Art - I think we are beginning to see the limits of 3d printing for our hobby. It is far more practical (and cost effective) for small detailed objects than large bulk constructions for the final "pro

There aren't a lot of good images of these Granby Hidden Creek (Anyox) 3 foot Baldwin steeple cabs. Here's (attached) what I have in my Anyox image collection. Ed Weldon

Here's one other thought. Develop an 8 driver basic ("adjustable") steam chassis that can be used as a 2-8-0, 2-6-0 Baldwin, 2-6-0 Cooke, 4-4-0, 2-4-0, 2-4-4 or whatever else can be fitted over it in

I think we ought to take a look at the way the HOn30 modelers have gone. There are very limited rtr locos and they are small industrial types. So they have generally stayed away from Western USA proto

For most model railroaders the hobby has a big social element in it. The cultural effect of the pandemic has hurt that. I think it's good to talk about it and share positive thoughts on what comes nex

Don - Those images of the Ames power plant answer a lot of questions. Thank you. EdW

Joe - Here's 3 images of the Lee Vining, CA, power sub-station on route 395 from Google Earth street view (downloaded today). Lots of wood power poles in view. They are common out there for main power

Thanks, Duncan. Tomorrow I get to dig into my pile of Gazettes looking for the following articles (found in the NGSL Gazette Indexes) Jan., 1990 pg 70; May 2004 pg 64, both by Harry Brunk and March, 1

Does anyone here have a dimensional drawing of the DSP&P original Forks Creek bridge (not the later C&S replacement). Or know where I can find one? There was a nice model Jim Vail made on his layout;

On the subject of fingers --- In one of my engineering jobs I was responsible for a small workshop that the engineers and techs could use. It had a floor standing drill press. My simple rule on work h

On the subject of power tools, has anyone here gotten familiar with any of the new breed of portable band saws? I want something for the hobby room that I can set up with a good 24 tooth Lenox bimetal

Dale - You are spot on. But for every crazy high price there is a bargain on eBay. Here's a tip for finding them. Do an "HOn3" search on eBay at around 9-10pm eastern time and narrow it to only "buy i

When you work in HOn3 the laws of physics are on your side. The highest stresses, those that take the material past the yield threshold, come from only few sources: 1. Handling by outsized giant being

Think about building a cutoff "saw" using 3” x .03” x 3/8” Cut-Off Wheels by Black Hawk Abrasives driven by a 25,000 rpm die grinder instead of low speed metal blades that can't cut hardened steel and

Mike - Thank you for the homeshopmachinist forum link. Ed W

Bill - Thanks for a positive reply. The forums devoted to tools and such simply are not interested in ideas. They want to see actual hardware. When I have hardware I'll show it off in those places if

I have a motive for talking about this here in this forum. It is to raise awareness of the subject and maybe someone INTERESTED IN HON3 will get involved. In the last 60 years dozens of beautiful bras

AAAAAAAARG!!!! I want to talk about how to make gears. If some of you guys want to have an intergenerational reproductive organ metrology discussion please do it under a different subject line. Ed W

Wayne - I much appreciate your detailed description of the NWSL gear hobbing process. I'm not interested in getting into the gear making business (don't have that many round tuits left in my life.) Bu

Jeff - I spent a little time on the Cowells website. It was all pretty new to me. This is fine quality profession tooling. And while the prices suggest that one might need a good reason to make that k