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Yep, Read this last night. I guess this just happend Monday. I've met with Steve a number of times at train shows and he always struck me as a friendly fellow who was interested in talking with his customers. He did seem to be approaching retirement age so I am not totally surprised at this...

To add to Val's commments on homosote, I find Homosote sometimes has bowing or warping. If you use a good flat and true plywood base underneath, liberal use of 1-inch drywall screws will pull out the warps of sheet homosote (such as in yards). As he mentioned, give it a coat of latex paint...

There is really no need to live without Brian. I had the mentality you have several years ago - buy it when it's first available or go without forever. I found in the long run I have probably paid more for my merchandise than if I had been a bit more patient and not worried too much about...

dash - I have heard of folks using white glue to hold track down and water or other solvents to remove it. Certainly that is an options for folks to consider. I'd prefer not to go that route since white glue would probably too slow for me and removing it would be messy. Nails are quick to use...

Uh, Cork isn't really supposed to hold spikes or nails, nor is foam. People who use foam as a subroadbed use glue. I don't think I'll ever use foam as subroadbed because I don't want to secure my track with glue - old fashion I guess and I like having the option of removing it or movingi t...

Neil makes a good point about subroadbed. Homosote can be used by just pressing the nails or spikes home with needle nose plyers. I've used both Homosote (in yards) and cork (on the mainline). The dilute white glue mixture works to seal the ballast and fix the track in place one you are...

Hi, The new and "in vogue" way is to glue track down with products such as latex liquid nails or contact cement. I prefer NOT to use glue and let me tell you why: When building a layout and laying track, there is a period of time that you need to be able to put track down and test it and...

Brakie, I didn't know you modeled such a modern era? Aren't those T-boxes really recent? Like only a few years old? I've heard comments on some HO versions not being correct or matching any real cars... LBF and Genesis make them, but is one more correct than the other? As for...

Another thing you can do if you want to save info is this: Select a block of text, then right click and choose copy. The open Microsoft Word and paste. Then just save the Word doc under a name the tells you what is inside!

I'm always happy to share what I know. As for your time period of modeling interest, if you are mainly wanting early diesel and steam, just stick with the shorter wheel base versions and you'll be in pretty good shape. Here are some examples of early diesels: -FT -F3 -F7 -F9 Versions of these...

Hook, Sounds like you have your design parameters pretty well defined. Building and construction can really be a fun part of the hobby - I've enjoyed it myself. Since 18-inches is the radius, I'm sure there are plenty of choices on the market in rolling stock and engines which will work well...

If you are interested in western transition era railroading with coal, what you want is Rio Grande in the early 1950's! Here are some pictures of a friend layout who is doing just that. He has coal, steel plant (Geneva), helper district, passenger operations (Califorina Zephyr), heavy...

I read the reviews of Bachman plus when they first came out. Some comments I remember from the reviews: -F7 has an odd mix of phase 1 and phase II details not normally seen on most F units -F7 pilot was too high including the batten strip. -F7 shell sat high off the rails, noticably higher than...

From my knowledge of the Rio Grande (other RR's would be similar build dates) FT (1939-1945) nearly 1100 built F3 (1946-1948) F7 (1948-1953) 3849 built according to Extra 2200 South journal F9 (1954-1958?) GP7 (1949-54) GP9 (1955-??) GP30 (1962/63) GP35 (1964/65) GP40 (1966-1971) SD45...

It may be too late for the present layout (or not) but I'll put in a plug for larger curves. 18-inch radii are really a straight jacket for trains, so if you can spare the extra couple inches and even make the minimum radius 22-inchs (secitonal track) or 24-inches if you can deal with flex...

I've seen these advertised on Ebay for months now. FT's are too early for me and any F units I do have are Stewarts or Genesis. It's too bad Stewart doesn't to yellow/silver Grande FT's since they look so much better than the original black scheme.

Might be, However, the MR magazines have preached over the years that oxidized brass conducts worse than oxidized NS (whats on the outside). I can say from personal experience that I had more difficulties keeping my engines running smoothly on brass if I didn't keep it clean and shiny than...

All nickle silver track should be fine... I would avoid the brass stuff, but that is thankfully pretyt rare these days.

Yeah, Ebay and go to big train shows in your area... hopefully you are near a large city that gets a few large train shows each year. The Great American Train Show typically has lots of dealers with tons of Athearn blue box kits - thought they are starting to thin down.

Actually I grew up in California and watched beat gons role north-south through my home town of Davis (near Sacramento). So I would love a fleet of those just for old times sake. I think it was W&R who made the brass D&RGW gons... they would sell for close to $200 each I think... way to...