Ace: A really good post and well thought out plans for small portable O27 layouts. Christmas 1961 found a pair of O27 Marx switches under the tree. I thought they were real cool because the manual operated switchstands permitted a jr. railroader to "bend the iron" as in prototype practice!
Don't leave out the S gauge guys either.
Item: I considered incorporating S gauge with my O27 to model a narrow gauge connecting line. I believe this would have worked out quite well using the Lionel General and American Flyer Frontiersman sets.
Joe