This is a layout animation idea I came up that requires no motors and actually uses the trains momentum to power it. The idea I came up with uses a flat gear (rack) on the track and a gear sticking out from below the car. When the car passes over the rack gear it would move the animation. With varied rack length and teeth on the pinion (round gear) you could have almost limitless possibilities. I would try this myself but have two problems:

1. No available gears

2. I do not have a car to "butcher" and cut a hole in the bottom of.

Does anyone know of cheap water for model railroads since our club had little to no budget. If you know of a source or how to make some yourself please let me know. Thanks for your help and don't forget to check our club topic page- http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/22436

Well I am looking for help now with some wiring. I am working on getting a switch module (see image). We will most likely be making a yard module and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for blocks. The yard blocks would be separated by track and run by the sam power pack as their respective tracks. If we were running DCC this wouldn't be a problem but we have DC if anyone could help please do. Thanks in advance, Trainmaster247.

I have an opportunity to build an 18 x 2 shelf layout.  I have a wonderful collection of modern UP power which I would love to use rather than sit in boxes or on a display shelf.

I was considering modeling a locomotive terminal as the primary theme for the layout instead of a switching layout.  I would have a schedule of IB and OB trains, but rather than model the whole train, I would only interact with the locomotives (i.e hostler duties).