Your Honor:  Lignite does not come from PA.  A lot from Texas and the Dakotas-Montana.

Larry from PA.

Superb job, Jan.  Always good to see work by a fellow N-scaler that demonstrates what can be done in the smaller scales. 

I tried using a brush with better results, but in some instances it "fell" out of the window frame consistently.

Did not give it a shake, and perhaps I should warm the container. 

Does the stuff go "bad" after a while.  Tried to use it the other day and couldn't get it to "spread" in the window opening (for a N structure, so it's a small opening).  Or does it need to be at a specific temperature?  My train room is on the cool side, my decision.

Tom: How's the back doing?

Note to Tom/TCT:  He keeps everything on the level, too.

No apparent answer.  Perhaps some of the southern based vendors would hesitate to commit to travelling at the end of January to Springfield, but would be more comfortable going to  Baltimore a week later.

On the other hand, some of the New England vendors may not want to deal with the grind of consecutive weekends, especially with the possible Super Bowl appearance of the Patriots that second Sunday.

I recall attending a Timonium show on a Super Bowl Sunday in which the Ravens were one of the teams.  Opted to take US 1 north to go home and after 5, there was zero traffic until reaching the PA line.

Look on the Great Train Show website.  They usually list vendors who've signed up.

Even the best have to rest.

Shows us even the best can err now and then.   Nice recovery.  Great that you shared the entire situation with us.

Bear Bryant could do that.

Being the majority of houses with layouts are occupied by people in the "Boomer" generation, we'll see this sad thing more often in the next couple years.  I've personally been involved with two tear downs and last weekend visited a rather well known layout in West Jersey where the owner/operator is ailing and the future is not very promising.

My two referenced experiences were different. One from an unexpected passing and the other where the owner could oversee.  I couldn't tell you which was harder to deal with.

I don't know what words to use to convey how impressed I am.

Bob:  I don't know if there is a copyright thing involved with posting here, but if not, when you finish, you should use your photos and write a new narrative, then submit to Joe Fugate for M-R-H.  Your techniques illustrated and explained would apply to builders in all scales, and the photos are right on to mesh with the explanation.

I know I've bookmarked this thread as reference for techniques to use in building the wood structures in general. 

Thanks for the explanation on how you even the levels, Tom.  That process enables grade crossings to be flat rather than the giant hump so many have.

Tom:  How do you do your transition in levels of the spur track off the main (as shown in the above photo)?