My first Module!  30" x 8' table base made with 1"x3" Pine,  2"x2" legs and furring strip bracing.  It stands at 48" and I'm 5'-8" so I think it's good.  (Also in the photo a long neglected .60 Ultra Sport R/C Airplane and remnants of an older workbench)

One of my last purchase is the J1 class 2-10-4 steam locomotive produced by Broadway Limited.
This model is in general good, but poor of details. Many particulars are missing.
After an accurate search on the web, viewing photographs of some prototypes, I hazardous improvement work ....

We left off last week with the straight(ish) stock rail in place, congratulating ourselves on a good evening's work, considering we started with bare plywood.  This week, we got through most of the rest of the engineering, with the exception of the switch rods.  I hope to get those and the remaining details done by the end of the week so I can get back to house construction, and clear up the turnout mess. 

Curious if anybody is running a one (or maybe two) turnout layout like Lance Mindheim wrote about in the May MRH.

While I mull over a trackplan for my new L-shaped HO shelf switcher, I'm very tempted to try a 2 TO N-scale switcher on a spare 18-inch hollow core door I have.  It would give me a chance to run my N-scale rolling stock on something other than a 2X4 roundy-round at least.

I like heavy duty mainline running and I also like industrial switching, but there's something strangely appealing about a minimalist layout.