I'm working on a bookshelf layout that's 25 ft long and 8 ft wide (HO Scale). I was wondering if there was any truth about an elevator system that could raise and lower your train between levels. I was planning on putting my train yard on the second level and all my businesses on the first level. I don't have any room for a helix and I looked at a long incline but that too requires long distance to go up 14 inches. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Mid morning today on I-93 (Southeast Expressway Boston) traffic slowed just before the Milton exit to see what the flashing blue lights were all about.

Nothing unusual about that, except we were on the southbound side, outbound, and heavy traffic at that time is inbound.

As we crawled past, we saw no bodies, no crumpled sheet metal, just a guy in a red Ferrari coupe getting a ticket from an officer in an Amtrak police car.

Why would an AMTRAK police car be stopping and ticketing a vehicle on an interstate highway?

Is there a definitive place to get information about all things TOMA?

ie: A primer article or post that explains TOMA and give links to resources?

I see a lot of questions about starting a small manageable layout on other venues and it would be great to have a single place to point people to to get started with the concept.

After a month of operating sessions and doing a bit of scenery, I decided to get back into my left brain and attempt a steam decoder install. Actually, it's a REinstall where I removed all the electronics in a Bachmann steam loco and replaced them with a new Loksound decoder and iPhone speaker. It ended up nice, but the process wasn't without its pitfalls (let's just say that not all manufacturers follow the NMRA standard on wire color...). Details to follow . . .

The Valley Local