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Before you walk into your LHS, spend a half-hour on the internet and solicit bids. Send a dozen emails to different suppliers and ask them for a quote on 400' of Atlas or Shinohara or Peco or Acme Code 100 Flex-Track. You'll get a bunch of quotes. Then go back at them: so-and-so says he'll...

Get a copy of John Armstrong's book "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" (Kalmbach). It is a classic, and worth its weight in gold. Read the NMRA standards to make sure you have adequate clearances and practical grades and track radius. Avoid the common newbie mistake of trying to cram...

I don't know who said it first, but it's worth repeating — free advice is often worth exactly what you paid for it. Keep this in mind when you're friends start telling you how to build your layout.

The best quality non-craftsman kits of rolling stock are made by InterMountain, Branchline, Atlas and Proto. I would personally put Accurail along with Athearn and most other in the next 'tier' — things like moulded-on ladders, roofwalks, grabirons, stirrups etc. detract from the final model...

The recent P2K RS-2 is a sweet locomotive. The Atlas Trainmaster is also very nice. The Atlas/Kato RS-3 is nice, if not 100% accurate — they certainly run well. The new Atlas Century series are very nice. Stewart has some very nice models of early Baldwin switchers. There are good covered wagons...

"Table area"? The flat surface you're going to use to put your layout on. My layout is in a 12x16 foot room. Some parts of it are 4' wide, some parts of it are 2' wide (L-shape, two levels, around two walls, with a helix ). Basically, I mean that if you put a mountain along the skinny part...

Well, first came the landscape. Then, usually, came the railroad, followed by "civilization". You must have some terrain in mind. Youlikely have a table area, as well. Build up your terrain with crumpled newspapers and duct tape, just to get an idea of how it will appear, then lay your track...

! Acetone !! Why?? Acetone is quite toxic when inhaled. I have used automotive lacquer thinner and or lacquer reducer for years. It is also an "aromatic hydrocarbon", as is xylene (base thinner for old-formula Floquil), and is also toxic when inhaled, but not to the same degree as acetone. It...

Hi Lorne. Sorry I missed you in Seattle. Family stuff precluded travelling this month, heavy sigh, but I suspect we'll be on the Island in August. I'll give you you call and we might find some good seafood. Cheers Scott Fraser

I don't see a TV. Gotta have a TV on while you're working on your train table. (You don't need it on whle you're running trains.) A stereo is a good substitute. Get some track down, pinned, not nailed. While you're watching the trains go round and round, ask yourself where you want them to...

The Kato is a better runner, but is subject to pick-up problems. The font used for the lettering is bogus. The Athearn is more accurate in appearance, but does not perform as well. Certainly the Kato, and probably the Athearn, are patterned after EMD prototypes, thus to be strictly...