Let me qualify this by saying that I have NOT tried it yet, though I do intend to.

Pilot trucks on HO scale steamers bother me.  They don't do the job they are supposed to (guiding the engine into a curve) and instead flop around getting in the way and making it hard to get the engine on the track.  If only there was a simple way of centering them..

I need some advice. While the trackwork is progressing, I need to address the little mountain lake and the port area water.

Being colorblind (wore OD for many, many years) red/green dichromatic, I do see basic colors but want your suggestions on the colors to paint the bottom and sides of the lake and the "water" in the port area of the layout BEFORE I pour the instant water material.

Can someone suggest a good source (manufacturers and part numbers, please) of railroad worker figures appropriate for the 1970s? Something in the line of freight service brakemen and conductors?

So far a search is turning up lots of bib overalls and Cromer hats, and looking at highway workers etc. gets me into high-visibility orange vests and so on.

OK, This conversion began at the tail end of my blog on making a Southern Railways Crescent Limited Pacific out of an old Tyco/Mantua Pacific kit.  I had run into a cheap Roundhouse Old Timer 2-8-0, without tender and pilot wheel, most detailing broken off and a badly damaged kit cab.  The gearing and motor were flawless, though; once oiled and greased it ran absolutely beautifully.