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Yup. Primary reason I went to N-Gauge. I'd love to an HO layout for the gigantic amount of stuff HO has that N doesn't have and for the superb detail HO models get, but don't have the space sadly for the kind of layout I would. Maybe one day the wife will let me confiscate. sign1 I too find...

Thanks for video. I've had these decoders on my wish list for a while now and hope to buy one or two in the coming months to play with.

There's a particular railpictures.net submitter that does a lot of these. Look great, but I still prefer the good ole "right place, right time" unique pictures over the staged ones.

My Kato engines will tell you otherwise when pulling 12 hopper cars solo up a 2% grade. <shrug>

4% to me is overkill for modern trains (ie: a P42). I have a 2% max grade on my layout and I think with 4 Amtrak cars with one Kato P42, it seems to handle it ok. But with 4%, you might need to add 1, maybe 2, helpers.

dd What kind of cable are using? A pre-made one or one you cut yourself? I recently had an issue with loconet (if anyone remember my garbled screen DT400), and the cause was something with the crimp. I re-did the cable connectors and the issue went away. Something else to check. It's really...

I typically stick to curves where there's a corresponding sectional track piece. I layout my "test tracks" with sectional track first, and whenever I get to gluing down the track for the final time I then switch to the Flex track.

If you seeing your DTS 400 commands, then Locobuffer is at least seeing the Loconet. Can you do something simple such as turning on/off track power using JMRI? Look under the Tools menu for "Power Control". Also, are you picking "Service Mode" in Decoder Pro? You might have to simply...

Got the fascia and the lower staging level all painted up. It's a nice black color, kind of a dull-ish black so it doesn't stand out so much as your typical flat black does. I'm pleased with how it all turned out. Also got other humpyard controller I had installed.

The problem with dummy units in N-scale is that from what I've read from manufacturers like Atlas, it costs almost just as much to produce a dummy unit as it is a powered unit cause of the cost of the tooling/molds needed for the small scales.

JMRI has a OS X version, so you could possibly port that down to a iPhone app and utlitize the USB comm port to connect to a locobuffer II USB. Certainly feasible I'd say.

YouTube - Staging Test It needs a little work still. Have to redo Track #1. You can see that it kinda kicks in a little at the very back. I apparently kicked it in a little too much and trains will overhang on track 2. The walls will be painted on the outside and inside, track ballasted, and...

Not a whole lot of changes since the last update. I finished the mainline on the lower level and began fiddling with the staging bridge. It works pretty well. This weekend I'm gonna get some hobby pine board to glue to the side for protection againt stuff falling off. I also added a...

Latest video: YouTube - Athearn 4-8-8-4 Kato Smoothsides

Yup. Just got mine delivered today. They look fantastic getting pulled behind the Big Boy. The lights on the observation car are a nice touch too, I didn't know it was going to come with those.

Yup. I was thinking the same thing. It currently has a little bit of sag to it, so some additional support is definitely needed.

I'm still really thinking about that staging bridge actually. This is version 1. :) I may eventually remove that office door totally too, just to open up the room. Not sure yet. I'll probably also add some sides to each level to prevent stuff from falling 5-6 feet to the floor. Probably...

Thanks for the comments everyone. :)

I posted this in my progress thread, but thought it might be better here so it's not so buried in the thread. An 8-minute video tour of my layout in it's current state: YouTube - Layout Tour

Thought I'd shoot a little tour video of the layout today showing the latest progress. Enjoy! YouTube - layout tour