A bell for 622

As a guy who at one time would have talked to a girl rather than solder two wires together, I’m pretty proud of these seven shards of brass and nickel silver that I soldered together to make a bell. Even if it isn’t quite perfectly symmetrical.

Steam dome details for 622

I continue to peck away at the details for 622. Once I figured out how to drill tiny holes again, my lathe made quick work of the whistle and safety valves. The latter sit on a removable brass plate, which fits into a hole in the top of the steam dome casing. This removable subassembly […]

Pilot details for #622

Like most Canada Atlantic locomotives, #622’s pilot was decorated with three hoses. Sure one is for brakes, but I have no idea what the others were for. Even some (but not all) of the switchers had at least one extra hose. More modern locomotives might have a signal and a steam line; usually the signal […]

Honouring the research

In a thought-provoking essay about his prototypical waybills, Tony Thompson asks, “is it merely visual?” He likens the typical approach to model railroad paperwork to operating our railroads with freight cars made of blocks of wood decorated with post-it note reporting marks. If we are happy with representational paperwork, we should also be happy with […]