If this is the first if of my posts you are reading please read my other posts first.  Start at the beginning as it were.

i built my first slip switch last summer.  Using a Fast Tracks #8 double slip switch jig I built two single slip switches and two turnouts.  These were the first bits of track I'd ever built by hand.  I was truly impressed.  So much so that I decided I'd build all my turnouts from now on. 

This will be more of a treatise in theory, not reality, as we are still trying ops sessions to test the concept.

In the real world, things have changed significantly with the introduction of taconite production.  I will focus on natural ore shipping, as it was the mainstay of ore shipments in the 1950s.

Milt

In keeping with "there's nothing like wood for wood", and metal for metal, I ground and graded some dead leaves for dead leaves on a forest floor. They look great in the jar at the moment, but will they turn to dust in a couple of years? Can I spray some glycerin in the container, shake it up, and rely on that to 'freshen' them up? and make them usable?

Anyone heard of or tried using real dead leaves? Preservation methods?

Thanks