Chuck:
Welcome to 2-Rail O Scale! You are in for some interesting times ahead and I hope that we all here can be helpful.
I have a design for an industrial switching layout on my blog, it can be found here:
http://2railoscale.blogspot.com/2011/12/industrial-shelf-layout.html This layout is 32 square feet, the same as a sheet of plywood, but rearranged to fit along two walls. Radii are tight, but for short locos and equipment it should be OK.
10 bucks is about the right price for an AHM car. If I remember correctly, the trucks are held on by a plastic expansion pin and they should just pull off. Maybe you'd want to take off the body and help pinch the pin to ease removal and prevent the pin from breaking if you are going to reuse the trucks. I've used Precision Scale blunt-end wheelsets as replacements. The under body will have to be drilled for the Kadee draft gear boxes and shimmed to get them to proper height. Also, if I remember correctly, AHM had an unsightly loop of plastic that held the body on right where the couplers should go.
If all of this sounds like too much work, and you can afford a few extra bucks, you can still find older Intermountain and Red Caboose kits at 2-rail shows for as little as $20. Allegheny Scale Models (www.alleghenyscale.com) had a bunch at the last Strasburg, PA show. Give them a call, they probably have some left. These kit build up into a much nicer model plus you have models, like tank cars and reefers, that AHM really did not have.
Weaver RS-3 are quite common at shows and the on-line auction sites, try to find an older unit with the horizontal drive and Pittman motor, the newer dual-motor 'China drive' is not held in high regard. Track is expensive nowadays, even the older Atlas flextrack (code 156 plated brass rail) goes for $10 a section at shows;' current Atlas even more. Other choices are Old Pullman and Micro Engineering.
TT
