Tiny Train Solutions

Great turnout so far for the O-Scale March Meet! I’ll be here all day and tomorrow.

Eleven assembled kits cured and ready for the show. Box them up the rest of the way tonight and then pack them up for Wednesday departure. Can’t wait to let more people see what Tiny Train Solutions can do for the O-Scale/P48 world at the March Meet.

Only a week left before the O-Scale March Meet in Chicago! I surveyed the parts and pieces I have ready this morning and I’m pleased to find I am in better shape than I thought. Hoping this means I can print some of the new NP kit to bring and some small detail parts I also make that have been popular. If you’re in the area next weekend swing by the show and meet us and support the event!

Nearing completion of my next O-Scale Kit, LSTT 17, which was purchased from the Northern Pacific. When all is said and done I will have four versions of this kit, LSTT 17, LSTT 18, and two similar versions where the side window placement was a little farther forward and small stack a little farther back, that the NP had. Despite the small flaws in this one, I will be having it painted up as a demo for the March O-Scale Meet that’s coming up the weekend of the 18th-19th in Chicago.

Dave Schultz finished up his GN Transfer Caboose Kit in O-Scale, man does it look great! Hard to believe this came off my printer from a design I created in Fusion 360. I love success stories!

Ever since I first started hinting at the project of the Lake Superior Terminal and Transfer (LST&T) cabooses in HO-scale, I've had quite a bit of interest. I currently have the files generated for three and almost complete for two others. I'm not planning to turn out any of the kits until after the Chicago O-Scale Meet, March 17th-19th, but I want to get an idea of how many people would like them so I can start planning on how many to print and which ones. Below are previews of LSTT 11, 13, 14, 17 & 18 from my CAD files. If all those that are interested would please reach out and let me know which ones/how many so I can start planning the production, I would appreciate it.

They will come with decals and the scale lumber for the roof walkways, but will not come with trucks or couplers. $50/each.

As part of my commitment to updating the social media platforms I've decided that two days a week I will be doing a themed post! Today's theme I'm calling Foamer Friday. On Friday's I will be posting pictures of railroad related item that I have taken, or that others have posted that inspire me, giving them the proper credit of course. Sometimes it might be related to something I'm working on here at TTS, other times it might just be to drive conversation and views. (Yup, selling out. lol)

Anyway for the first Foamer Friday I'm going to go with three bay hopper WDPX 523423, formerly an NP hopper built in the late 60's. This particular car generates quite a bit of buzz from time-to-time because it still says Northern Pacific on each side. Last year it was set out on the Skunk Track over at the LSRM, where I volunteer, for a while because it needed service and there is a storage contract with the organization. I took the opportunity to go over and document the car and every detail I could because I would really like to create a TTS Models version of the car some day.

In fact this was the first car I took a stab at printing, in HO and O, and while the results were promising, they were also a disaster. I can draw things in software that are hard for a 3D printer to replicate reliably. Side walls on the HO version which I drafted to scale, were way way too thin when printed, and the car body was so thin it was see through and warped like crazy. When trying to upsize the model in software some things "broke" and would require some major redesign. This in fact led me getting a bit down about things and not doing much outside the small custom projects last year.

That being said I think it's a great example thought, to show people who might wonder what I, or any model train company, needs when people want prototypical models. When I went and documented it, I took around 80 photos from all over, in, and under the car, as well as four pages of notes that included measurements of components. Every detail is important! I'm more than happy to help any modeler, but pictures and potentially dimensions or something I can reference the size from are a must!

Hope you enjoy the photos and eventually I will get back to this project. =)

Was a fairly quiet year for TTS in 2022, mainly because I wasn’t pushing to grow and only taking on small little jobs. Toward the end of the year a modeler came to me with an HO project that turned things on its head for me. To make a long story short I never finished the project as intended as the modeler is off to a new exciting adventure that put things on pause, but some teasers I posted on social media led to some Proto-48 modelers asking if I could scale up that project for O-Scale. That request has opened some doors and led to the business growing a little right off the bat in 2023. Recently James stopped over with that very first O-Scale caboose kit to roll off the printer, all painted up just like the HO project was supposed to turn out.

These little transfer cabooses were originally owned by the Great Northern (GN) which sold a couple to the Lake Superior Terminal and Transfer Railway (LST&T). This is officially the first TTS Models kit available for purchase, currently in O-Scale. If anyone is interested or would like some details shoot me a message. I’ll also be down at the March O-Scale Meet in Chicago March 18th-19th with some kits and also a couple displays that modelers have purchased and painted. If you’re an O-Scale modeler and haven’t registered for the show get on over to their page and get registered!

I’m also planning to move forward with the HO version in the near future, but since I lost the original modeler, I’m looking to see whom out there would like to help finish the first one, like James did with the O-Scale version. Reach out if you’d like to be that person!

P.S. I’m promising myself that I’m going to be more active on social media for everyone. I started an Instagram, tiny_train_solutions, as well and been working on the website (not ready yet.) Looking forward to an awesome 2023! 🎉