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It boils down to the common time vs. money vs. skill tradeoffs we all have to make. I imagine you could get one of these up and running in fairly short order, and then spend a lot of time super-detailing it.

Re: What about goobering up the rails? I think you imagined anyone saying the glue/water is to be sprayed - it should be 'dribbled', like with a pipette as suggested. Just the initial wet water should be sprayed. But, like JM said, it's not hard to clean up.

Here's some tips: - Before spreading the ballast, 'paint' a thin layer of tacky glue where you want it to go (except between the ties) - the roadbed outside of the ties and the surface the roadbed is secured to, to the width you want. I use Aileene's Tack Glue. This helps the ballast stay...

I've heard (never tried it) of heating a plastic sprue from a model kit over a flame until it softens, then drawing it out into a long thin thread. Cut off a section that looks to be the right length and thickness and, voila, an antenna.

It's not the distance, it's the difficulty.

I hate to see a thread go ignored, Pat. The trains.com site has a place (http://www.trains.com/clubs/findaclub.asp) called "find a club" (duh). Here's all the clubs listed for New Jersey: The Model Railroad Club, Inc. Northern New Jersey NTrak New York Society of Model Engineers Gateway...

First question - What scale? Next question - Where do you get water in that scale? :D

Here's a good description on how they work straight from the horse's mouth: Kadee site

Speaking of which.... anybody spotted it lately? PS - If we had a forum/category for "1 Hr projects" or the like, this would be a great candidate! Good work, DX.

Bob - Probably depends on what period you're talking about - I imagine the monitoring was mostly done by a good set of eyeballs until fairly recently. And maybe even later, just with closed circuit TV! Did you see the latest (January2004 - sheez) issue of Model Railroader? The article on...

Re: loads in/empties out For me, the answers would be no and yes. What you need is a hidden section of dual tracks, with the entrance at each end being an industry, like the attached:

Bob - Here's what I can offer on the various things you mentioned: WIRING After you connect a wire double check with the instructions Good advice for everyone, including me!). Be patient, don't be bothered if you have to re-do something. I don't know if it would help but they make visors...

Welcome to The Gauge, Bob! There's a lot of people at The Gauge with a lot of knowledge, so I'm sure you'll get the help you need. For a lot of the things you listed some more information would be nice - for example, are you having problems with what wire to connect where, or how to connect...

Check out the "Stone Wall from Plaster" thread under the Scratchin & Bashin forum

You can find a prototype for darn near anything! What you need to do is make up a legend for "how it got that way" on your layout. (Or not, it's your layout, after all!)

Hoss - One thing to keep in mind is that the more "efficient" you make your plan, the less interesting operating it might become. If modifying your plan by deleting a track would then require an extra move or two when operating it, that may be a good thing. It's kind of a balance between...

I'd use 1 bys everywhere - 2 bys are overkill. Also, I'd use plywood instead of hardboard (masonite?). Using drywall screws is a good idea. If you can get it, use a single layer of 2" foam instead of two 1" layers.

Take a look at the prototype - the tracks are higher than their surroundings. In yards, etc. this isn't the case so you might want then to secure the track directly to the foam, or you could still use roadbed and build up the areas between the roadbeds to make a level surface.

You can find several web sites that say that the C55 and C80 small radius turnouts are 12" and 9" radius, respectively, including dealer's sites (Walther's, for example). I sincerely believe that this is the case. (Even though it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.)

If you're using the Atlas RTS software, the answer is a conditional no. I say conditional because I wouldn't trust RTS even if you're using Atlas turnouts if your plan call for pretty tight tolerances. For Peco dimensions, you might try here: http://www.awrr.com/PECO.html billk