The Home Machinist!

I am starting an article on different coal types and want to know what you all are using. I have Pochohontas, Austrailian Char, and Utah coal in hand. I know a lot of people use Welsh (when available) and looking to get my hands on a gallon or so for comparison. What I need to know is if there are a...

I had a blast of a time as well. Thanks to our thread originator, I had my obligatory fine cigar on my birthday Wednesday and one hell of a bottle of syrah made by the same a few nights later. The Chloe ran like the wind, and that Austrailian Char is the best hard stuff for the boiler. No smoke prob...

My take on brakes is not to require them, but to stipulate a stopping distance that must be met (Say within 50' on a 2% grade) without putting your feet down. I do not have train brakes, but my engine and tender brakes will meet the above requirement with no problems with a 6 car train loaded with p...

Shotgun brish here. I have it on the end of an electric drill and do a quick in-out (sometimes twice for really bad days) and that's it. The copper tubes in the Chloe have been in there for 35 years. One of the prvious owners used sand and air to sandblast out the tubes (he used to be an SP steam en...

Chris,

The only thing about grinding the rail, is that those vermin have gnawed pretty far on them. You may not have any rail left! ;-)

Matt

Please notice in all of Mike's photos that I am not driving in any of them. That's right, daddy doesn't really get to run anymore (who's train is this anyway?). I did get a few laps (about three) of the 12 or so the Chloe went around, and Mike got but a single lap around for himself. Hey, this is a ...

Lesson: Just let it go...let it go... You mean like a week ago when my boxcar went of the loading hoist down 4.5' to the ground on one end? Yes, it was interesting to watch it, but there was no damage to me. (actually, there was no real damage to the car as well, and those 1.5" scale cars are ...

Andy,

There are 4 3/4" club riding cars available for all to use. There is a policy for using 4 3/4" for riding, but you can have as many of 3 1/2" cars as you wish for a nice looking train.

Matt Mason
Editor
The Home Railway Journal
www.homerailwayjournal.com

I just wanted to let everyone know that the small scales meet at GGLS is still on and will still be on Saturday September 5, 2009. However, it has come to my attention that there will not be a regular run day on Sunday, Sept 6, due to a wedding of one of the members, so we will not be able to run th...

That Tich was a blast to watch. Mike did a wonderful job on rebuilding his loco. Jack, I can't agree about dusting off those small scale engines more. In fact, a great place to do that is at the GGLS small scales meet this Labor Day weekend on Saturday. I think it is time for a shameless plug for it...

One cannot know the grades this railroad uses (8+ percent going backwards on the switchback) unless you ride it. This is an amazing railroad with some really historic locomotives. The sound is almost deafening if you are in the first car. Matt Mason Editor The Home Railway Journal www.homerailwayjou...

Love the Kromer cap! (That's the polka dotted hat.) Kromer caps were not welders caps, but engineers hats made by a wife in the midwest for her engineer husband. I will have my blue one with white polka dots or my banana leaf hat on. Just got bad news last night when looking over my 1.5" Steepl...