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Andrew: that's not necessarily even true for highways. It depends on gravel availablility.

Different railroads would often have different ballast colours in the same area, depending on what the source of the ballast was. Sidings(And especially spurs) would often be ballasted with cinders or another cheap ballast while the main gets better ballast. This is also responsible for the...

For yards, use a dark grey or black (looks like cinders, what was used to ballast many yard through the transition era). I'm fond of grey for mainline ballast, I'd prefer a slag look, but I've never run across something that looks like slag ballast (common on CN's Capreol Sub and CP's Nickel...

Looks like a U23B, U28B or U30B. Can't tell exactly, but it's certainly odd, as New Haven only owned U25B's and that's definitely not a U25B. IIRC There was a commuter road that used NH paint after the Penn Central merger, which would be the provenance of this unit. I think it's P&W U23B...

Well, I painted the 40' CN flat I'd done, then lettered it. Butchered the lettering though, I hate dry transfers, nevr can get them on straight. Gave a triple-bay hopper a first coat of paint, and doubled the amount of ballasted track on my layout. Too bad I ran out of Rail Brown spray, or I...

Not bad, but IC E's look better in Green & Gold.

How about an RS10: Or an RS-18m: Or the Widecab, Alco powered M420W: Or the SW1200RS's big brother, the GMD1

I do believe Micro Engineering makes Concrete Tie track. There was some good info on that in the latest MR. Article on laying ME Flex with Central Valley Turnout Kits. I might just do this when I tear down the 4x8 to build a semi-modular layout later this summer.

I can confirm that Toronto does indeed still have Trolley poles. In fact I saw a PCC on Saturday doing a private run up the Bathurst Line, the TTC has a couple PCC's left for excursion service.

And here's some really handsome steam:

Note that Broadway Limited has the J with SOund and DCC.

I prefer the Branchline Blueprint kits myself. Of course, I enjoy building rolling stock (I'm starting on resin kits these days, just finished building my first, a Point 1 40' CN Flat). Of course, I'd rather pay $40 for a kit of a car than $30 for the RTR version. But given that I've got a...

I clip mine, as I do't use Magnetic uncouplers. I'm eventually going with the Sergent Couplers, but I haven't had a chance to order them. Note that they function prototypically, coupling is (Semi) automatic, uncoupling is manual (Via a magnet passed over the coupler instead of a lift pin)

CN1: Any boxcar from the 60's should run into the late 80's at a minimum. Boxcars last 30 years or more, with one rebuild. You're probably good to go with 40'ers built in the late 50's and early 60's and any 50' or larger boxcar. I know that some CN 40' Paper cars were rebuilt in the early 80's...

I normally ream out the end-holes and glue them in, rather than press-fitting. The Blueprint series use the same basic design, just with individual grabs and brake detail. Lovely kits and well worth the assembly time. Some kits will need a ream & tap for the truck screws, and you may run...

Well, NWSL sells wheel replacement kits for Athearn Loco's, even in Proto87 and code 88 widths (Looks way better than code 110 wheels). Norfolk Southern is about ideal for someone new to painting a loco, with a straight black scheme, just add decals. You will want to double-check whether...

I've got some of my few bits of sectional soldered, simply due to electrical issues. I didn't bother with my Flex Curves, because I'm never joining 2 pieces of flex on a curve. I likely will solder the curves when I replace the 2 18" secional curves with flex.

If you have a small layout using Flex-Track, running feeders to every chunk of flex is doable, if overkill. If you used sectional it's insane. I'd run the feeders to 2-3 different places on the block for mainline and 1 or 2 different places in the block for sidings that are their own blocks...

I'm pretty sure Fleischmann does N-Scale European Catenary fixtures, and their instructions are excellent. Trix probably does as well.

Certainly not out of place, but somewhat atypical. On a 4x8 or 4x10 layout, one would likely want to ensure that your few industries are typical of the area, rather than something a little rarer (Unless you are modeling a certain location, rather than a general area) Grain Elevators don't...