I have four old N scale DC locomotives (3 Kato and a Bachmann), purchased in the late 80's/early 90's. They were purchased for a layout which never got built. After a long, long hiatus, I now have a space for building a layout. Obviously, DCC is now the way to go, and I'm wondering how practical it would be to get decoders installed in these engines. Not something I want to tackle myself. Are there people in Melbourne (Australia) that can do this for me? How much would it cost?

I remember recently seeing a tip for forming flex track but can't seem to find it now. I believe it might even have been in one of Scotty Mason's videos, but am not sure. Basically I saw someone using some sort of tool and running it along the HO flex track to curve it. I need to form 11 inch curves with Atlas HO code 83 flex track for industrial trackage. If anyone knows where I saw it or has advice on forming tight curves with flex track it would be appreciated.

Maurce

Thinking ahead a little to wiring power to these staging tracks. I think I'd like to be able to turn power on and off at each track so that engines aren't all idling on the staging tracks. Good idea or not necessary?  If a good idea, how exactly do I need to wire that? Please be specific and use small words, because this is the part of layout construction that I dread the most and understand the least. Wiring. I'm thinking a switch of some kind between the bus wire and the feeders to the tracks.

I'm about ready to put down some cork. The question is should I paint the cork a base color before the track goes down, or just paint the cork and track together later? This is a yard area with seven tracks on sheet cork. If I paint first, I'm not sure how to transfer the track plan from my paper plan to the cork. May be hard to see on a dark base. I was thinking of using flat black as my base color.  Suggestions, experiences, unrelated but funny anecdotes?

Randy