I now have three locomotives using BlueRail blue tooth boards and Staunton dual battery BPS boards. And I will never have to wire any of the 25-30 turnouts, nor any sidings or spurs on my layout.

I am just about to commit to changing my couplers to Sergent.  I bought a few to try and am really impressed with them (and the support from the mfgr.).  They obviously look way much better than Kadees, however, I don't have a layout (yet) to test them on and am wondering about using them on an operating layout.  I prefer to cut the "hoses" off the Kadee couplers and use a skewer for uncoupling, so using the wand won't be a problem.

I'm interested in any and all responses from those who have tried them.

Bart Hollis

Moving and the handling of my reefer over the years has taken its toll. This is a pic of it years ago without the missing steps.

This step is missing on both sides. Does anyone know if a more durable one is available in metal?

Actor Michael Gross (who Ken Patterson interviewed in his Nov 2016 issue What's Neat column), is also the cover story of the Jan 2017 issue. He does a detailed step-by-step of his rolling stock weathering methods. From the cover photo you can see that Michael's a very capable prototype modeler.