I had a bit of an "oops" photo tonight, whereas my hand interfered a bit with a long exposure.

But as I look at it, though it does appear to be a hand, I realize this interference could be used to our advantage.

We've all seen the pictures with smoke, soot and dust added to the scene as an aftereffect by way of such tools as photoshop.  Me personally, I preferred photos back before photoshop - if there was smoke, it was either a prop IN the picture, or it was the result of combining negatives.

There are so many manufacturers of both steam and diesel locomotives, but which ones are really good running and worth purchasing? I don't want to buy something that is not going to be quality. I really need your advice as I am about to purchase some steam and diesel locomotives for my era 1956 layout. 

Thanks so much for your guidence...

In some ways, Solitaire is like model railroad switching operation.  Sequences are reordered into new sequences.  The main difference between Solo Model Railroad Operation and Solitaire seems to be that many people will play Solitaire on a computer during idle moments.  So why is computer solitaire widely popular, and can we make solo model railroad operation more popular?

Okay, the "Portable Display Layout" now has a name - the Lone Hill Park RR. 

Once I decided to build a portable layout like this, I also decided that I was going to use it to do a few things I've not done before - such as making a major terrain feature out of foam and Celluclay. 

I've used Sculptomold before but have been told that Celluclay is superior - it does appear to be more fine grained a product. However, I've also discovered that at around 65-69deg F. it also takes forever to dry/cure.