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OK. Thanks.

So why are some of the ties painted yellow in these last 2 pictures?

At the moment, it is in the attic, except that the attic is unfinished, unheated, uncooled, uninsulated, and unelectrified - except for a long extension cord. Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. Plans are to finish the entire attic (eventually) and either keep the trains up there or...

I'm going to second green_elite_cab's advice about soldering. It's not that hard. At least as far as soldering wires together goes. I haven't tried anything more than that. A basic soldering iron and solder aren't that expensive so you don't have much to lose by giving it a try (unless you burn...

I'm using a Mac and either use the keyboard shortcut command-shift-4 (all keys pressed at the same time) or use a program called Grab that came on the computer. Both methods will let you select just the part of the screen you want (there are also ways to capture the entire screen). If you're not...

Josh, No, I am not a member at the topozone site. The image I included in my last post was just a screen capture.

Try looking at topographic maps. Many of those have not been updated in the last 20-30 years so they may show tracks that have since been removed. I like topozone.com. I did a search for "Presque Isle" and found this image (you wanted Presque Isle, OH right?): Lots of track to model...

Several of us built the scalescenes.com card freight house back in the spring. That thread can be found here. I definitely think there is room for materials other than styrene and wood in this hobby and need to spend some time looking around the card modellers site for inspiration.

I know that land-based nuclear power plants require a lot of water to help keep the reactors from overheating - that's why those power plants are always located along rivers. I would imagine that nuclear used for transportation would have the same requirement (although obviously wouldn't need as...

This thread started out talking about coal trains and burning sea water. Now we're talking about tectonic rebound. What a fun journey it's been! :mrgreen:

Since you asked ... your ice cubes in a glass experiment are analagous to icebergs in the ocean. Melting an iceberg is not going to raise sea level (as the experiment above will demonstrate) so you should not be worried about melting icebergs. An ice cap, however, is "An extensive...

The last ice age ended ~10-20,000 years ago. The Industrial Revolution (first widespread use of machinery powered by refined coal) started in the late 1700s. Since the timing isn't even close, it is clear that the combustion of fossil fuels cannot be the reason the last ice age ended ... or the...

If you have an old motor, perhaps you could use the springs that push on the motor brushes??

Nobody has ever produced a perpetual motion machine... and that's the essence of your suggestion. I'm not saying that it is impossible, but it would require a major rewriting of the laws of physics. Perhaps Congress could get started on that :) (Edit: None of this is to say that I don't wish...

I'm not sure, but I imagine there would be plenty of corrosion. Or maybe we would see the real thing take a page from us modellers - plastic tank cars!

No, not the laws of thermodynamics! Cool stuff! As a marine scientist, I have never thought about burning sea water. Obviously, sea water doesn't burn by itself, which leads to the thing that's never talked about on the TV clip: what is powering that big radio wave generator in this guy's lab...

I'm no electrical engineer but ... So after reassembling the engine, I was checking the wheels using my handy dandy NMRA standards gauge when I noticed that my NCE PowerCab was turning off and restarting itself. A quick check of the wiring inside and outside the loco didn't reveal any obvious...

Ah yes, trainnut65, the psychic. How did you know that I broke the driveshaft tonight? Just squeezed one of the couplings a little too hard and I heard a tiny snap. :eek: Regardless, I reinstalled the engine, slightly-broken driveshaft and all, and guess what - there's no more shaking. :thumb...

Actually, my next question was going to relate to flying trains ... does anybody know how to fix an HO scale anti-gravity unit? Mine seems to be broken (and the guy I bought it from on eBay *promised* that it would work) :) :-D.

Any guidance on what, exactly, should be done to tune-up Athearn motors and drivetrains? At one time, I found a website that ran through the process, but must have forgotten to bookmark the site. Wait ... a quick Google search found: Athearn tuneup and Athearn model train. Stuff to read and...