Charlie, at one point you mentioned automating the manual Lionel log loader on your layout.
I don't want to make you do anything you dont want to do, but I'd love to see you do it and share how you do it. I've thought about picking one of those up and doing the same thing - possibly with an old switch motor to drop the logs and create a conveyor to pull the logs up from a dump bin into the shed. Just a thought for a future post! Thanks!
OGR magazine should run an article on your layout - heck - it's already written and photographed!
JD