I just noticed that my account says that I have been on MRH for 8 years and 6 days.

It just seems like yesterday that I was at a train convention in Anaheim CA and someone (Joe) was trying to get me to sign up for a new website. I was kind of hesitant at first, thinking nothing is free. But I am glad I did, and here I am 8 years later.

--Bill B.

Just sitting here contemplating the amount of money and time I have been putting into the latest build of the yard for my FreemoN group.  Most of the money has come from the group, so that is not a concern.  The time has been a pleasure (even though it frustrates at time), but it has been taking up pretty much all of my hobby time.  Not to say that I haven't diverted to working on other things while I let stuff congeal in my brain.

I am considering model railroading as a 'retirement' hobby. Looking on-line I have seen a radio control and battery power system (S-CAB) for model railroading. Combines a RC receiver, DDC decoder and battery power unit in one package in a locomotive.Seems to eliminate the need to power the tracks and add DCC wiring. Has anyone looked at this and tried it? Does it work?

So I'm not ready to start building a layout just yet--the garage space I plan to use needs work--but I want to get started doing something small.  I was thinking of building some structure kits that I could use on the future layout.

I am totally new to this.  Can anyone provide a shopping list of the materials and tools A beginner would need?  

I plan on starting with simple kits so I can learn the process of assembly, painting, etc and hopefully end up with something useable.

Thanks,

John