Modeling general discussion

Another one for the beginners - DC vs. DCC
There's a lot of hype out there. There's a lot of noise. I've seen some posts on this and other forums asking for a little clarification about things, especially DCC. I've also seen a lot of folks who seem to say that you have to go with DCC these days, or go home. Beginners should start with DCC, and not even look at the old DC controls. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...
my layout
I've been informed that I have reversing loops in my layout. And now that I understand what they are does anyone have any printed material that they would let me use or purchase cheeply. I'm a retired auto tech and centered my work around the electrical system of vehicles. I can and do understand a wiring diagram. I've look on line but not having a printer it's hard to keep in my head with out it in black and white.
layout plans
here is a diagram of my layout. also one pic of the short end. total footage is 26.5 and I have a question. will one power pack run this layout or how do I hook two of them together to have enough power for the engines? thanks in advance. also as you can see in the pic i've added another line

Rusting rail
I am wondering if anyone here may know of a way to rust the nickel silver rail...and is there perhaps a fast way if it is possible to speed up the process if it will naturally rust

Railroad name??
I am going to give my railroad a new name. It will be a logging/ mining line owned by an old penny pinching curmudgeon. Both narrow and standard gauge track all second hand, remember, the owner is cheap!
I am thinking about using "Grizzly Creek & Grumpy Flats RR".
What do you think?
Gary
The Old Programmable Diesel Horn
Years ago, I purchased and built the PDH-1, the Programmable Diesel Horn sold by Kieth Gutierrez(sp?). I've used it off an on for years and it still works. I want to program a new horn but I've either lost or misplaced the manual. I need to know the musical notes produced by each of the five toggle switches in both the up and down positions. I'm sure this information was included in the manual.

GP Quiz -- Win a Year's Free Subscription to MRH
Here's the November quiz: Identify the actual locomotive type (for example, ALCo RS1) and the model manufacturer (for example, Con-Cor), listing them from left to right. Running down to your stash and looking at the locomotive numbers is cheating and won't help anyway.

An impressive video
This is one of the more impressive model railroad videos I've ever seen!
Moderator note: Converted the link to a direct inline post of the video using the media button on the editing bar (looks like a filmstrip).

Weathered D&RGW SD45s
I just finished detailing and weathering 2 of the Athearn RTR D&RGW SD45s.
I've only weathered only one other locomotive, before attempting these, and a few railcars. So I'm still fairly new to this.
Let me know what you think?

Quick Interiors
Charlie Comstock's article in Jan-Feb 2010 MRH is about interiors of commercial buildings. In it Charlie uses photos of wood shipping crates. My question is when did cardboard packaging come into wide use? I am building an HO layout with 1936 as the year of operation. (Parents bought a new Chevy in '36).
So is cardboard boxes right for 1930's shipping or is wood crates the norm? Certainly large heavy machinery etc. is in wood crates.
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