Choosing a "category" is difficult. So I chose two. Ballast. First of all. I'm still going to play trains until I'm totally satisfied that the track, locos, cars, wiring is all perfect. And then think about ballast. I am paranoid about water. Not so much the Elmers/water used to fixate the ballast. But if it's needed to be taken up. My track and roadbed are all laid with caulk. You know - the thin layer, just enough to hold. In 6 months, I've had no trouble with that. In fact, when I did need to pry up and relay, it was super easy. No mess. No fuss.

I created a video that displays a very basic operation on my small switching HO Scale layout, serving one of my busiest customers.  Usually, the local job switches all customers on the Stockyard Lead industrial spur in one session or day shift for the crew.  However, sometimes my shortline will work only one customer if there is enough work involved.  In this example, a transfer has brought in some cars for the Ready-Mixed plant and the customer would like to receive them quickly to keep up production for a big job.

The previous post saw us roughing in the skyboards and backdrop support. This had to be done before the benchwork was fastened down because in some areas the benchwork (door slabs) are what hold the lower edge of the skyboard to the wall. Now that the skyboards are in, we can begin fastening down the door slabs.

Previous: The Mud Bay & Western #4 - Skyboards and Backdrops

Hello every one. I'm in the process of converting some of my old Kato engines (GP38-2s) from DC to DCC. When I was a nube I was buying everything ( all different roads simply because I liked them). Now that I have calmed down (some :) ), I've settled on three roads, Norfolk Southern, CSX and Conrail. Instead of buying new locos, I would like to repaint the roads i don't want. Which brings me to my questions. Doe's anyone know the name of the colors for CSX both old and new schemes and what brand of paint is best and comes closest to it?