Good afternoon everyone. Question for the east coast modelers. What would you recommend for a mainline ballast color and secondary track ballast color. On my layout the tracks are so close it does get a little confusing so I want to start to add some paint on the cork for now then ballast the tracks. I have 2 mainline track and 2 tracks that go to and from the helix and/or freight yard. I will have a black ballast in the freight yards and sidings... I do model 90's to current, if that matters...Suggestions welcome!! 

I would like to extend a personal invitation to all interested modelers to my 4 presentations/clinics at the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) Convention being held in Portland, Oregon on Tues Aug 25 and repeated Thursday Aug 27 ( http://nmra2015.sbcrailway.ca/node/3232) on Scale Model Animation and prototype railroad cranes.

Sorry, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I wanted to make this post because I've recently become a glass insulator collector, and eventually I realized that I might be able to lend some food-for-thought here. See, most people just have simple poles without wires if they even bother with the poles, and they all look identical, full racks of insulators, maybe not even colored like insulators. I saw a article in a MRR magazine by Pelle Søeborg on trackside telegraph poles.

This past week I decided to take on the daunting task of adding trees for some much needed height to my layout. For months I had avoided this task because one of the great challenges of model railroading is to fabricate a convincingly realistic tree. Sure there are many examples online which offer their own expertise, and I would like to thank them for their input. I've combined all their know-how into these simple steps. After experimenting with various scenery materials I found a winning technique (which I'm lucky to say came on the first try).