A typical day

Readers may wonder what a typical day on The Omega Scale Railway is like. A recent occurrence may shed light on this question. Omscaler had geared up to make a new boxcar for The Very Small Railway and was busy making the needed parts. Omscaler began to ponder the question, ” Wouldn’t it be good to make some of the needed parts for the next project”? As often happens at times like these, omscaler decided to deviate a little from the project at hand and make enough parts for ten additional rail cars. This did indeed eat into the time needed for the current project. Fortunately, the time used was not too long and will benefit the next project that uses these parts when the need arises. One thing omscaler has learned is that the temptation to get sidetracked often presents itself on The Omega Scale Railway. (Pun intended.) As has been state before, part of the reason is due to a large backlog of potential projects. Omscaler just lives with it and moves on. Right now, omscaler has to deal with the fact that one of the current project parts was cut too short. Fortunately, this has become a somewhat rare happening and will be easily remedied.

    Another peculiarity of The Very Small Railroad is the power system. We now live in a time when locomotives are often equipped with Direct Command Control. If readers are familiar with this feature, they know how sophisticated model locomotives have become. DCC is the wave of the future for many modelers. Due to the locomotives on The Omega Scale Railway being attached to a subsurface cord, omscaler often explains that we have DCC also. “Direct Cord Control” that is. Always time for a little humor on The OSR! Chuckling along, omscaler

 

Will we do it?

Yes. That is the question. Our efforts on The Very Small Railroad consists of two main efforts right now. First. A new drive linkage is being developed. Omscaler thinks it will be operational by the end of this week or sooner (we hope). The old one worked but gave us problems going through turnouts. This new one should perform better. Second. We have an older type boxcar in the works. Details to follow. Management of the GM&O Murphysboro division was both proud and happy to receive the first group of covered hoppers. A customer in Tennessee, The West Tennessee Sand, Gravel and Cement Company, has won a bid with the Illinois State Highway Department to supply material as a secondary supplier. It seems that the demand in Chicagoland and elsewhere has exceeded supply as far as state suppliers go. Lots of new road building and maintenance going on. However, still more new cars will be needed. Omscaler plans to rise to the challenge. Gearing up for success, omscaler

 

Just a little more

Just a little more information regarding the covered hoppers that is. Some of omscalers readers always want the nitty gritty details. Omscaler will share a few (or more). The covered hopper project began on September thirteenth and concluded on November seventeenth. Each hopper consists of ninety-six components all of which had to be fabricated. Just to be precise, the Frisco hopper is not the correct color. The color came from the previous Frisco covered hopper which had been scrapped. Apparently omscaler felt compelled to use the same color before a good prototype photo was located. By the time it was, we were so far along that no color change was made. Se la’ vie. As a matter of fact a number of improvements were used to make the project more realistic. While we realize that there are still flaws present we feel that this effort has indeed reached a milestone. The next time even better methods will be used. Some salient points in this regard. The car end frames will be improved. Omscaler thinks the current ones are still too bulky. The under frame is a little wide and could use some refinement as well. A more uniform hatch treatment will be used also. What else? Nothing comes to mind but we will see. The next project. Right now an improved drive linkage is in the works. A very interesting M&StL outside braced wood boxcar is a strong contender for first place. Then what? That as they say will sort itself out. Readers, please feel free to share your ideas in the comment link. It says “no comments” or has a short phrase of someone else’s. Omscaler knows this is counter intuitive but just click on it and type away when you get to the comments page. It will be reviewed by me and posted. Curious and busy, omscaler

 

Summit fever again!

Your erstwhile omscaler is nearing the completion of the final three covered hoppers in this group of railcars. By the time readers see this, they should be 100% complete. Part of the delay came from a vacation day last Tuesday. Traffic on this one was much better than the nightmare traffic experienced last trip. First stop after fuel was the tourist information stop at the Georgia state line (west). After the helpful staff confirmed that my planned route was low traffic and good roads, I left for breakfast at Villa Rica. Then omscaler drove to Cartersville to visit the historic passenger depot. After taking pics, I thought to myself, “I better go ahead and leave to get across the tracks before a train comes.” Lo and behold! As I was just about to get in the car, I heard a train horn from the north side of the area. I thought at this point to just wait and watch the train go by. This as it turned out later was a fortuitous decision. Omscaler then drove through the north side of Cartersville to the freeway. Next stop was Adairsville to get more pics of the depot which was historic and figured in the “Great Locomotive Chase” during the American Civil War. The downtown area is quite picturesque due to the Victorian architecture. Next, headed up the freeway to Dalton, home of carpets and railroads. The visitors center is located in the historic Dalton freight house. The track side loading dock is now a train watching platform. There is also a Southern passenger car on display. The helpful staff lady was kind to show me the television screen that looks out through one of the large windows. This screen receives input from the railroad. The screen has a diagram showing the actual real time signal conditions. All signal aspects were showing red the entire time I was there. Nothing moving. The only train I saw was indeed back at Cartersville. This freight house has an important museum inside. The displays demonstrate the founding of the textile industry here by a young woman. Humble beginnings to significant industry. Omscaler asked the staff person if the old passenger depot still existed. She said it did and game me directions. She also said it was a closed restaurant but the owner was planning to reopen. Turns out omscaler has been in this restaurant on a previous trip some years back. “Deja Vue all over again”. Omscaler knows this has been a long account but as the man said, “One more thing”. Next stop was Prater’s Mill. Interesting place. Mill, lint house(?), cotton gin, mill store, barn, Doctor’s office, six by ten feet(!), barn and...caboose. Tracks are not nearby to my knowledge. I guess the caboose is for a more widespread appeal. Train nuts being what they are. Thus this and the next late lunch stop ended this day trip. Refreshed and working, omscaler

