Randy - I may end up just having a non-working catenary, but I am an engineer at heart and I enjoy dabbling in something like this and enjoy the challenge of getting it to work. Heck I might even try two rail if I don't have to mess with polarity issues. Lighting passenger cars would be a challenge however, a battery or supercapacitor with LED lighting would probably work fine - another engineering challenge.
Mark B - I tend to agree with the smaller layout to a point. I would love not to have to do any type of lift ups, outs, aways to access my layout. But with the desire to have at least some track with 072 curves, geometry otherwise requires arguably 15 feet for a dog bone type pattern. That tends to push a layout to 10x15 minimum. Next layout I am thinking roughly 15x20 max - of course that kind of space is hard to find in homes today - living rooms, kitchens and main bedrooms are off limits - zoning permits would be denied. Still thinking about the Black Diamond layout as a basis but that is 14x36.
