I had to take this apart--4'x6' is too big for my little one bedroom brooklyn apt

Just an experiment if I can get a pic from photobucket to post

Although frustrated with switches and wiring, I put a little something together--please be nice--this is my first try.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-nuELQ6J2U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Kz6z5Ib_U
I hope this works. Very nicely done YouTube video of several NYC subway lines-including some vintage cars

It wasn't the dropping the screws and pockets on the floor that was getting me--it was merely getting the darn thing in the hole so I could screw the thing in--luckily, a lady at work who makes jewelry came up with the solution, which I did tonite and successfully attached all eight couplers and pockets to my Bachman Southern Line passenger car set: Merely dip the tip of the screwdriver a little in a Elmer's gluestick and then the tack on  it holds the screw long enough to get it started in the hole in the coupler pocket. Now, I really feel silly--seems like such an obvious solution

OK, so I have chubby fingers, bad eyesight and a small screwdriver.How the heck do I get those tiny little screws in those tiny little coupler pockets? Would using a tiny magnetic phillips head screwdriver mess up the magnet with the ez-mate knucklers?
(I may just give this a rest and work on dioramas till I can see again)

Wow--started quite a discussion. I don't remember seeing this on the old board, but then again, I'm a newbie.  What I'm attempting to model is my old area in Kentucky where I grew up--ca. 1950-end of passenger train era, so plenty of poles still around then.  Still remember sitting in an old tobacco warehouse waiting for loads of dark-fired tobacco to come in--warehouse located near the L&N tracks--as a young-un would count the cars and listen to old Jimmie Rodgers music. Ah, the rural life

Well, if my math is worth anything, considering 60 poles per 5280 feet, that would be one pole each 88 feet or the length of about 2 40' boxcars or am I way off?

I know this is bordering on the obsessive--but can anyone tell me the proper distance between telephone poles? HO scale.
Another dumb question--since most structures would have phones, has anyone ever thought of putting their accessories wires on your telephone poles and running them that way instead of under the base?
Full of silly questions today

I'm lucky enough to live near the brick and mortar Trainworld here in Brooklyn. Was just there over the weeked picking up a remote turn out. Always helpful--threw in the new 2007 Bachman catalog for my wintertime viewing amusement.Highly recommended

I called IHC this afternoon and the techie there was quite helpful--showing me how to take out the old horn and hook coupler (you just pull it out) and recommended McHenry knuckler for the replacement--he didn't know the number, but I believe someone else here mentioned 52.  BTW, if Bach-man is reading this--do any of the Bachman knuckle couplers work? Has to be a pretty long shank

Several of the messages about the NEW track/layout book mentioned the fact that there was an "old" one, but some said they couldn't find it. Perhaps what they are referring to is the track/layout planning book from in the 1990s that comes with the Layout Expansion set, Item 44594. Looking in the 2006 catalog, I don't see a separate listing for the old book, but it's in the expansion set

Thanks for all the replies. I use several power packs--the one powering the rails is one of the older Bachman power packs--the black one with the red speed adjuster. The only AC I have attached to it are my 2 remote switches. For AC power for lighting I use a separate power pack so as to not drain too much on the first one. All of these, of course, in turn are plugged into a power strip and into the wall with a three prong plug. The one A unit Proto 2000 I have seems to pull the cars well enough up a small grade--the size of my layout (4'x6') precludes putting more than, say, three or four passenger cars on it, or it starts looking like a cat chasing its tail

Got the cars going over the switches fine, but darn those horn and hook couplers! Anyone familiar with IHC smoothside passenger cars and how to take out the long shank horn and hook and put in long shank knuckle couplers? I can't figure out how to detach them from the trucks

I have a Proto 2000 E8/9 A unit passenger diesel.  I notice there are both A and B units out there.  I know the B unit goes behind the A unit, but is it necessary? I'm running DC here, not DCC. The flashing headlight works with the A unit--does the B unit come with any action or is it strictly for looks?