Well, after many many moons the last 3' of track was installed in November. The turnout controls are going in, blocks and transfer sections between power districts are being finalized, emptying all the locomotive boxes, trouble shooting track alignment in a few spots, checking out switch and wire connections. Stuff I was concerned about worked fine, stuff I thought was good to go, was not.
The blessing was in the engines. After lubing four dozen locos that were in storage for upwards of 20 years they ran like brand new. In fact some were new, new old stock.
And that is why I am basically a conventional operator. Reading all the frequent digital problems on the side panel is a dose of reality. The electronics are really nice but I have a full and busy life no desire for the problems I read on line here. Of my recent PS-3 engines my wife (who demanded the real estate agent not show us any thing with less than a 2,000 sq ft basement solely for the RR) requested to not run the smoke. I'll do anything for that girl! Plus after a while even I like to turn off the sound. Having three or four routes to watch with upwards of four or five locomotives interacting at all times I just don't need the distraction.
Just my opinion.
