I made a short video commemorating the 10th anniversary of my O Scale model railroad. It includes some special guest appearances. 

You can see it here

Try it in HD and full screen.

In my forever quest to create a operational layout, i have again dismantled half of the second level and one third of the lower level. I was having too many faults with the #2 Helix. so i removed it and have decided to make the first level west side a loop back ?? reverse loop ?..  .. while making the second level a full wrap around.

My small two siding point-to-point layout has little space for car storage. I finally recognized the value of staging and felt I had enough room for a vertical staging yard. I gave it a try using inexpensive materials I had available.

The elevator is made from 1x4" lumber platforms on which track is laid that are attached to vertical 1x2" strips using 4" angle brackets. I believe there is enough space for two tracks on 1x4" lumber.

I recently started a 4/8 layout after many years of interest and having a few locos and a bunch of rolling stock put away. So I made the bench work, put on some 1/2 in plywood and added 2 in. foam board. Laid my track on foam roadbed, did some neat scenery etc. now I’ve realized that I have a problem not having a long enough drill bit to put my feeder wires through to solder the track. Am I going to have to tear it all apart and start over with the track and roadbed just on the plywood? Any ideas are much appreciated

Over on my Andrew's Trains site I've been working away at (and writing up how I've been) upgrading the Athearn Blue Box XAF10 Railbox cars (and yes I know they are not exact - but they're cheap and I have a few of them to upgrade and add to my fleet).

For more information you can head on over to the main site but I wanted to share some photos of the progress so far. This is a multi-part project that I've been working on for some time as I get a few moments.

Here are some excerpts from the article on adding brake gear (as art versus science):

We have decided that the new railroad will go into a smaller but finished attic room in our new house.  The issue will be the slope of the ceiling in the room and how high I can build the layout and still have a backdrop.  I've been doing some sketches in Cadrail and I am going to post some of them and get people's opinions particularly concerning operations.  The Ripley branch is relatively simple, just like the prototype.  Ripley is only about 50 minutes from my house and that should make research easier.

What 3D software do you use and why this software?  

I have not looked at all the options for software, but have an idea on what I like and why.

One thing I'm looking for is the ability of the 3D software to add texture to a model.

Like adding wood grain or stucco to the side of a building, beyond the flat plane of a 3D model.