Rich, I know the articles you are talking about, the ones I remember are ..even earlier. Carrabesset and Deadwood? Driftwood? It had the flat bottom Chessapeake sloops-skipjacks? and a probably testor's tug, 'cause that's all there was in HO scale boats back then!... sadly, because of Newfie here, I am going to put a oval of n-scale track like the Elk river one I remember in an empty 2X3 1/2' corner, but I do have an HO main down the middle of it, won't be easy.
NEWFIE! don't go to far with that N scale set- that could be the start of the narrow guage I've been on about. The track is fine as is, the cars and engine can be converted as you get the knack. Check out that Eric website, and get some ideas from the On30 page, just remember you will be half the size.... i've had no luck with search engines lately....wish I had a scanner again.... Well, an HOn30 (used to be HOn2 1/2, or HOn9? HOe9? in Europe) anyway a layout could fit ON the poker table....hey! the black diamond route? Queen of spades southern? hummmm.

Ahoy skipper. Being known as 'Newfie', I assume you are in the great white north! I thought of something last night- I can't seem to bring it up except from a maill file, but look for <www.miniaturesbyeric.ca< or something like that. He is north of ED, makes resin parts for detailing generic models into Canadian prototype. AND as I had a hunch, I checked, yes, he still makes HOn30 resin models, some are cool looking Hawaiian- (I don't know how to spell) prototypes.... If you can't find his site, email me off line, I will forward it to you.....   

I know you guys are modeling 'current' but when Amtrak started- and for many years on, they had stenciled over or silver & stripe SW-1's, RS-1's, GP-7's, all sorts of 1st generation power for yard and MOW work. I think Amtrak was one of the best paint scemes anyone put on E-units...the coolest thing back then (1971+) was the pooled cars not repainted yet- a GN goat on big sky blue or UP yellow and grey working the northeast corrindor....now that was a bright spot in all the gloom....

First to Bob. Tel your wife couches and sofas are loaded with BTU's, and it is best to burn them all in the stove before springtime... hey, worth a try! To Newfie.... tell your sweet loving wife that by some freak co-incedence of nature, N scale requires a 4X8 sheet too... and if that doesn't fly... well, not so poular not because of the On30 and larger scales nowadays, but HOn2 1/2, which is N-guage track but the easier to work with HO scale equipment and buildings, might be the way to go. There was an awesome little "Maine two footer" called the Elk River, back in the early seventies, when this guage was catching on, a nice oval of mainline track, siding, tunnel, trestle, switchback spur to a mine, it was an inspiration to a kid just playing with trains before that. 2X3 feet. I had 4x6 to work with back then, so I did the same thing only standard guage...And alot of nice stuff fit in there without crowding the scenes. Best part? When you do get more room to build in, this can be an addition to the big one, just extending one line off the old layout to run along the full HO track as an interchange, or guage transfer.. like 'Port o Basque' was in the good ol' days.... I collect more moldy old magazines than websites, but you should be able to 'google' something along this idea..... It was in the 1970? into 72? Model Railroad Craftsmen mags....Frary and Hayden? Don't know how to spell their names. In the late 70's or 80's they did a maritime waterfront layout, forgot the name, which the old one could become an addition to. Check it out, might just keep peace- and trains- in the family...    

Your car reminds me of the dog food commercial-"what's in the reefer! I can't read!!" I wonder if anyone makes a beggin strips billboard in HO... hey those prices aren't bad, but, enough where you don't want to mess one up. You did a fine job, but in the areas you don't think you have enough practice on, buy some $3 cars at a train show, practice on them - lots of old modelers sand off the molded on details, and go from there. In a way, you need some junkers around to test glues, solvents and paints- and techniques-The glue slop can dissappear with some dark chalk or airbrushed wearthering, when you get to that stage. You have a pin drill? and didn't break any? you are doing very good... btw, too late for Christmas, but thro some birthday hints for a 'Dremel moto tool'...good luck...

I don't own one of these, but other articulates of this style. I believe there is a drive shaft with bearings-which can dry out.... under the shell. I guess it's your call, do you have directions covering boiler shell removal?

Yeah, the poor southern end of the CV. A few years ago someone wrote an illustrated softcover on it. Still handles quite a bit of freight concidering the' from nowhere to nowhere routing'. Seems it's only claim to fame was the Canadian government's best option for an ice free neutral port....neither use was an ace up the sleeve very often... used to have some nice excusions on that line, rural New Enland at it's best....New London is the 'seed' of my seaport scene.  Enough of that! now let's talk about Fitchburg again!! The old station is long gone I know, but the new one isn't cookie cutter atleast, yes, the roof of the RH was pretty rough the last time I saw it, the TT loke servicable- nice and narrow, i bet it wasn't 200' form the road to the mainline, a modeler could use that as a prototype in a pinch for space. I don't know if that is gone too, but there is a brige over- rt 2A? 31? on the west side of town, there is/was a trestle coming right out to the edge of the highway, with a bumper on it. About 25-30 feet up. Locals told me that was where crushed stone or gravel was offloaded into dumptrucks parked below it, an old paper mill was up the hill to the west, very 'narrow guage- model- looking- thing' I am still at a loss for words concerning this...apparatus... we should all go on a field trip to Fitchburg!! Hey GG! sup with that flatcar of 2 by 4's whackin' the lunchbreak cannonball? We just had a thread about brake wheels! No derail, no chucks, no chain, no cops on the ball.....ouch! could have been worse huh? 

