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Or maybe there is some oral history research to be done. There are a number of transportation-related Mr. Rogers urban myths: one of which is that some car thieves stole Mr. Rogers' car, but then discovered his name on the registration and returned it, with a note explaining that they were sorry!

An around the room layout with a swing-out bridge or duckunder (the former is far, far preferable) is quite feasible at one foot thick, for either HO or N scale--so the decision will have to rest with whichever scale you like more. Not very helpful, I realize. 10 feet (I'd recommend using the...

Christopher62: A "laser-cut" model is one where the cutting of the wood or other parts is done by an industrial laser rather than by a mechanical method, like stamping dies or saws. Typically laser-cut kits can be very precise and detailed, due to the highly controllable nature of...

All you really need for an interchange yard is one or two tracks--if it is part of a yard already, then cars can be shuffled as needed and simply spotted for pickup by the other railroad.

Now that gets up my curiosity...not sure if I want to drop fifty bones just to experiment with their new drive, but the old one had lots of potential for the hacking hobbyist, and there were schemes to easily convert it to overhead operation as well as trolley pole reverse, not to mention the...

Okay, just making sure. I have no idea how European girder rail attaches to anything, not being familiar with it. Richard Orr girder rail is Code 100 (.100" high, or 2.54mm) so it mates up to Code 100 track, although conventional rail joiners must be modified to attach them: soldering is a...

I suppose that I am unfamiliar with European-made "tram grooved rail tracks." I assume that by "tram grooved rail tracks" you meant what is called "girder rail" in the United States: rail with a built-in flangeway that facilitates its use for modeling track in city streets. If I am not...

Walthers makes a "Street System" package, these are basically bits of plastic that you stick in between the rails of Code 83 or Code 100 track to make them look like street trackage. Richard Orr girder rail is just the rail itself: it must be attached to the layout surface by the purchaser, and...

Most wouldn't consider 22" to be a "huge sweeping curve", but merely the biggest curve you can fit on a 4x8 sheet of plywood. There are still plenty of four-axle diesels working around the country, mostly in second-line or switcher duty. The only "new" four-axle locomotives that come to mind...

Are you talking about girder rail? Richard Orr girder rail (used for trolley layouts) is available from http://www.customtraxx.com but I don't think they make a girder rail/conventional rail crossing. They do make girder rail to girder rail crossings but they are a single casting with a common...

One bit of recent model railroader doggerel is "HO is the new N." As mentioned upthread, in the 1950s (when those Atlas HO scale layouts were designed) cars were generally 40 feet long and diesel locomotives were shorter. There were big articulated locomotives, but the locos more often found on...

A helix would be a real problem: to run big steam and big diesels, I'd consider a 30" radius a bare minimum for a helix, which means a big circle about 5'6" across in some part of the room. Assuming that same 30" minimum radius on the rest of the layout, there will be on average 3-4 feet of...

Management isn't always lucrative--nor is line work always low-paid. Check out the vocational program--vocational programs are always going to be geared towards people who want to work in that field, but that is your objective! There is no "executive" vocational program for those who just want...

Some junior colleges offer a vocational program in railroad technology. Taking a few of those classes can offer you a first-hand chance to "try out" railroading, get first-hand experience on real trains, and learn the "nuts and bolts" of the job. Since these are generally regular credited...

Athearn GP7s are good for crawling around tight corners: mine had little difficulty crawling around my first test layout's 12-15" radius curves! Ironically, my Geep can't make it around my current layout's 12" curve because I installed a guardrail to prevent derailments and it causes problems...

I tend to cleave pretty close to the prototype, with a few exceptions. Of course, selective compression is necessary to turn real-world track alignments into model layouts. I have an Athearn SW7 painted in my roadname, even though the railroad I model never operated an SW7 and it carries a...

http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm There isn't much point in drawing the table to scale but not the track. You'd have difficulty fitting that much track in a large room, let alone a small table: unless that table is a TARDIS you simply can't fit either of those track plans into a 4x8...

Actually there isn't a single "most prototypical size." In HO scale, Code 100 is the most common but in terms of scale it is the equivalent of extremely heavy rail, on the order of 200-230 pound rail (real-world rail is rated in pounds per yard.) Code 83 is closer to common modern rail sizes in...

But it is drawn to scale--4 sqares=1 foot is "drawn to scale." I realize this is a rough sketch, but some of the curves indicated would have to be no more than 4-5" radius, which is too tight for just about anything, even in N scale. Quite frankly, neither track plan is physically possible in...

The Flea 2 is okay but a PDT or a Tenshodo SPUD makes a better choice for a diesel power truck. Just to add a bit more complexity, in addition to slugs there are also "snails": basically they look like B units, they are equipped with a diesel engine and a generator but no traction motors.