Founder's Favorite - The OGF Railroad! | O Gauge Forum (2024)

Note: Going forward Founder's Favorite will be more seasonal and periodic. However, the invitation for anyone who may want to post a Founder’s Favorites column stands (shoot me a private message.)

I distinctly recall an early conversation with Brian when he was just starting the O-Gauge Forum. I didn't know him very well, but we had previously discussed some odd things happening on a previous forum and why he wanted to create the OGF. Brian and I hit it off quickly and became good friends. He told me there would be no paid advertisem*nt. As we all now know, this was intended to allow members to speak more freely (as long as being respectful of one another), even so far as being critical of the manufacturers we give our money to and, of all things, be able to say Happy Birthday/Anniversary/etc. to each other. Of course, it sounded great, but my first question was “How would we pay the bills?”. Brian, being sharp as always and never without a plan, responded with “We will sell trains!”. It took me a bit to process this answer. The analytical part of my brain went through the possible challenges and work needed to pull off designing, building and selling trains. I didn’t think it could be done.

Early on, the forum designed some simple things to sell such as a pickup truck, mugs, hats, keychains, etc. Of course, these items were not enough to really sustain us. Then came the next phone call. “Hey Adam, how are yuh?”, came the first sentence, something I would come to distinctly associate with a call from Brian. Brian had an ask of me. He had already been working with others on some basic graphics (the OGF shield, lettering, etc.), but he wanted to do a caboose. So, off to work we went and a caboose, using an MTH model and the "The Friendliest Model Railroad Forum'" theme was soon offered to our members. The forum also did an MTH Cylindrical Hopper car (full scale), an MTH Premier Engine and now, soon to be completed, Pup Trailer flat cars. The shift to the Hottest Forum on Rails theme, complete with flames, came after Brian said we needed something more exciting and that he had an idea. Every time he called me with an idea I had to brace myself. But I need to hand it to him, they were usually big, outside of the box, type of ideas. We also expanded into cars with some Brooklin and then Automodello brand vehicles.

What’s next? Stay tuned! We intend to keep it going. As long as members are buying and we can pay the bills, we won’t change the formula.

Share some photos of your OGF Railroad models!!!

Thanks for the correction!

I'm sure traindiesel actually has the car but to me from what I can see it looks like aCylindrical Hopper. To me it's missing the dome on top to be a tanker. Just saying.

It is, I corrected the original post.

Alfred,

The engine is based on an MTH Premier ES44AC with (I believe) freight sounds.

On the sides it has a flame motif design with the wording "Hottest Forum on Rails". Next to that is an image of the engine itself (yes, engine on engine design will cause a rip in the space/time continuum).

Above that there is the wording "O Gauge Forum" in Red, White and Blue lettering.

On the nose of the engine is the OGF crest which is similar to the Union Pacific crest, also surrounded by flames.

The paint on the engine is white along the sides, red on the nose and around the cap and some blue on the top.

Very unique and stunning engine. Might be hard to imagine as it has a lot going on.

Proto-Sound 3.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring Quillable Horn With Freight Yard Proto-Effects
Unit Measures: 19 1/2” x 2 1/2” x 4”
Operates On O-42 Curves
F0 Head/Tail light
F1 Bell
F2 Horn
F3 Start-up/Shut-down
F4 PFA (Passenger/Freight Announcements)
F5 Lights (except head/tail)
F6 Master Volume
F7 Front Coupler
F8 Rear Coupler
F9 Forward Signal
F10 Reverse Signal
F11 Grade Crossing
F12 Smoke On/Off
F13 Smoke Volume
F14 Idle Sequence 3
F15 Idle Sequence 2
F16 Idle Sequence 1
F17 Extended Start-up
F18 Extended Shut-down
F19 Rev Up
F20 Rev Down
F21 One Shot Doppler
F22 Coupler Slack
F23 Coupler Close
F24 Single Horn Blast
F25 Engine Sounds
F26 Brake Sounds
F27 Cab Chatter
F28 Feature Reset

It was created from an undecorated model (MTH20-21515-1) and beautifully decorated by Harry Heike.