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the 3rd rail; live with it or try to hide it.

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  • Member since
    March 2004
  • 913 posts
Posted by mersenne6 on Thursday, March 5, 2009 1:19 PM

  I suppose if you find it really objectionable you could just tear it out.  Everything would look "prototypical" and there would be any number of other benefits. Wiring would become a non-issue. You could get your daily exercise pushing the trains around the layout by hand.  Given the width of the layout and your ability to reach all points you would be able to include stretching along with the push-the-train workout. You could work on your ability to make choo-choo noises. Since you probably haven't really tried to do much about this since childhood I'm sure in very short order you would see a marked improvement in your ability to generate special sound effects using only your voice.

  Manually pushing the trains would also get around the problem of not being able to run trains of prototypical length and if you really weighted the cars you would give the biceps a really good workout....of course if you didn't want to do this you could still just rip out the center rail and convert the whole thing to clockwork.

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Lander, WY
  • 408 posts
Posted by wyomingscout on Friday, March 6, 2009 4:00 PM

Boyd, did you make those goggles out of empty shot glasses?  Sometimes that makes my stomach feel weirdDisapprove

When I was a kid steam engines ran by Grandpa's farm all the time.  A few kids had American Flyers.  Those looked real!

It didn't take me long to grow to love my three rails when Dad (Santa) brought the first one in.  Won't hide mine; they still look great. 

I've often said there's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse. Ronald Reagan

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