The Home Machinist!

https://youtube.com/shorts/DN-acmLthn8?feature=share The loco has a body now, and I've got it going around pretty reliably! I need to come up with a more efficient motor, the record for trips around the loop now stands at 37 times in a row with one derailment. I've also started working on the yard t...

I now have the "loco" working pretty good, and the track cooperated today. A short vid of the latest goings on... https://youtu.be/_VL4vQNu5ww

Holy cow, a response! Thank you for the kind words, Dick, you might wind up with a bunch of them...

I've seen pics of a Bangor and Aroostook mogul that appealed to me, it was very clean looking, not a lot of piping, doo dads, and things hung on the sides of the boiler to mess up the lines. At least the side they took the pic from, anyway. There doesn't seem to be much B&A equipment modeled out...

Here's the next two iterations of my Step Stakes. First one, pictured next to the first PRR keystone whistle post for comparison, is a MKT 1/8 scale whistle post. I haven't seen any MKT signage out there, so hopefully there's some interest. If you want some, let me know, and I'll cast as ordered. Th...

Famous last words. And it was working so well. I decided to mess around with my locomotive today, thought I had the chains lined up and tensioned better. It did work, honestly! I had gone around the loop three or four times before I took this video. And, after I fixed this bung up, I went around fiv...

Looking back on my post about them, it's not exactly clear what my new StepStakes are. Set a couple out on my RR to show them in use. Even though the ground was still a bit on the frozen side, with the assistance of my trusty pickaxe to make a pilot hole I was able to set them up no prob. Here they ...

And here it is, the first Step Stake. This one is a PRR keystone whistle post, roughly 16" overall length, and the sign is roughly 1/8th scale. Price is $20 per pair, fully painted, only sold in pairs, and I can fit 3 pair in a medium flat rate box. This is the first iteration of the Step Stake...

Just to add to the fun, when I saw this I decided to make a scale spectacle for PRR5406. Just because. Sometimes I get an idea stuck in my head and have to get it out. I had the materials on hand, too, which is always nice. It's not exactly made to a particular scale, I'm guessing 1/4 scale or small...

Hemmed and hawed about showing this one, but what the heck. This is a custom sign I did for the same gentleman that I made the "Tunnel" sign for. And yes, I have his permission to show it. He wanted a locomotive on the sign, and after some discussion he decided on a head on view, and he se...

That's a thought, good suggestion. I've also thought about downsizing my "Station 1 Mile" sign, amongst other things. A lot of my signage currently is approximately quarter scale, having it 1/8th might be better, but doing letters smaller is a bit of a PITA. I'm going to do the diamond sig...

So far, here are the toppers for the step stakes. This should cover a good percentage of whistle posts. I'm still working on the non- whistle post toppers. I'm working on building additional flasks to speed up production when I start casting. If you want a specific topper that you don't see here, an...