I live in central Texas and have a non-airconditioned garage layout, where the garage temperatures can exceed 120 degrees F.  My cars and engines stored well in non-air-conditioned storage until my retirement as of late.  The engines still work VERY well, except for the K-4, which I am working on to get the drive trains to work.  (My old Spectrum GP-30 (38?) pulled 23 cars of over 4 ounces each up a 1 percent grade yesterday in a traction test with no faltering!)  I can only afford to continue DC at this time, as teacher retirement is not so good in Texas.  Should I shut-down in the summer? I could still run the layout in the cooler 5 am hours (two or three hours), or should I remove the locomotives inside?  Should I remove all the cars?  I do keep the engines lubed well but not over-lubed.  Any suggestions are deeply appreciated.

By the way, if my Spectrum K-4 cannot be fixed locally, is there any trade-in option(s) for these wonderful locos or is it now a "static" display case object and should I just consider it a bad investment?  Thank you.  Ross Litman

I live in central Texas and have a non-airconditioned garage layout, where the garage temperatures can exceed 120 degrees F.  My cars and engines stored well in non-air-conditioned storage until my retirement as of late.  The engines still work VERY well, except for the K-4, which I am working on to get the drive trains to work.  (My old Spectrum GP-30 (38?) pulled 23 cars of over 4 ounces each up a 1 percent grade yesterday in a traction test with no faltering!)  I can only afford to continue DC at this time, as teacher retirement is not so good in Texas.  Should I shut-down in the summer? I could still run the layout in the cooler 5 am hours (two or three hours), or should I remove the locomotives inside?  Should I remove all the cars?  I do keep the engines lubed well but not over-lubed.  Any suggestions are deeply appreciated.

By the way, if my Spectrum K-4 cannot be fixed locally, is there any trade-in option(s) for these wonderful locos or is it now a "static" display case object and should I just consider it a bad investment?  Thank you.  Ross Litman

I have an Atlas RS=1, product number8106.  Thirty years ago, it was dropped and broken in a high school science project and I am just now getting around to fixing it for my layout, now I am finally retired.  One of the trucks is broken.  I cannot find any spares from Atlas.  Does Bachmann make a truck that will fit it?  Thanks - Ross