This might help if you haven't built the right-of-way yet:  Don't just build up.  You can have one half of your track go up and the track crossing underneath go down so both tracks have grades but they will be much less severe.

The New Bright track shows up on ebay quite often.  Unfortunately, it's usually cuvres, not straights.  You do get two straight sections when you buy an add-on car to the Christmas set.  Also, be careful about the New Bright track.  Sometimes it's the old plastic track which, although it matches well with the metal track, won't allow you to run trains which get power through the rails.

Jim is right (as always) about adapting to other brands of track.  It may be better in the long run, though, to just go with all new track.  Then you'll also have easy access to switches, crossings and the like.

Don't try to use the New Bright track outdoors.  It won't stand up to the weather and the UV will kill the plastic in no time.  Use track rated for outdoor use if you go that route.

Short plexi walls are useful to keep trains on the board, if not the tracks.  But if the problem is viewers, why not keep them farther from the table to begin with?  Standards and ushers' ropes can be set 18-24" from the layout.  I've seen some portable layouts with dowels extending from the sides of the layouts themselves, with a rope or braid strung between the dowels.  Either will keep observers at a distance to eliminate damage and theft.

You're not dumb at all; you are exactly correct that adding straight tracks on each of the four ends of the crossing will change the geometry so the track won't match up.

Rather than do a figure eight, which will still have trains just running around in a differently shaped loop, why not go to your LHS (local hobby shop) and get an inexpensive book of plans for small layouts using sectional track?  I'm sure you'd find something interesting and affordable.

Welcome to the hobby.

It's easy to make a shallow pocket for the points with a motor tool.  Be careful, though, and use a slow speed or your pocket  will end up way too big.  The Dremel will also sharpen the points themselves.

I used an Atlas truss bridge, right side up, but with a sheet of mild steel to widen the right of way.  Then I trimmed the corners to fit in with the adjacent terrain.

Quote from: ta152h0 on February 22, 2010, 01:42:18 PM
Mrs ta152h0 loves it. Mrs t did not realise I had a dcc set with locomotives wired for sound. I paved the way for a check for a 4-8-2 heavy mountain.

She loves it because now she has a perfect excuse not to cook.  Are you sure it wasn't she who put the railroad there?

I'm building a 4x8 for my nine-year-old grandson and I want it to be bullet proof because he lives 90 minutes away.  I'm using sectional track.  I feed all three ends of every switch and the sections often enough that the power doesn't have to cross more than one gap.  This translates to once every four rail joints, plus the switch feeds.  I use feeders soldered to rail joiners and a tiny spec of socket lube in every rail joint/rail joiner.  This is a dialectric material which will, I hope, keep the power flowing with few interruptions.

You can get inexpensive electronics ventilation fans in just about any size at Radio Shack. 

With due respect to Jim Bannister, the Wizard of Wizards in the model train world, I would suggest using the fan to draw air around the motor and up the stack rather than down the stack and to the motor.  Pulling the air through will be a little more effective, the way a window fan is more effective when used to exhaust air than to pull air in.  Too, moving warm air from lower to higher is easier because that's what the warm air wants to do.  Reversing the fan means working against the normal air convection. 

Walkover seats were/are very common on commuter trains.

Use a separate power source for your turnouts.  You might already have one -- an extra power pack, leftover charger for a lost or former cell phone or some other version of a wall wart for a tool or appliance which has gone on to a better place and time.  I have a bunch of such like and I doubt if I'm the only one.

Garden Railway magazine will also have ads from hobby shops with very attractive prices, often lower than what you'll find on ebay and it's all new stock.

Let me also say, in Favorite Spot's defense, that they do a good job on ebay.  Fair prices.  Excellent service.  Shipping a little steep but they tell you about it in advance .

Quote from: trainsrock on February 04, 2010, 11:04:42 PM
The only thing I have against Capchas is that sometimes I can't read them (and I'm 13, I don't want to know what it's like for a 60 yr old!) And sometimes when I type it in, it doesn't recognize it and it won't let me login or whatever the case. 

Dim, TR, very dim.

I'm 62.  I hope you don't think I'm blind or senile (yet).  Some of us are actually quite well preserved.

Quote from: the Bach-man on February 01, 2010, 09:49:36 PM
Dear All,
The most appalling aspect of the article is that the English professor who is decrying poor grammar and usage actually said "I go"...
     "I get their essays and I go 'You obviously don't know what a sentence fragment is.
     You think commas are sort of like parmesan cheese that you sprinkle on your words',"
     said Budra.
Horrible! Professor Budra should be ashamed!
the Bach-man

When my ex-wife and I were raising her children we always asked them where they were going when they used this expression.  They hated it but they stopped.  Plus one for the 'rents.