Chicago) was going to raise property taxes so high that no one could leave because no one would by their home. Sounds like they are being railroaded to me. Another pun, I know. Well, hot or no, I will move forward with plans now made. Apparently not permanently in Illinois though. Yours again, an unusually political omscaler

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