UNION CITY PASSENGER DEPOT

All aboard! Passengers are now enjoying the brand-new passenger station in Union City, Tennessee.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

What we are doing now

 The next project has been started. Omscaler is building the Union Station that was located in Union City, TN. The reason it was called a union station is because both the GM&O and NC&StL railroads used this location. Currently, the building now serves as the Obion County Chamber of Commerce. A great save for railroad history. The architecture appears M&O/GM&O. I say this because the normal NC&StL depot color is yellow with green trim. A great example of this can be seen today in Albertville, Alabama. Another great save for railroad history. A smaller depot can also be seen in Guntersville, Alabama. Anyway, the building diagrams have been completed as of last Thursday paving the way for actual construction. Next up, if nothing changes, will be the William Hull, italianate style house in Murphysboro, Illinois. Big doins’ on The Omega Scale railway. Busy building, omscaler

 

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Done and done times three

As you can see, the three locomotive project has been called complete. The start date on this was February 16th, 2023. Completion date: August 21st, 2023. This averages about two months per locomotive. If there was less procrastination, the time would have been less. From left to right we have 2-8-0 GM&O #2994, 4-4-0 Gulf, Mobile and Northern #33, and 2-8-0 GM&O #2998. The two consolidations have “The Alton Route” slogans on both sides of the tenders. #33 American was inspired by pics and information on Hawkinsrails.net. Gulf, Mobile & Northern was one of the older railroads that became part of the GM&O. A number of new techniques were used on this project. Overall, these were successful. A more distant focal length on the camera was used to hide the many “warts” that seem to pop up with close-ups. I like the improved roof lines, crisper tender lines and laser cut cab sides I had previously mentioned. There are some alignment flaws that may not be visible to us regular humans. Also, in the rear of the line-up is the old Mogul (jealous, not doubt). omscaler is still pondering the next project. Also, a module extension has been prepared to use. The legs of the module table were extended about five inches. The module top measures thirty inches by sixty inches. This will expand the layout possibilities in the future. The next two building projects will be the Union City passenger depot and the William Hull house of Murphysboro. Stuff to do galore! Staying cool and prepping up, omscaler

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Rounding the bend

As this post is written, the 4-4-0, American locomotive needs only a front pilot. The other two locomotives need boiler top appliances and pilots. Omscaler was out of town Saturday for a family visit and much needed break from the routine. Hopefully Monday will be a very productive day for the locomotive assemblies. Getting so close, omscaler

 

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

A critical point

As of last week, all boiler and cab assemblies are attached to wheel frames. This brings us a lot closer to completion. It is expected that the additional locomotive parts will be done somewhat slowly. Most of these parts are already made. This being the case, time will be saved. Other components are a new design, and this normally takes a little more time to make and install. Until next post, omscaler

 

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

A roof for our heads

 By the time this is posted, final locomotive assembly should be well underway. Omscaler feels compelled to correct some things regarding the previous post. What should have stated was that cab “side” walls were attached. Also, only one locomotive, the 4-4-0 has scalloped rear roof areas. Omscaler in fact decided a small corner cut would suffice. Much simpler. Trust me. Omscaler knows that the comment process is a little “unhandy” but readers should feel free to suggest a future project. Doing the good work, omscaler

 

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

To bend and bend again

Omscaler is happy to report that cab walls are attached to cab floors. The next step is cab roofs. Hence the phrase written above. If one studies the shapes involved, you will see compound curves. Also, you will see compound curve cuts. All of these provide more fun than one can imagine. First, a piece of sheet card stock will be cut to cab length. This is the easy part. Then the piece must be curved to the shape of the cab roof. Not so easy. The curve right above the window is a relatively small radius. This radius becomes somewhat large toward the center of the roof. On each side of the rear of the cab roof are the aforementioned compound curve cuts. When omscaler completes all these, he will pat himself on the back. Working toward self congratulation, omscaler

 

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

(Another?) cautionary tale

Yes, dear readers, omscaler has had to solve a rather sticky production problem. Everything started out well enough. Scan in a drawing that was done on a master drawing sheet. As a point of fact, the new drawing was of a set of locomotive cabs needed for the current project. The drawings were added to a sheet of previous drawings used for storing the same for laser cutting when needed. The scan went well as usual. Then the idea of copying and pasting the new cab drawings from the master file to a new blank file was done. No problem. The cab drawing was “cleaned up” (more on that in another post). Then pasted into the laser cutting file. The laser was readied. The cut was started. Then something strange happened. Omscaler noticed that the cut time seemed unusually long. Not good. When the same was finished, the finished cab side was huge. Looked four times larger than it needed to be. What went wrong? Omscaler began to investigate. All looked well. Let’s try another cut. This time span seemed better. The finished cut was too small. A night’s sleep was planned to avert frustration. The next day, a plan was tried to clean up the cab drawings “in situ”. Then just one drawing was transferred to the laser cut file. The cut turned out on spec. Oh happy day. Then the rest were done correctly as well. What caused the original dimensional deviation? Omscaler does not know. Since we found a solution, we will repeat what works in the future. Sticking to the plan, omscaler