Steve
You were generous to consider my modest emerging home layout as "similar" to yours; however, it seems that your layout is far more sophisticated than mine! Great idea to operate trolleys in sync with the traffic lights.
The local train club (Central AR Model Railroad Club - CAMRC) installed SuperStreets on its layout; one as a simple out-and-back run with a bump-and-go trolley on the street and the other with a car or stepvan on a simple oval. Some cars ran fine, but some didn't. We discovered that the center rail conductor built-in to a few of the street sections was buried too deeply in the plastic roadway, so the pick-up roller couldn't "reach" it. Ironically, the police car ran best and a stepvan ran worst. I suggested that we inspect every track section and discard the ones with a "deeply buried" center rail. Most of the club members quickly tired of the hassle, gave up on the SuperStreets system, set the pieces aside, and never used them again. Too bad. At club-sponsored local train shows, the SuperStreet action was always a hit with kids.
The 45 or so Dept 56 buildings I collected are from the NORTH POLE VILLAGE series. They are thematically related to family members:
Christmas Bread Bakery -- for my dad, a commercial baker
KOLD Radio -- related to my career in broadcasting
Polar Power -- for my brother-in-law, an electronics inventor
Weather & Time Observatory -- for my younger sister Joanne who lived in Florida; always dodging hurricanes
Peanut Brittle Factory -- for my wife Carol, peanut brittle maker at Christmastime
Etc.
The Dept 56 buildings will be placed on the upper level for about 2/3rds of that elevated area. The other third will be 12 Ameritowne downtown buildings (fronts only) -- two blocks with six buildings on each block.
And so it goes ...
Mike (ritrainguy)
LCCA 12394
