Fall is here!

 

That’s right! Cool mornings. Low humidity. More distractions! Yep. More distractions means it is harder for omscaler to work on The Very Small Railroad. Football games featuring a grandson. Hiking is in the mix. Just being outside. What to do? Looks like omscaler needs to reorganize and prioritize again. We will get it done. Right now the Mogul is coming along. Cabooses are still not started other than just a few components. And we may have a “Mystery Announcement”. This announcement is just in time for Halloween, if it comes about. Due to current health situation at large this may be subject to change. We shall see. To be clear, the Halloween part is not really connected to the holiday. It just coincides. (Insert happy face.) Outward bound, omscaler

 

Just more work

 

That’s right. We just working along. Believe me. I would like to have more completed effort to crow about but here on The Very Small Railroad progress is sometime very small too. I have a personal resolution to something everyday on The Omega Scale Railway. The biggest hindrance is the need to get away from the work area and get some exercise. Healthy body, healthy mind. Especially, if rainy weather has confine yours truly to the house. I mentioned the other day that making these basic components was a little like shelling peas. Repetitious to be sure. One boxcar needs over sixteen steps to mount just one wheel set. This is why omscaler is so persistent. Ya’ gotta’ do what ya’ gotta’ do. And so we do. Still being persistent, omscaler

 

There is no business like show business

 

There is no business like show business (almost)

Welcome back to The Omega Scale Railway. This week’s blog may be a little different. Just some personal decisions and opinions. Omscaler decided not to attend the Greater Atlanta Train Show. “Why? ”, You may ask. Good question. Omscaler personally loves train shows. Been to as many as I was able. Seeing folks I know. Checking on what is for sale. Enjoying layouts that are operating. Great time! However, when omscaler checked the videos’ of last year’s show, I noticed that it was mostly what I call dealer tables. I only saw one layout at a lower height for children to enjoy. I have no grudge against all of this but I prefer shows with the above mentioned characteristics. So, I wished this show much success, but I did try to be outdoors at the time of the show. Other shows are coming up and I hope to see many folks there. As far as the current projects go, we are making spare parts anticipating the Mogul and cabooses will need them. Still working, omscaler

 

Of cabooses and Kings

 

This weeks post title is reminiscent of Mr. Carrol’s classic Alice In Wonderland. Instead of lowly cabbages we are naturally working with cabooses. Omscaler feels fortunate to be using GM&O cabooses. The reason being is that the cupola is centered. This is a little better than having the cupola on one end like many other roads. A centered cupola means the caboose does not need to be turned although almost all other railroads just simply ran the caboose “backwards”. A backward caboose has a little less viewing angle as far as watching the train is concerned. So we will will be using a handy caboose type which the GM&O used until they got centered “wide vision” cabooses. As far as the “King” we mentioned. We are building a “Mogul”. Similar title in my opinion. This is a locomotive with a 2-6-0 wheel arrangement. Two wheel front trucks were used for freight locomotives. Four wheel for passenger locomotives. However the railroads used these interchangeably whenever a pressing need arose. Fabricating away, omscaler

 

The work continues

 

To update our readers, the shakedown operations of the new 0-6-0 shifter was very successful. Some tweaking is still needed but it seems that it is confined to the coupler heights either on the shifter (not likely) or a railcar or two. This was expected due to railcar modifications. All in a days work here on the very small railroad. Next in line after a few car repairs are the Mogul (2-6-0) and two cabooses. The cars are in the shop due to needing a more recent structural upgrade or in one case a faulty retainer member. We shall see. Chuffing along, omscaler

 

Finally, paydirt!

 

     Last post, readers were informed that the shifter rebuild was steaming along. Omscaler is proud to announce that as of Monday, August thirty-first at approximately five fifteen P.M., the shifter was pronounced done. This was definitely a study in persistence. The cab alone has about twelve parts including internal bracing. The inclusion of seven top “appliances” took some effort as well. This is the fourth iteration of this particular locomotive. Some new features are a bell, a front number plate (no number readable), a primer toned cab roof hatch (for ventilation) and a more prototypical appearance to complete the project. The shifter is residing on the module and will soon begin shakedown operations. Wish us luck. Feeling lucky, omscaler

 

And more digging

 

At this point in the shifter rebuild, we have gotten couplers, frame, drive wheels, cross head yoke, cross head guides, cross head, drive rods, sides rods and boiler yoke done. Currently underway is the cab and not much else. We have the sides, front and back, and floor cut out and black pigment applied. We still need the roof and to put it all together. As you may have noticed, the parts have had black pigment applied. Previously, omscaler has worked with black cardstock. The type of carstock is 110#. It has a tendency to delaminate when worked too vigorously. This tendency is very aggravating. The last shifter build used the new 100# stock which is white in color. What happened was that after the cab was assembled, pigment was applied. The pigment acted like a solvent on the glue. We had to slow down and reglue some parts. This time we have applied pigment before assembly to remedy this problem. So far so good. We still need to cut the forward and rear wall radii (radiusses to some). Next will be the roof with a roof transom. Then on to the main boiler jacket and fire box. Lots to do. Moving along, omscaler