Someone posted a message asking for photos of our layouts, so I’ve add a couple of shots in the model railroading photo file, of my Farmersville Jct. R.Y. It’s a small switching layout 15 feet long with a 4 foot extension for a staging area and for the most part 18 inches wide, at the East end to allow for a grain elevator along the isle way it is bumped out to 22 inches in one spot. The posted photos are of the finished West end of the layout, the East end will have a small Mid-West downtown area with the grain elevator and a highway overpass to help hide the view block where trains run off the layout into a three track staging area. The layout in my garage and because I don’t expect it to survive to many years in there I did not do anything fancy to the structures or track. The track is plain Atlas code 100 nickel silver rail, main line track is painted Grimy Black and sidings are painted with Rail Brown to look more rusted. I then used grays and whites sprayed in no certain pattern across the ties and rails to add weathering patterns to the ties. The turnouts are controlled with push / pull rods mounted to the front of the layout face, the layout is set up for single operator use so all rails are hot, with jumpers attached every four feet for good power distribution. The layout is part of my garage storage shelves and is attach to the wall so when I was doing my scenery for my earth texture I sprinkled sifted sand onto the layout then shaped it and bonded it in place. After it dried I started adding layers of ground foam and then bonded this in place, so far I have had no problems with this method, I would not suggest it for any layouts that are movable as a good jolt could break the sand loose from the table. The structures I wanted to look nice but I’m not to worried if they have a seam showing here or there, like I said it’s not built to last. The two locomotives in the second photo are both custom built by me, the GP-35 is a model of an Illinois Central Gulf unit using a Kato locomotive, all fans, grills and steps were removed and new one added, numerous details such as MU hoses scale coupler release bars and windshield wipers were installed, then I painted and added the new decals I still have to change out the truck frames. The second locomotive there is a better photo that I posted a couple of months back, I wanted a small but beefy looking unit so I took two Athearn S-12 locomotives and combined them into a center cab diesel unit. I used the single base of one locomotive, then spliced two cabs together and used two ends to make the body. I scratch built the battery boxes under the cab and made new railings from .015 brass wire. The vent screens in the top of the two main bodies were made from strips of etched roof walks cut to size. I’ll post another photo as work progresses, and questions just e-mail me be glad to answer if I can. Booker1067@aol.com