 

New equipment on the property!

About 8:15, PM, Central Standard Time, a brand new thirty-four foot covered hopper was placed on the Murphysboro module. This is the first of four being produced. The reason this one was finished ahead of the others is that omscaler had a friend who wanted to see the railcar. This person had asked about it after we had shared our model railroad activities when I visited the local model railroad club. Since he was kind enough to ask to see the finished work, omscaler decided to push one to completion so as not to prolong his wait. Another reason the lone covered hopper was completed ahead of the others is that some innovative construction methods were being used. This improved the timing enough to go ahead and get it done. Some more improvements will be tried on the remaining three as well. Should not be too long now. Hastening the day, omscaler

 

Back on track

Yep. We have been busy working on the group of four covered hoppers. Right now we have roofs attached to sides, end sheets in place and two sets of center vertical supports in place as well as one set of car end frames. Omscaler has been able to develop a better way of attaching these parts which is naturally a big help. Still a lot more to do. This project is the most detailed car project to date. However sunny weather is beckoning us out doors. Temptation is dogging us. We will persevere. Shoulder to the wheel. Omscaler

 

 

We took the plunge!

Yes! We blasted out of town a few days ago and headed for the great outdoors. But not before we stopped at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, Georgia. And boy what an interesting(?) first leg of the trip. We left Leeds(AL) at a little after 7:00 a.m. We wanted to get fuel in east Oxford in case Georgia gas prices were higher. We did so and tried to get on the freeway. There were locations where fog was somewhat heavy everywhere on the road. Omscaler got gas went to the on ramp and noticed ten or more cars coming up the ramp. Still hazy with sleep I said to myself, “I did not notice this being a two lane road.” What my foggy brain did not realize was that cars had turned around on the ramp. The reason was that the freeway was now a parking lot. After a few moments of mental processing we decided to go to Hwy. 78 East. I guessed that super thick fog on Cheaha ridge had either stopped traffic or had resulted in an accident. After a few miles I was able to get back on the freeway. Smooth sailing all the way to Villa Rica and breakfast. Umm, umm, delicious! After this things got interesting. I had decided to try to go through downtown Atlanta to Get to Interstate 85 north. The last time I was on the 285, traffic was slow and heavy. This decision also turned out to let me experience traffic that was slow and heavy. I eventually got on 85N and drove on. After a few miles up I85, I looked over at the southbound side and noticed traffic was not moving. “How do people live like this?”, I wondered. Anyway, after trundling on for a while, I came to the Duluth exit that I wanted. I got info from the admission person and learned that the miniature train used to reside at the Jimmy Morgan Zoo in Birmingham. He said I could choose this train or the full size one that toured part of the grounds and shop. I told him I had already ridden the little train when I was a boy so I would take the big one. Sometimes things really do come full circle. What an interesting museum. Franklin D’s railcar, steam locomotives, an E8 streamliner and a lot more. I told the conductor I had accidentally climbed up the ladder to the E8. He said the door was locked. After the train ride, I showed the conductor and engineer my sample of an Omega Scale Railway boxcar that I carry around. They were appreciative and invited me to visit the inside of the locomotive that pulled the tour cars we had ridden. I am writing another thank you to these men for their courtesy and favor. Next, omscaler drove to Roswell for a visit to Blue Ox Model Trains. This store has an outstanding inventory! I have not seen this much model railroad inventory in years. After a brief chat and getting some directions (Don’t want to get lost. Do we?), I headed for I-575 north. And here omscaler experienced...wait for it...heavy traffic! After what was a long time, we were able to head to Ellijay for check-in and supper. Whew! The next day I visited and hiked at Fort Mountain State Park. My goal was to see the stone serpent effigy. This effigy is reported to be between 850 and 930 feet long. I only checked out a short section of the site. The identity of the builders remain a mystery to this day. Next I wanted to go to one of the apple orchards for fried apple pie. It was delicious. Then I made my way home. The week of this post should see more progress on the covered hopper project. Roofs are complete now and we will work on smaller parts next. Refreshed and diligent, omscaler