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is there any reason not to use a yardbird motor in a brass engine (Gem) other than the ones yardbird motors are intended for (manuta, bowser, ...)? it seems that several of their kits (e.g. D8216) are fairly standard: right size motor and work gear, and angled motor mounting plate.

how does painting a brass engine affect the price of a brass engine? Of course there are good and not so good paint jobs, but I also wonder about how it is lettered. Unless you're interested in a particular engine lettered as union pacific, would an unpainted engine have more value?

are all can motors of the same size basically the same, or are some manufacturers better than others? how does the number of poles affect motor performance? and why not use lead (11.3 g/cm^3) for flywheels instead of brass (8.5), or better yet, tungsten (19.2)?

how can scenery be attached to the roadbed on open roadbed benchwork? can foam be glued to splined roadbed? is foam strong enough to support hardscenery w/o something more rigid like plywood resting on benchwork? does the scenery base (hardshell) need to rest on the lip of the roadbed...

i'll need some mining structures, a much smaller version of the one in the photo, but one that is built onto the slope of the hill. i expect i'll have to scratchbuild it, but it doesn't look that complicated. however, in order to figure out what i really want, i think it makes sense to...

what do people know or think about this group? http://ldsig.org has anyone found their web-site insightful? they look like they've been around a while, but i'm not sure how current their web-site is?

i'm wondering what is the more satisfying approach to doing scenery. is is better to work on the entire layout doing one thing at a time, or (more or less) get a small section done then move to the next? i'm thinking the if you work on small sections at a time and start in the rear, you...

i'm looking for information on turntable track spacing, both for a roundhouse and parallel tracks. nothing large, just 2 or 3 stalls it seems that roundhouse tracks are 10 degrees apart. but how far from the turntable would the roundhouse be located? the other option is an engine house...

i partially assembled an old cornerstone turntable and am wondering if there's any tried and true ways for operating it and aligning it with the desired track? this one seems to have fairly low gearing so that when you shut off the power it stops right away. and i've read that the newer one...

i'm wondering how to realistically model the scenery around coal mines. Based on old photos, it looks like the area around a coal mine or breaker are denuded of trees. But i'm not sure the denuded slopes are exposed earth or covered in mine tailings? I would not think there would be much...

Are most people happy with the available mouse based layout design software? I found it tedious to get things aligned and connected for what I wanted to do and didn't need the precision using flex track. (I've done circuit board routing). I found it a bit easier to describe my layout using...

i just received a brass 0-6-0 engine by Gem i acquired on ebay for what i thought was a very reasonable price. but after reading about how old these engines are, and craftmanship at the time, i wasn't sure it would even run. furthermore, it has a motor that sits vertically and mates with the...

i have next to little experience painting models using either a brush or airbrush. i guess it's obvious that the body should be removed from the frame and painted. but it's not clear to me what to do with the drivers a coupling rods. i recently saw a painted brass steam engine on ebay where...

i'm interested in how the Mahanoy Plane in Pa might be modeled in HO. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dianesf/1474592605/in/set-72157602240208292 the plane used a stationary steam engine to pull loaded coal cars up a mountain, while lowering empties. from there, they could easily reach the...

i had read that the average friction of a rail car is about 7 lbs / ton. this would be the force an engine needs to produce just to keep a train in motion on flat ground. using a little trigonometry, i was curious about what grade would be equal to this friction force and found it to be...

i assume that this is more of an operations than a layout question. i'm interested in the anthracite mining region of Pa. i'm not sure how far the mines were from the mainline. i have the impression that coal cars are collected from the various mine and brought to a breaker where the coal...

normally there is a spur track for freight cars to be left for loading. if the spur is no too long, it shouldn't take much time to swap the cars. but if the spur is very long, it might take some time to pull the loaded car out and push the empty back up the spur. how long would a spur need...

how difficult would it be to first build a layout with flex and pre-built (atlas) turnouts (available from previous layouts), and latter after the scenery is up, gradually replace it with hand laid track and turnouts?

are dcc controllers and decoders from different manufacturers compatible with one another? for example, will MRC Prodigy work with digitrax decoders? are there any systems that are not compatible?

are there specific names for each of three tracks a railroad turnout connects? are the names different for a wye?