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Right now, my layout is in the planning stages, waiting for the contractor to finish the buildout on the train room. So, at Christmas, I put up a temporary layout around the tree and had some fun with that. I do some arm chair modeling and I have done a lot of work with RTS 7.0. The hobby is one...

You still have an "S" curve. It's on the lower spur.

If you are going to stick with a walk around, you have a bad "S" curve where your spur goes off to the "L". I would remove the outer row of buildings and use either a curved turnout on the left end. Otherwise, move the switch 9" to the right. If possible, use 22" radius curves on both ends. You...

Since you have room to get around the 4x8, you have room for a great around the walls layout! I am guessing that you have at least 9' x 10' along your walls. A lift out will take care of any duck under problems. Assuming a 2' shelf layout, you can easily get 30" radii on your curves. That would...

I would stay with the single ended yard. HTH Alan

For rivers that are deep enough that you cannot see the bottom, I paint the center of the river black. The edges I feather from black to whatever the prevailing ground color is. I just darken the parts in the "water" slightly from the dry land. Once that is done, I put in rocks and logs and...

I am officially jealous! I want to go back to the valley to take some better photos. I may trouble you for an introduction. Alan

Present day, if the D&RGW had been the surviving railroad instead of UP. My present location is the East Denver Belt. Although, the minister of the interior has allocated sufficient space for a larger layout that will model the La Veta Pass route of the old D&RGW. I am undecided about the...

Wow! I saw the freedom train when I was a youngster, does this ever bring back some fond memories. Thanks. Alan

I use red wire for positive and black for negative. While it does not matter much as long as you are consistent, I solder black to the rail nearest the walls and red to the rail nearest the pit. HTH Alan

Pla-Doh, Great looking courthouse! Yours bears a striking resemblance to the courthouse in Hillsborough, NC. Many very old courthouses still host a court while other county offices have been relocated to more modern quarters.

Larry, I haven't heard that Accu-rail is for sale, but all businesses are for sale if the price is right. I do know that Lee English has strong finances and a bank that is willing to lend him money. The same is true for Atlas. WKW has been outbid on the Athearn and MDC deals and frankly, WKW was...

No surprise with LL being bought. It's been on the market for a good while. Bachmann is on the block. Lee English is shopping. He has bought Stewart and has concluded an agreement with Horizon to act as a distributor. He still has money backing for another acquisition or two. I'm sure Roco's...

If you don't have room for a second decoder, or just want to move the DH to another loco, I suggest a MRC sound decoder for the F7. It's a plug and play unit with an included speaker.

Lokmaus 2 Update I've been running the Lokmaus 2 for a couple of weeks. Time for a few observations. First, DCC is fun! The decoder programming that allows for customizing locomotive performance is very nice. I am very impressed with how well Atlas and Lenz set up the decoder for the GP40...

As I understand the Digitrax system, you would only have eight functions. The Zephyr would not understand commands F8 through F11. The convention on most decoders is to have sound functions assigned above F4 anyway. So, unless you are operating sound, you will probably not see any limitation.

Center detent is for braking. The <STOP> key kills power to the layout.

The Super Empire Builder won't read CV's. Forget it. For less get the Lenz Set 90, or for about the same price get the Set 100 and you'll have a much better system that reads CV values. If you really like Digitrax, or everyone you know is stuck with one, get the Super Chief. It's much better, if...

After two plus years of operating friends and club layouts with DCC, and almost a year of study for my own layout, I purchased a Roco Lokmaus II to digitize the East Denver Belt. I purchased the Lokmaus II on ebay from a highly rated seller. The set cost me $72 ($12 shipping and handling & $60...

You and your family have my condolences. Alan