IT'S COLD OUTSIDE! The Greater Nickel Plate spur has made some improvements that should keep everyone warm and toasty. It took awhile what with a pile of lumber, being color blind and some ingenuity adaptation from the original kit - - like adding a light over the door to the office and a bin for old tires I happened to have.

I am in the process of completing what I consider to be a craftsman kit - a pile of scale lumber and some instructions. I have a suggestion for suppliers as I have a problem with these type of kits.

Here are a few shots of The Greater Nickel Plate shot by Daniel Denegre visiting from San Francisco with Peggy's daughter, Sarah over the holidays. He's got a different perspective - and a better camera too!

I am looking for your Pros and Cons on DCC wiring.

Here's the situation: I started laying track awhile back and used some of those rail joiners with the wire attached - WRONG! When you ballast and they "disappear," you can't find them when you have a problem. So, as I progressed, I made drops where required and soldered wire to rail and that wire to a buss with a Scotch-Lok or stripped and soldered. So far so good.

Taking a moment to wish all of my model railroading "family" a Merry Christmas and a prosperous and Happy New Year. May all your signals be green, trains arrive on time, and consists be full of merchandise for your customers.

Peggy and I will be heading to South Carolina to visit the N Scale empire of my brother and enjoy the holiday with my dad, the Senator, who gave me the gift of signing for me (underage at the time) to work on the Nickel Plate Road with him during summers between semesters.

Blame the cameraman, not the camera - - LOL!

Elwood and Maybelle's new home next to the quarry. He's "a settin' on the porch" while she's hanging out the wash. They're waiting for the bridge across the river to be built and the tracks to be laid to the West.

THE RAILROAD HAS LIGHTS! Once again, I have solve-ed the problem; which is why they used to pay me the big bucks. . .LOL! Having had eight clip-on lights hanging from the backdrop of the old railroad, the new layout has very short backdrops and are not conducive to clip-on lights of any kind.

Solution: take a combination of small screws and tea cup holders and attach the lights to the ceiling, running the long IKEA cords to a central point hidden behind the backdrop at the end of the rail yard. A couple of zip ties and two pieces of DUCK tape later, and, viola!

King Stone is just about done - a few more "people" working will make it more complete. Also, attached from left to right is an overview of the railroad  - East Yard to East Tunnels to Westbound past King Stone and Ivanhoe Road Station. To the right of the station is the future bridge to the West portion of the layout scheduled for construction in January. In the foreground you can see the last two sidings to be put in that cross over one another - left going to right coal company trestle and right going to left and down to a lower level box company.