I've been looking at wide screen TVs lately and it sometimes is hard to figure out comparisons with regular screens.
I decided the easiest way for me to figure out what to get is to measure the vertical size of my present screen and get a wide screen with at least that vertical size. I don't want to go smaller.
I also understand that plasma isn't the way to go as the quality declines over time.

I like washes of diluted India ink if you don't want to mess with powder.

I'll add my thumbs up to the Rail-It. Works great and saves time!

1 DCC oval - 3 DC ovals

A good book is "101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders" by Linn Westcott and published by Kalmbach.
Here is a website with some layouts -
http://www.trainplayer.com/Site2/Track%20Plans.html

I'm from St. Louis and now I live about 70 mies south of there.
I've been sort of a "jack of all trades and master of none".
I've been a boat mechanic, driving instructor, console operator, newspaper reporter, lawn care foreman, resort housekeeper and houseman, lumberjack,  store detective, boat dock builder, manufacturing foreman, mushroom picker, forklift operator, mail clerk, carnival ride assembler and operator, UN cop, infantyman, machinegunner, squad leader, real estate agent, music publisher, job counselor, homeless coordinator, and owned a wood stripping business.
Never could decide what I wanted to be when I grew up, so I retired.
I do have 18 years in the Marine Corps, but most of it is reserves. I now get disability.

Hoople - You have it backwards. In real life it's 4". In HO, it's 0.05"

For the same reason I'm running 4 different scales on mine - because I can.

A model of the Eads Bridge, the Arch, and the Old Courthouse would be neat.
Not saying that I would buy them, but they would be neat.

Scott - Just curious as to why the track is raised off the roadbed. Is this on purpose?

Thanks Paul.

I'm just running my LS around an oval. No stops and starts. I don't want to have to go around flipping switches. When I turn on the master power supply, the trains start running.
I decided to keep my Christmas layout up all year which is LS, O-27, On30, and HO ovals around the Christmas trees.
I not going to build a fancy layout in one scale. I'll just concentrate on doing a little work to each of the cars and locos and maybe add a wing to the oval.
For the Annie, I traded the coal load, straight stack and round lights for wood load, diamond stack and box light. I also removed all the excess valve gear. I like it so much better now.
Does anyone know if the rear dome on the Annie is removable? I was able to give the front one a little twist and it came off. I can't seem to get the rear one off. I want to find the fluted domes.

Bach Man - Is there any way to put up the old posts for viewing only?
There was so much pertinent info that is now gone.

Thanks TOC.

The downside to the new board - I had a couple of threads bookmarked that had all the info I needed about adding track powered lighting to my Big Hauler combine when I got around to it.  Now they are gone and I am getting ready to buy what I need to do it.
Can someone help me out here please?
Do I need different wheelsets?
I guess I can use the LGB wipers or is there something else I can use?
If I switch to  LEDs, do I need any additional components like resistors or capacitors for flicker free lighting?
What voltage LEDs should I use?
I'm no electrical whiz.