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Well, i'm looking at my options for making my mountain area on the east side of my layout. Mountains, tunnels... all that COOL stuff. debating various ways to construct the mountain, including supports. I want it strong, like everything else on my layout! So, Larry, Doug, everyone else - you...

A work VERY much in progress! but you can see I'm not sitting still doing nothing! I'm just MOSTLY sitting still doing nothing! That's the train room, of course taken over by cats. I've got all my scenery stuff out, because I'm doing scenery stuff. This is the portland area. All you...

Well, I'm back. I haven't been back since the beginning of February. The reason was, at first adjusting to the bad news that my wife has cancer, and an extremely aggressive form at that. The chemo costs about $150,000 a year. Insurance covers some of it, but as you can expect, the insurance...

Working on glueing my fingers together... i mean, building a lift Bascule bridge. The pattern is off the Million Dollar bridge, adapted for trains. I've figured I just need a lift motor connected to rods inside the roadbed. Does anyone know of a good inexpensive motor or servo I can use for...

since most of my bridges curve, and one in particular actually works on two differnt inclines (one up, one down) I knew I'd have to scratchbuild. here's the first stage, building the ladder. This also includes a one month walk-away when it wasn't working.:D Here's the4 second stage...

so... today I finished one of my scratchbuilt bridges. Painted it MEC green. While it was drying, I decided to solder some feeder wires. Couldn't find an extension cord. Found one after 30 minutes. tried soldering the feeders. Wouldn't stay in place. solder flux boiled away too quick. tried...

Okay, on the right hand side of my layout plan, you'll see my yard...three track spur (l to r 1, 2, 3) and a two track spur (l to r, 1, 2). Right now I'm planning on putting my two-stall roundhouse (complete except for rails and junk piles) on the two track spur. Which track should logically...

It's been a while since we talked cleaning track. I just did a search on the last thread, and thought I'd revisit this. How has everyone been battling the black Gunk battle? Anyone have favorite solutions? How's been the long term effects of the "Gleam" method? Anyone have any problems with...

This year I did a total redo of the Christmas layout. I pulled everything off, new track, risers, tunnel and portals to put down, snow... everything. I tore everything off, then built my tunnel the way Woodland Scenic says to... Except it doesn't work so well in reality. They say to use...

What do you guys think, Realistic Water or Magic Water? I've used Realistic Water on a diorama I made, and was less than happy with it. It looks like...someone painted dark paint on plaster cloth and then poured gloss medium on it in 1/8" layers. Real water has color that deepens with depth...

Did anyone ever get the parts list from MR for Freytag's foundry? I went there recently to get the list and it's no longer available! About to start a scratchbuilding blitz! three bridges and a foundry/steelmill (Bessamer process)

I've noticed that everyone here actually takes the time to look at people's track plans... and mentally switch yards, mainlines, etc. That takes some time. I just wanted to say how great that is that everyone here helps one another. And that even greater is that people like Stein will take the...

Here's a thread which hopefully will get some good conversation going - how did you decide on your theme and prototype/proto-freelance/freelance road? Was it a RR you grew up near, or just liked the paint scheme, or did you choose UP because of the massive motive power or...?

the title says it all! I've noticed that all model railroader scenery stuff tends to have much cheaper alternatives you can buy at places like Michaels or art supply places - I figure wild grass is no different. I can't believe the prices WS and others are charging for scenery supplies. It's...

Darn it, I keep going over my track plan and thinking there's got to be much more I can do with this! I'm just not satisfied. I don't want to finish laying track and find as I'm putting scenery down that the track plan is too limited! How do all of you deal with these nagging doubts?

Wanted some feedback before I switched gears on my layout progress. The overwhelming cost of scenery for a New England layout has me thinking about a winter layout (at least I can get pine trees for a lot less than autumn deciduous... and you can't do a fall scene with pine trees! It's not...

Does anyone know where I can find a motive roster for the Maine Central? Every search on it I run leads me to the B&M, which means I have the info I need for Boston and Maine, but still nothing for the Maine Central:mad:. Can anyone help?

Well, it's not the greatest track plan - but by golly, it allowed me to accomplish all of my goals and fit into my available space (Every apartment and home should have a room that is 24X24!) I'm able to cram all this into a 7'X5' area. Don't have the hidden staging area or the upper level...

What's the general consensus about track wiring? How many of you use Terminal Joiners to power all of your track, and how many of you do the Andy Sperandeo thing and solder feeder wires directly to the track?

What's the general consensus? I'm busy laying down the foam on my layout, and will start laying track in a month or so... Atlas says their Code 55 "looks better" than the Code 80 - but does it run better? Will I have lots of derail problems, or problems with flanges not working on Code 55...