Every few months check and refresh your paint supplies.  Whichever paints you use acrylics, enamels, or other solvent-based paint it is a good practice to check up on your paints and to give them a good shaking.  Check your bottled paints, do they need to be refreshed with a dab of water or mineral spirits?  What about your marker\paint pens?  Then you might also want to do a spot check on your glues, putty, clay, stains, and pigments, to make sure they are in usable condition.

It's said that people who live with a pet being to look like each other. I wonder if it's true with layouts?

After a little advice with where to start, [ ... ]

 This is Micro trains Line SD40-2 Santa Fe model which I customized with working ditch lights.

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 [ ... ]