What is a diesel? I don't even like steam engines built after WW 11 - too modern.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a required reading in NY state. However, common core emphasizes non fiction so some old favorites might get dumped (I was very angry when I saw my school librarian throw out "Guadalcanal Diary (which is non fiction!"

Getting back to trains - a teacher I know who works with children with serious learning defects has a model railroad in an adjacent unused shop room. He uses old Marx trains, or cheap Lionel. The kids assemble the train tables, make buildings, do scenery and the more capable work on the wiring. The kids are proud of their railroad. It is nice to see that trains can still lead to learning. Their current project is a wooden bridge.

Rocker Neal Young bought an interest in Lionel trains because he found that they had a calming effect on his autistic son.

Thanks to the Bachmann for letting us get away from trains for a bit.

Most, if not all, textbooks are available on line. A number of them come with CDs that are needed to access the online stuff. Once you log in the CD won't work and you have to contact the publisher for a new number. It prevents students from passing books on to others.

The books are very expensive and a number of titles are printed in India! Reading has taken a back seat to Pokémon. When I arrived at my college office last week to do advisement for graduate courses, a young man was waiting playing that stupid game.

On a departmental statistics test I gave once at the local community college a number of years ago. a student, using a calculator, gave "overflow error" as an answer. Another genius told me that one problem had 58 words and that was too many!

Kids in today's schools use calculators, computers, Smartboards. smart phones and tablets in class. Teachers assign homework online.  It's a whole new world.  We all see the effect of the computer age on the electronics included in train models.

I remember AM stereo. It went the way of the cb radio and Betamax machines. Today there is HD AM radio. I don't know why they think it is necessary to hear some of the radio talkers in HD. I have read, and maybe I misread but the HD content might be different.

On a radio message board I read from time to time, one writer, who is involved with the technical end of broadcasting, claimed that cars keep radio going.

I teach in graduate school and I always poll my students, 75% of them being working teachers,  about how they keep current with what's happening outside their classrooms. Very few, if any, read a newspapaer, If they listen to radio it is to the AM all news stations (to hear the weather) or sports broadcasting. When I ask what they use for news I get Facebook or Twitter as an answer.

Stupid me! I thought, from the title "Hell on Wheels" you were referencing the New York City MTA number seven line, the "L" train. Riders call it the "L from Hell.'

One realty show I like is the one about the Alaska Railroad and how difficult it is to keep trains running on time. Maybe they could run it with another show dealing with the railroads in Florida - no snow down there - just the occasional hurricane.

I had several Mantua engines - the DC-71 is too big to fit under the boiler of the later versions. I had one of the original gearbox drive mikados and the motor was a DC-66 mounted flush on the frame with a length of tubing to the gearbox. The Later models used the open frame motor that had a slant mounting. I don't think DC-66 motors were ever built that way.

A can motor might be a better choice. You'd have to come up with some way of mounting it at an angle.

Wow! I think it's sad because it spells the end of an era in model railroading. Soon we'll see a lot of this stuff on Ebay advertised as "rare" or "vintage" - this would be true for once. I have built and owned most kit engines. I enjoyed the challenge of getting them to run properly.

However the new engines are much more detailed and run better and give Jonathan lots of little things to change! Also, thanks to companies like Bachmann, there is a greater selection of engines all tested and ready to go. What will the next generation of locomotive be like?

The Southern is my favorite. Nobody will know that you are running an engine the Southern didn't have. It's your railroad. The Norfolk Southern won't sue you! Who knows for sure that in one of their many acquisitions they didn't acquire a mogul.

Have fun - that's what the hobby is supposed to be about.

Since I don't like spreading misinformation I googled Campbell and they are still in business and offer Weston miniatures. A look at EBay found a lot of "rare" and "vintage" Weston and Campbell figures. There is one vendor selling 5 flexible Freddies for $50.  All of the figures are diecast and come painted or unpainted.

Jonathan - great work (again!) Sorry to hear you were ill. It looks like you're back 100%.

To electrical whiz kid - there was, at one time, a company called Weston (I'm sure that's the name) and they made Flexible Freddy. I never actually saw one but I know they were made. The line consisted of a lot of prepainted figures. My favorite was guys playing checkers. The checker board was on a barrel and I think a dog was included. 

I do believe that Campbell models (for the younger folks - Campbell made building kits and were known for their HO shingle material) may have purchased the line. I don't think Campbell is still in business,

to the electrical whiz kid - Well put. If I want to make ballast out of ground up auto carpets then good for me. Cork has been around a long time and I bet that you could find many articles on cork road bed. There are lots of ways to prep it and use it.

In the past I have used thinned Elmers yellow glue, artist's matte medium and old paint. I think that, regardless of the fastening method, sealing is a must.

The same applies to using homasote - it shrinks and swells and should be sealed.

I used to hand lay my own track. I had a home made jig for tie spacing and would put down about two feet of pre-stained wood ties onto the sealed roadbed. Then I spiked in the rail. The wood cross ties held the spikes very nicely.

Anyway - it's a hobby and nothing is written in stone (especially train prices) so try some methods and find the one you like.

Okay Jon - when will we see your version of the 2-8-0 and the very interesting red caboose (or are you still making boxcars for every railroad that ever existed?)

Seriously, thanks for the pictures. Maybe, if you do this engine, you could put a model of the guy in the black shirt in the engineer's seat.

By the way, the Great Smokey Mountain Railway in North Carolina has a 2-8-0 but I don't know if it is the same as the one at Fort Eustis. I rode behind it way back in 1999 and I wonder if it's still in service.

I didn't know that the new metal line was different than the older stuff and am glad that MRC has bought out Model Power. Once again I learn something from this board!

Back in the heyday of metal cars trains were very short because the engines couldn't pull them. I had a Penn Line consolidation with a die cst tender that could pull about 4 metal cars.

Model Power (now out of business) was offering new metal rolling stock as well as several of the former Mantua/Tyco steamers.

MDC Roundhouse also made metal cars, as well as Ulrich - which were prepainted kits.

There is some super modelling shown in the pictures in this thread. Kudos to the builders!

I found painting backdrops very relaxing. The advantage is that you can't really mess up.

I used to apply my blue basecoat with a brush. Using a roller never crossed my mind - it sure would move things along.