Taking the advice of several people, I worked on my train layout yesterday. I disassembled my L-shaped layout of two 4x8 tables, rearranged them to make an 8x8 area, and now put down a combination of Lionel and Marx wide-radius track.

As always, there was something to learn.

Layouts featuring Lionel, American Flyer, and other O or S gauge trains don't have to be expensive. Joe Rampola has lots of ideas for creating a good-looking layout with lots of animation (aside from the trains) using mostly inexpensive items. His site has lots of pictures and video clips.

His work has been featured in both Classic Toy Trains and O Gauge Railroading magazines.

Ground foam is a commonly used scenery material. You can use it to simulate grass and other ground foliage, and people often use it to make trees as well.

But there are two problems with it. What are the odds of you running out when working late at night when all of the hobby shops are closed? Too high. And it's expensive. But I found two explanations how to make your own.

A number of people have asked me to post a photo of some trains, so here's a photo of a train, with some scenery, mostly hand-made by Yours Truly.

You'll have to click here to see it, as it's larger than my blogging software allows.

I found this tutorial on building a miniature building and a companion article on painting. The intended audience is wargaming, but the same tricks work for buildings for train layouts, or for kids to build cities for their Matchbox/Hot Wheels-brand cars or their action figures.

Inc. Magazine published a story about the MTH v. Lionel lawsuit which ultimately led to a $40 million judgment against Lionel.

After a couple of marathon days at work, I unwound on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by refurbishing an old Marx Canadian Pacific-style tinplate locomotive.

At first, its problem wasn't obvious.

XTrkCad, one of the many model railroad track planning programs--and the only one I know that has both Windows and Linux versions--is going open source. This also means the program is now free.

You can't download the source code yet but you can download binaries, enter a registration code, and play with it. I've been doing just that.

In this day and age, I've come to expect lousy customer service. Even when my employer pays thousands of dollars a year for customer service, I'm used to getting someone halfway around the world with questionable knowledge of the product, even less command of the English language, and I'm used to being kept on the phone half the day trying things that I've already tried.

And then there's Lionel.

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving. The time of year when nostalgia runs high and ancient toy trains come out of the basement or the attic and get set up again until sometime after the new year.

Well, hopefully they make it that long. Here are some tips for getting old Lionel, American Flyer, Marx, and similar trains running again.