Mobern the caution here is that model railroaders in general have a tendency to want longer and longer trains. Me? 20 car trains would look out of place on a layout like mine. 12 will be the limit and on the Grey and Grandure part 5 is the limit. Here is a link to my pages on the GandG. http://www.windingstream.com/rr/grey_and_grandure.htm Enjoy
There certainly is Bob, it's called running out of the other color!!! I originally wanted black and red but the mailorder outfit didn't have red so I ordered white instead. After running out of white, I found a local electronics place and they had red. I bought a 100' roll so I'm good to go for the entire layout. My white was a 25' roll....silly me to think that was enough. At least I kept all the blacks together. LOL!
Mobern, if you are going to run short trains, I would leave the 3% but as Grey One pointed out, once you get the layou done or near completion, it's human nature to keep hooking up those freight cars.
Mobern: A 3% grade on a 3x5' layout is a mistake when you have everything up and running. That grade is much too severe for that size layout. In actuality it will be steeper than 3%due to the tight curvature of the radii. It's your railroad however, so that is your choice. Stay cool and run steam.....
Do you insulate the feeder/buss joints?? If you do, do you use tape or some sort of a liquid insulating paint?? ..don
Don, I'm assuming the question is for me. No, I don't insulate. The 14 ga. buss wire is stiff enough that it doesn't move much. The way the feeders are soldered, they can't touch another feeder. Now of course if you lay the layout over something that is metal, there's always that chance....so don't do that.
sorry for not updating in a while... there still is really nothing to update as I'm waiting and waiting for the internet purchase to arrive... I might run down to the LHS and pick up a building or something just to keep myself busy until the stuff gets here... mobern
