How big are those holes anyway?

Before I go easing out the holes in the connecting rods, wouldn’t it be nice to know which one is the tightest, and ease that one first? To my eye, the fit of each crankpin is indistinguishable. So, in an attempt to get scientific about the question, I’ve created some pin gauges. Now after a […]

Edging closer to smooth

Now that 622 has a motor, I hooked up some alligator clips to see how it behaves. There is a hesitancy at the quarters, which makes me believe there is a slight quartering issue, despite my efforts to limit it. It’s unsurprising because I could feel some stiffness when rolling the chassis by hand. Really […]

Motor installed in 622

November is one of those months when life gets in the way of model railroading around here. Even though the weather is perfect for modelling, little gets done on the trains in this month. I had hoped to get 622 running in October, but when I first installed the motor, I found that the idler […]

Modelling at Vancouver Train Expo

With fall well and truly under way, it must be time for BC’s biggest model train show. I spent most of Sunday at the “Craftsman’s Corner,” demonstrating that some of us still make models, despite the chequebook appearance of the hobby. This year, I had the opportunity to share the table with Mike Barone and […]

Torque arm for 622

I puzzled until my puzzler was sore about how to affix a torque arm to the NWSL 28:1 gearbox. #10 taught me that we want the arm to be as beefy as possible. But these little 4-4-0s don’t allow us to be profligate with space. In particular, there is no extra space on top of […]

Pembroke Compositions

Mike Cougill’s excellent post about story influencing layout design brought back some thoughts I jotted down about composition, and that take on new significance as I think about the layout’s role in the room. Mike’s layout tells a completely different story from Pembroke, but perhaps we can both take some lessons from the art world […]