Southern O Scalers Club History

 

 

After the 1999 National O Scale Convention in Atlanta, it was apparent that we would need a portable layout that would reasonably represent the Southeastern Section of the country in order to sponsor or show at a National convention and to promote O Scale 2 Rail in the South. I spoke to several O Scalers in the Atlanta area and invited everyone to an organizational meeting at my house in 2001. We started with only 4 members, Dan Mason, Richard Morhard, Bob Peppel and Gordon Ralph.

We agreed on a name for the organization and then investigated the design and construction of O scale modules. After reviewing numerous 2 and 3 rail module designs, we settled on the C.H.A.O.S (Chicago Association of O Scalers) modules that appeared in a 4 part series by Dave Miecznikowski  in 48/ft. O SCALE NEWS volumes #97-#100 (1988-1989). We felt this particular module represented the best ultra- lite design and construction in the O scale world at the time. Our module construction includes legs that fold in and out and are permanently attached to the module, a front and rear facia design for backdrop placement and front plex-glass protection from overzealous viewers and a 2 inch foam board top for ease of terrain design and landscaping construction/placement. Rather than allowing each member to interpret the somewhat complicated plans for the modules, we chose to enroll Don Boyer, a meticulous wood craftsman, into our club and over a period of time we developed the final plans for the module that were approved by the rest of the members.

The SOS modules were 51 7/16 inches to the top of the rail because it is our belief that is the best way to visualize an O scale train world. The modules were designed for 2 main lines with 2 modified modules that contain a yard built by member Richard Morhard and a curve module with a lift off mountain and tunnel portals built by member Gordon Ralph. We used cork roadbed with Atlas code 148 flex track and Atlas # 5and #6 switches. The modules were landscaped using carved foam with a variety of commercial scenery material and hundreds of trees from many manufacturers. Under the modules we used 14-16 gauge wiring color coded that represent 2 lines for track power and an accessory power line.

We ran both diesel and steam power that represented almost every manufacturer of 2 rail equipment. We generally used metal wheels on our rolling stock with Kadees and promoted weathering of engines and rolling stock.

We have tried every control/throttle system, including DCS, TMCC, DC and DCC. Our opinion is that DCC and DC is the most reliable for our railroad in a commercial show environment.  We used 2 NCE 10 amp power houses with NCE wireless throttles. Many of our DCC engines had NCE, Digitrax, Soundtraxx/Tsunami, ESU-LokSound, and OSI decoders.

Viewers at shows were especially interested in our WWII/Korean Military train that consists of over 32 scale cars and loads pulled by a UP Big Boy or Challenger. This may have been the largest scale military model train we have seen or heard about.

Over 15 years we displayed at over 40 shows in the Southeast and were awarded best of show at many.  At the time of this writing, our club continues to grow with a membership roster of 10 members.  We also have a smaller module layout that we set up at our annual train show, O Scale South.

Dan Mason