And then it was seventy...

Yep. After the frozen came the toasty. I live in an odd place. The winters are most foul until it warms up. The summers have heat exceeded only by humidity. However, we at The Very Small Railroad persevere. Mostly due to air-conditioning. Keeps warpage to a minimum. As far as the specific work goes, There have been some interesting developments. We have developed components that let us eliminate about two parts of running gear and are much simpler to make as well as working much better. We have also decided to use a strong center beam on the rolling stock which helps when shoving cars. The improvement also lets us use a simple rod instead of a formed “J-hook” configuration. This saves time, material and effort. Initial trials have been very successful. We are hopeful for success with multiple car testing at this point. This is why we are upgrading all railcars and may do the same for locomotives too. On another train of thought (you thought you would get away without a pun), The Winter Train Show, hosted by Smokey City Rails, was last Friday and Saturday. I was accompanied by my youngest grandson. It was good to see some folks I had not seen for a long time. I have been informed that the April Train Show will take place in Gadsden, Alabama. I hope to see you there. Working the plan, omscaler

 

Brrr outside!

The outside temp is indeed cold. Omscaler is glad to be able to be indoors and work on The Very Small Railroad and this blog. The real railroaders, however, are also the “real snowmen ( or women)”. They work regardless. Tough people. They work with picks and shovels at times to un-ice turnouts. Rails sometimes need clearing from deep snow. The work never ends. That is why omscaler thought about giving them a little time on this blog. Here’s hoping that all the rail workers stay safe and strong. As we continue into the new year here, we have encountered a challenge ourselves. We are experiencing a lot of friction when we try to move multiple cars. Nasty little surprise it is. Happily we have a working plan to overcome this problem. It is what we do. Omscaler hopes to work on simultaneous projects this year in order to try to get more done. We will keep you posted. Omscaler

 

Happy Anniversary!

Yes! Happy Four Year Anniversary! “Whose anniversary is it”? the reader may ask. “Why”, says omscaler,”It’s ours”! This blog is four years young and you dear readers who have come along on this journey have been a big part of the success of this effort. You have my heartfelt thanks. The blog was in fact begun on Valentine’s Day, 2017. Work on The Omega Scale Railway was started Summer of 2015. Building The Very Small Railway has been as rewarding as it has been challenging. The building has indeed been slow and a study in patience but that is how we learn. And learn we have. We started not from the ground up but from the ”sub-surface” up. Even now we need trees and multi-story buildings. The sky is the limit. (Actually the ceiling.) A little Omega Scale humor. It is omscaler’s firm hope that the year 2021 is a landmark year for accomplishments on The Very Small Railroad. We will certainly try out best. Thank you again and working diligently, omscaler

 

Done and almost done?

Yep. The cabooses are finally complete. They were operable as of last post but lacked some of the details omscaler wanted to include to have a higher level of craftsmanship. So, the most challenging of details were indeed added. This effort did cause one particular detail to be added the day after last post. This effort was well worth the extra effort as the cabooses show forth a higher level of realism. Always a worthy goal on The Omega Scale Railway. The cabooses are GM&O numbers 2831 and 2835. Waiting to whistle off, omscaler

 

Are we there yet (still)?

On long vacation drives, the tradition is for children to ask their parents, “Are we there yet?”. This is done soon after departure and many time repeated during the drive. The purpose of the inquiries are not to gather information but to remind said parents how much a vacation is needed. Omscale makes these remarks with tongue in cheek. As a matter of fact, the cabooses may be at the ninety percent completion as of last posting and will definitely be complete when readers see this post. Barring some kind of disaster. This post will be published on Ground Hog’s Day and omscaler wishes all the very best on this auspicious occasion. Still digging, omscaler

 

More progress

Nope we were not there yet as of last post. I think by this posting we will have a least one caboose in the rail yard. This project was more ground breaking than omscaler realized. I should have suspected this at the start. Waycar, crummy, bobber, all names used other that caboose. The hope is that the work doesn’t deserve the name “crummy”. This is some of the reason that completion time is so long. As a side note there are four, that’s right fout box cars in the shop for upgrading. I hope this is the last group. As for the trees, they have been shunted to the back burner. I hope to get to them by week's end. Shoulder to the wheel, omscaler

 

The week that should have been

If last week had been perfect, it was: “Hello again dear readers!, Well, we have two shiny new cabooses and leafy new trees!”. Since it was not perfect we had more planning and working on two cabooses. A discrepancy in the main deck dimension was discovered and had to have new components cut out. The trees are technically still drying even though they have been dried well by now. We did figure out a way to save time on installing caboose windows. Hooray! So, as of Saturday night past we were attaching caboose walls together. We will see what we get done by Tuesday morning, the post time of these blogs. Getting a little more done, omscaler