What’s on your Workbench?

[healey36]

Details such as the porthole-style covers on the headlamps make it for me. Looks to be a very nice model, great scheme, and an appropriate light touch with the weathering. I look forward to seeing it in person.

[De Bruin]

That's a nice looking L&NE RS there Sarge, I like L&NE and would like to get the MS book on it. Sounds like a really interesting era in the varied series you're alternating your scenarios with. More please 8^)

Speaking of anthracite roads.....
Currently cleaning up an in-process paint job for a KTM GP-35 destined for the yellow and green Reading scheme.

Like most if not all KTM’s it’s very sturdy, however after handling/use over the years a lot of the horizontal hand rail stanchions were separated from the frame, most but not all of them though stuck back on with the resistance unit's probe . The end platform stanchions in particular resisted most every effort to re-solder.

The as-built KTM carbody had this nose headlight (very L&N-ish) so that had to go. Wouldn't budge with the resistance probe so I wrapped the nose with a wet towel, applied a brief application of heat from a propane torch and the sconce popped out cleanly. (thinking of sticking it under my pillow)
Some “Bondo”-like two-part stick epoxy and some lengthy successive wet-sanding, then primered (“auto-grade” “Rustoleum Professional” big rattle can) and what you see here is the result.

[bob turner]

New group of older O Scale steam on eBay. The Atlantic looks quite good, and there is a Lobaugh Pacific and what looks like a Hines Mike. All are started below $50.
The seller separated the tenders and listed them later. I suppose that is ok, but it always bothers me in some aesthetic sense.

Oops - edit - thought I had pulled up the eBay thread.

[healey36]

At my cousin's invitation, I went digging through my grandparent's attic today to try to answer the question as to whatever happened to my grandfather's electric train set. Sleeves rolled up, it took about an hour to find the answer (more on that later), but in the crate that it was stored in was a bunch of other stuff. Most of it was prewar tinplate in nature, but there were a number of items that were totally unfamiliar to me. One was this:



Trucks for something, doesn't look scale, and they don't look complete (but what do I know). Anyone know what these are?

Labelled:
Auel Industries
Miniature Railway Equipment
Toys / Die Castings / Stampings / Tools / Diecast
Herminie, PA

Currently sitting on my workbench.

[bob turner]

Scale 17/64. Quite common 80 years ago.

[De Bruin]

Andrews style sideframes too, nice find, any other goodies there?

[sarge]

80 years ago, and for a long time after. Grin!

Perhaps only 15 years ago I needed a replacement bridge girder for a piece of John Armstrong’s layout that we hauled up here, the area he had named “Summit”. The original girder had suffered a mischief on the trip. Turned out you could still order from Auel; I think it might have been a daughter operating it then.

John had used an Auel cast girder in 1956 when he built the area (he dated an upright “First train over this section…”) and I mail-ordered a direct replacement in 2006. Only in O Scale!

[sarge]

Did a quick bit of research and apparently still with us today.

https://www.oscaledirectory.com/pdf/aue ... es2020.pdf

[healey36]

Andrews style sideframes too, nice find, any other goodies there?

Nothing else remotely scale, but a couple of tinplate Flyer sets in rough shape (perhaps too far gone to recover). Lots of three-rail track, including what looks to be track clips (the doo-dads that keep the track from separating when run on carpet).

Then there are a few unknown/unrelated bits. One is some sort of spring-loaded rotary switch made by the Hart & Hegeman Mfg. Co. I was thinking it might be for a doorbell (?) Here's one listed on WorthPoint:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/hart-hegeman-30a-250v-porcelain-74799291

A stumper...

[healey36]

Did a quick bit of research and apparently still with us today.

https://www.oscaledirectory.com/pdf/aue ... es2020.pdf

Wow, that's pretty amazing.

[E7]

80 years ago, and for a long time after. Grin!

Perhaps only 15 years ago I needed a replacement bridge girder for a piece of John Armstrong’s layout that we hauled up here, the area he had named “Summit”. The original girder had suffered a mischief on the trip. Turned out you could still order from Auel; I think it might have been a daughter operating it then.

Lady's name is Jeannette Gatch. Still around, I think.

Funny story about Ms. Gatch. Robert Parri worked for her Dad Carl Auel. In a "Lease Pool" (buy and sell ads) in the late O Scale News, she posted the ad: Some of Robert Parri's molds have surfaced. In that same Lease Pool, someone else asked: Are any of the late Robert Parri's molds still around?

The coincidence is probably the only reason I remember it!

Don't know if they ever got together, but if either one bothered to read that Lease Pool!

Robert Parri (who I think was part indian) built some marvelous brass freight cars back when. I have that back issue of OSN somewhere. Ms Gatch is also pictured at on of the larger O shows in another issue of OSN.

[healey36]

That's quite a legacy that two generations have shouldered. I've never heard of them, but then I'm not of this O-scale world. There's a pair of scale six-wheel trucks around here somewhere; those might be Varney. If they turn up, I'll post a snap.

[E7]

The real shame is how much history has been lost over the years!

[bob turner]

The real surprise is how much of it has been preserved! Check out ancient 48/ft, or a selection of Maroon's articles, or an "Old and Rare" column or two. This is an obscure niche hobby - just ask Mr. Healey above.

[healey36]

Obscure? I'm not sure I'd consider the 2-rail O "scale" segment to be obscure; it just never enjoyed the vagaries of mass-marketing, lol. That, together with the fact that only a small portion of the hobby population has/had the skills to do what's required to produce these models. I grew up reading The Old Man's collection of coverless Model Builders, regaled with stories of guys cutting up and gutting Lionel product to make something better, fashioning MOW crews from pipe-cleaners dipped in plaster, making concrete phone booths from lengths of dowel. The fact that there were purpose-manufactured kits during the prewar era somehow sailed over my head. That's where the true modellers were/are, the true bedrock of O-48. I read of that here, and am most appreciative. A friend of mine was a member of the Baltimore Society of Model Engineers, a place where guys wearing suit coats once stood over metal lathes turning USRA Pacific model components after a long day at USF&G. I'm just a tinplate looper, lol, and now it's too late to turn the ship.

Anyway, no intention to throw the thread off course. Keep posting projects...I live vicariously through you.