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Because of what Russ said, I prefer to see the return of kits and castings in lieu of the RTR plastic/diecast models of today. I am not quite ready for total scratch building; I'd rather start with a kit I can bash or customize. Even though my roads are free-lance short lines, I need plausible...

I only worry about 19th century practices - and of course, there's even less photographic evidence, and it's all black and white. From a practical point of view, roof walks and other walking surfaces made of wood would not have a normal paint job - when wet, way too slippery. the surfaces...

There was an article on a kitchen table layout measuring 3x5ft in the last 3-4 years in Model Railroader. At one point, I was planning to install an elevated HO/On30 oval over the tunnel portion of a Lionel 4x8 layout. A 15" radius oval with a single 9" straight in each side. One side would...

If you think about it, 10" is generally the smallest practical radius in HO. It requires switch engines only, small cars (40ft or less), and in all likelihood, truck mounted couplers exclusively. With a 10" radius, a 2x4ft oval layout is possible, and I have read of examples in Model...

I read in a business article in August that eBay stockholders were concerned about the lack of growth at eBay, and that Amazon was taking away eBay business. The wisdom was that folks had grown "tired" of the traditional eBay auction format, and they weren't attracting new customers. So eBay...

According to the NMRA, 11" radius is considered a sharp curve in N (equivalent to 18" in HO). At one time, 9.75" was considered the sharpest practical curve. But as car and locomotive lengths have increased, and more realism has been demanded, minimum radii have been creeping up (just like HO...

Josh My suggestion (worth less than you paid for it) is to make a board(s) with 3-4 swivel spot or flood light fixtures on it - perhaps 4 ft long with lights about 16" to 24" apart. Make sure the fixtures take standard light bulbs, and use compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) instead. When you...

Justin Drool no longer. Take a look at http://www.carendt.com/ for ideas of layouts for small spaces and budgets. Some of them (pizza designs) take less than $10 of track at retail prices. A shelf layout like the Gum Stump & Snowshoe takes a 6ft long bookshelf, and 5 turnouts, and would make...

The gauge of wire needed depends on 3 things: acceptable voltage drop - in DCC around 0.7 volts maximum is recommended. This is only an issue if the bus is too small a gauge or on large layouts with long wire runs - or you have too many rail joiners between feeders. current expected to be...

I definitely agree with 2 thoughts put forward: - If you want to sell an article, drawing, or photo, it can't be sitting on the web. I would expect any paying publications to do a quick Internet search to ensure they are getting what they are paying for - 1st and exclusive publication rights...

Soldering every joint is probably not a great idea unless your layout room has pretty steady humidity and temperature. I prefer to leave the joints on straight track unsoldered and a very tiny gap at the joint. This gives the benchwork a chance to move with changes in humidity without throwing...

GEC In your situation, I would be tempted to build a true doughnut layout - something along the lines of the HOG Better Beginners Layout (see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOGRR/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1). Make each side 18" wide, instead of 1ft, with double track main...

Reading the voltage on the track with no load does not tell you if your joints are good enough. With no load, the extra resistance of a poor track joint does not come into play. Reading voltage just tells you whether there is a connection or not, not the electrical quality of the connection...

Unfortunately, measuring the voltage across the rails without a steady load won't tell you much - it will either tell you there is electrical continuity or there isn't. With a load applied, a high resistance joint will cause a voltage drop, and you will read a lower voltage beyond the poor...

With Atlas track and turnouts, no insulated rail joiners are required for one train operation (unless there is a reversing section). Hook up the power pack (or DCC system) to the track and go. Another thought: start your layout with just a single train, a loop with a spur or two, and a DC...

CV = configuration variable. It is a table in the decoder's permanent memory that tells it such items as volumes for various sounds (sound decoders), starting voltage, maximum voltage, momentum, 2 or 4 digit addressing, enable operation on DC, etc. Each decoder manufacturer provides a list of...

2. Any brand DCC decoder can work with any control system. If the decoder has many functions built in, then some controllers cannot access the higher number functions. These higher number functions are generally not used very often, so not having all 28 functions on your controller is usually...

Just a couple of suggestions to improve operations. As its stands right now, there are no runaround tracks to assist with switching - the engine has to complete the continuous run to get to the back of the train. And an engine switching the yard has to block traffic on the outer loop. First...

My rules of thumb for blocks: 1. Any continuous run (oval, dog bone, figure 8, etc) where one train may be following another should have at least 4 blocks for the 2 trains. 2. Each passing siding should be a separate block, with gaps at the clearance points of the turnouts, as was pointed...

Remember this is a poll of Gauge members - and only those members who read the "General" forum (I didn't until a couple of months ago) and respond to polls (in general, I don't). I think you will find many of the younger Gauge members not even reading this section, and these are the ones IMHO...