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The New Jersey HiRailers Train Club in Paterson, NJ is holding 3 open-house shows this upcoming holiday season.  The shows will be held on November 1st, December 6th and December 20th.  Admission fee for adults is $7.00, children under 12, $2.00.  Visit the NJ HiRailers website for directions.  Walter Matuch of Ready Made Toys posted a great write-up about the HiRailers open-house shows that you can read here.

Millhouse River Studio has announced the availability of a beautiful O Scale turntable available in two sizes - 34″ and 28″.  The turntable is the creation of Al Zamorski, AKA CSX Al on the OGR Forum.  The turntable is constructed with cabinet grade Baltic Birch plywood and can be used for 2 or 3 rail operation.  The 3/16″ aluminum welded bridge is controlled by an Industrial Belt Drive Drivetrain that produces 200+ lbs. of torque for smooth operation with even the heaviest locomotives.  The bridge is complete with Pewter Control Cab, Lattice Girder Electrical Arch, Bridge Bogies & Railing Stanchions.  The decking is laser cut and etched wood for added detail.  The depth of the turntable is 6.25″ and the corners can be cut off the top for tight installations.  The 34″ model is $1,100 plus shipping, the 28″ model is $950 + shipping.

Anyone planning to install a turntable on their layout should seriously consider this piece.  ”CSX Al” will have a booth at the October ‘09 York Train Meet with models on hand.  Save shipping costs by pre-ordering on-line and picking up at the York meet.  Check out the Millhouse River Studio website for more pictures and information.

Evan Designs, the maker of Model Builder software, has launched a new website, www.evandesignsmodelbuilder.com, for Model Builder users to post their creations to share with others.  For those unfamiliar with Model Builder, it is an incredible piece of software that allows users to create inexpensive buildings from paper and card stock.  Check out my review of the software here and some photos of buildings I made here.

If you are not familiar with Evan Designs you should be.  They make really cool easy to use software that lets you design card stock buildings and signs that look fantastic — read my review here. 

Evan Designs is a sponsor of OGaugeWatch.com and is offering all OGaugeWatch readers a set of plans and print outs  for one free building.  Click here to visit the free building web page that is complete with links and how-to instructions to get you on your way to making your free building.

In addition to the software, Evan Designs offers a line of LED lights and LED kits that simulate FIRE and WELDING.  The folks at Evan Designs were kind enough to supply me with a few copies of their Model Builder software, Brickyard Software and a few of the FIRE and WELDING LED kits.  Stay tuned for an Evan Design Giveaway in the coming weeks.

The Dispatch, a Pennsylvania newspaper, has a nice article about Lionel’s Chief Technology Officer, Jon Zahornacky.  Check it out here.

PS - I’ll be back to posting on a regular basis in August.

Happy 4th everyone!  The photo to the left was snapped by my wife during our visit to the US Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  The flag is flying at half staff over the memorial building atop the sunken battleship USS Arizona.

Head on over to ReadyMadeToys.com for a great 4th of July article that includes some great renditions of patriotic songs accompanied by video. 

Thanks for reading OGaugeWatch, enjoy the holiday and be safe.

Dave