A quick and simple method to get rid of the plastic new freight car look is to spray a light coat of Dullcoat.  This will take away the 'toy' train look of your layout.  If you don't have any Testor's Dullcoat you can use any Matte Finish spray to get the same results.  Just a simple spray to each side and let dry.  This can be done to any plastic kits also.

I finally decided on the Zize of my layout. A mere 30 inches wide, L shape, length 77.5 inches on the short and 126.5 on the long. Now I've just gotta come [ ... ]

I am a bit timid about certain things, making changes to my layout among them.  I note that my previous blog entry said I painted the layout was in [ ... ]

A few days ago I received the set that I REALLY wanted in the first place - the 81862 30th Anniversary set from 2002.

For some inexplicable reason Marklin [ ... ]