Clear block, just like the 12 inch to the foot stuff, if temp changes are extreme, you need gaps in the rail, even if only the places that bind up, doesn't take much, but if it is all glued down, etc etc, it won't be easy, a saw blade on a dremel is great, but the rail joiners... might be a choir... yes Woody, I think of Nevil Chamberlain and GB 1 when people use latin in hostile orations...this was going off on a 'degree style tangent'? ... My friend's dad hand laid track before they invented flex track. On routered out curved and straight pine boards? He had a theory-" don't bother with scenery, it distracts people from the trains!" And my layout is built along the same idea, except for the buildings or scenes I want to draw attention to, simple dark scenery, plain track, pay attention to the trains... and alot of my collection is old AHM, or British, and I 'need' the code 100, 'cause I am not going to replace millions of wheels... and my layout isn't 100% North American anyway, so it suits me.... I had no problem with fiber tie brass, my old stuff is still in 'secondary' use, and I wish I had more.... I spend just as much time cleaning NS....

Yes, I spent a month in Fitchburg one day last year. Rather nice, interesting railroad linesiding there. Mills with timber trestles from the main into a dock or hopper on the oher side of a gully or river, a feed mill full of covered hoppers  in an area with out a cow for 40 miles, stonework embankments and overpasses from the 1840's or 50's, still just as solid, a recently working turntable with two stall RH? (correct me on this GG and others) and a decent passenger station- terminal for the Boston commutor runs-- and a mile of missing track to the old New Haven/CSX line in Leominster, very short sighted 'railroads are dead' politics in the 70's I guess. So there's plenty to see on your school reunion trip Gene . As far as Devens, I'll tell ya GG, I think there is more rail activity around there now then when the army had it, was just fuel & supply spurs I think.... don't think this was a 'hot spot' till ST..... older closer guys will know...

U R modeling 1957? I would say the whole interior was charcoal black by then. The track between 2 houses was - I would think- one of 2 reasons, one RH was older than a new one built much later in history, or like that optical illusion twin turntables, the open line was a lead to -something further inback... 'the back shop'? or another turntable, but something active enough it didn't just continue thru a stall. I wouldn't think it is going to be necessary, did you butt the two together yet? I bet there will be nothing to fret about..

You should be able to find an 'exacto-knife' without too much of a problem. Or atleast the lighter'wallpaper' snap blade cutters, yeah the stanley knife will come in hardy, but only now and then. Old medical instruments are very handy, if you know a nurse or doctor, better to your tool bench than the sharpes container. Boxcars don't care if the hemostat hit the floor too hard. Dental intruments are handy too, but don't try do it yourself root canals, even with a good mirror. ANY small delicate tools will come in handy sooner or later. Don't worry about timing your projects, just get it done right. What was your kit? $30-$35? Don't rush it. If it seems 'not your cup of tea' stick to RTR or the 'blue box kits', one or two hours tops- usually. OH, btw, about the directions- don't ever glue the floor of a car again, 'trapped nut' is suppose to be an autobody term.

Not Fort  Devens? Gosh Gene, after a week in Fitchburg schools, you're lucky you didn't do life in the Federal pen, never mind the army... ok, now that I got the Yankees in a stir, it was bridges- mainly, that limited the B&M -and CV's power, the Conn. River line to this day has some spindley looking contraptions, until it's sale, the heavy CNR diesel units couldn't go past milepost X, or bridge Y.... come to think of it, some B&M branches used wooden covered bridges till the big G ended those good ol' days... BTW, ttbomk, the Boston and Albany 2-6-6-2's were replaced by the 1st batch of berks, and the NYC sent them to coal branches in West Virginia, but they were already beat to death by then... a tough grade for many miles. the last time I rode Amtrak thru the Berkshires, atleast 4 CSX freights were broke down on the main, good thing it is working its way to double track once more- the hills are hard even on the newest power. That was a long ride, quicker to have walked home...lastly, the B&A and B&M reworked the fleet so often, no matter what you do to a model, it might just have had a prototype for a few months there... I'm not sure, but I think the guy that did those square sand domes came from the barvarian state railways or somethin'.... don't know how they survived the tunnels...     

Oh no. this started out as an intelligent question about rail heights, now I see latin phrases bandied about...this bodes an ill wind... let us pray no one pulls Anzio Annie out of her polystyrene tunnel's lair.... I for one shall withdraw to the nuetrality of my basement sanctuary..... where my John Bull has just convinced me to back date the layout to an even earlier 'pre bellum' time..... keeping the 700 feet of code 100 in place of course.... pax dudes... 

I chopped one up like that too Gene, and ended up not even using it...yet. But, if you are certain you will put 2 kits together, don't start the one till you buy the other, as you are laying it (the floor) out, you will easily see what should NOT be assembled- IIRC, there was instructions for additional stalls??? did you open the box yet?? Have a read... 

I have only one question- why dcc? I had a terrible time getting it to do anything more that what basic DC could do 100 years ago, my 2 cents- a waste of money and nerves, bloodpressure. When you decide to expand well beyond your sheet of plywood, dcc is aways an option in future. A nice DC set with tracks and all can show up for peanuts. my friends near Edmunton bought their kids 2 Bachmann CPR sets- at Canadian tire, day after Christmas sale. Ain't gonna tell you how cheap that deal was....Going in too deep might get frustrating, just put an oval together, practice the scenery and buildings, then buy some switches and more track after you get to know the 1st lot, have a good time with the basics.... my nieghbor's kids didn't expand at all, got bored....but the hogwart still looks great going around their Christmas tree!