To all : Good Morning !!!   If using wheels with metal shafts , I like to make sure that the insulated  wheels  are all on the same side of the cars .  I am not sure if it makes a difference  on most cars made for  DC    and   DCC , but  I modified  some  Maerklin  Cars made  for AC operation  and it made a difference there . Also since  they were  from their  "  Harry  Potter "  line  I need to use   42 inch  HO  scale  wheels .   Thankfully they had   NEM 362 couplers so converting to  Knuckle Couplers  ( Bachmann )  was easy .  Cars worked  well after that and were used on various engines .   John2.

Zytx  : The decoder and it circuitry uses power all the time , DC  uses power only when you turn up the power with the controller . John2.

To Grapevine Flyer : Lucked out . Found the book in my bedroom Book shelf .

The Title  is  E-Z Model Railroads : The E-Z Track Planning Guide & Layout Book by Chris Lane  with H. Lee Riley .  copy right 2007.

the article is chapter 7 , pages  38 thru 44 . This for HO scale track and should provided the information you require  .I think this is still available on this site but  I could not find it .  Hope you have better Luck . Price was  $ 19,95  , but that was in 2007 . John2.

There is a book that Bachmann  put out some time ago; that  listed  several different  Plans  for Bachmann equipment . The full title escapes me at the moment  , and my copy is in a file cabinet  in the office of my shop building.  It had a section about a time saver in it . I am going there   at some point today and will grab the book and see what info it has and will post later. John2.

To bob kaplan : There are add on  stalls available Tidmouth Sheds . Would it be possible to build a round house from the addons ? John2.

To Ken Huck :  I remember that Bar I am sure it had a basement , you do need to have a cool place to store potables .  However the bar was too small to fit a Stuka in it.  Rudel would have been way too old to rebuild one . I happened to have known the bar's owner from my youth , though I admit I never frequented that particular saloon.   Your pictures turned out  Good .  John2.

Getting a JU -87- B anywhere near to North America would have been a miracle ,  good tactical  drive bomber  slow and  not great range and it would have required having air superiority to be effective . The "G" series was a good tank buster with twin  37mm,  cannons  . One of my relatives  met  Luftwaffe Ace Rudel  who flew one on the Eastern Front , in a saloon in Chicago about 25 years ago.  John 2.

Your  layout is too steep  for what your are trying to pull . Just because you can build it does not mean it will work with every type of equipment . If you are trying to move passenger cars up more than a two percent grade your not going to have much luck .  Proto-type railroad used multiple engines to do that successfully and rarely tried to lay track greater than 2% over long distances . J2.

there are regions in Europe that have never been cleaned up from  World War One .  All the leaders who started this atrocity on their people should all have been jailed on both sides .  But all the war profiteers started this stupidity  again a generation later .  "Leaders"  never learn .  J2.

Gentlemen : The Echo Valley Express Train is a DCC system .  I doubt it  comes with  AC output . You would have to have DC controller to have an AC output to connect to the Switch Controllers . John2.

To martin : Is that tractor in your  picture one of the Ford tractors that were manufactured by Ford in Europe ? It looks  a bit like the later  8N tractor I have in my  Barn manufactured in 1952 .  John2.    By the paint color it looks  like an  N2 .

would it not be  easier  to take two  # 6  turnouts and make a cross over  with them and isolate them where necessary ? i am sure this has been done before. John 2 .

to cyber7 :    Welcome to the world of  model railroading  !  There are books  Published by Kalmbach Publishing  covering many aspects of the Hobby that will help you with terminology  and techniques .  You made a good choice going with Kadee for couplers as they the best and oldest manufactures for couplers , though  Bachmann Mark 2 couplers are all right as well .   Starting with DCC equipment  is  more expensive initially  but does mean you avoid later conversion
issues .   Good Luck  on your endeavors  in our hobby .  John2.

If you are plugging &    drilling & tapping holes it does not make a difference what  they originally  used . J2.

To indian hills  r  r :   #2-56tpi. are the most commonly used screws  , but  is dependent  on how your couplers are fastened into your coupler boxes .  Check with Kadee to help you with installation.  Also make sure to get  coupler height gauges to make sure to standardize your heights .  You will also need pliers to bend or straighten the hose that hangs from the knuckle .   This is one of those on going projects that we all encounter & deal with .  John2.