NTSS&B MTH Rail King Lighted Billboard 30-90478

I finally had a little free time to work on the layout, and have been hitting it hard.  Another friend was moving into a small apartment, so he gave me a MTH Railking Long Island RR Billboard (30-90478).  It really looked nice, but the Long Island RR did not fit in with my layout scheme. Since I had just came back from the Lionel Operating Train Society (LOTS) convention in Buffalo NY, I decided o replace the billboard with one from the convention.  Then all I had to do was to find a place for it on the layout (there aren't to many spaces left)

Original piece

My Modification

NTS&B Lionel #394 Rotary Beacon

 My YMCA Friend's train also include a Lionel #394 Rotary Beacon. Since I have many planes above, I had to find a place for it.  The beacon is operated by a finned top over a dimpled bulb. If and when the bulb gets hot enough, the heat rises through the fins, which causes the beacon to rotate.  Since this seldom works, I decided to put it near the wall in the winter area by the Helix, and use a lower voltage to power it so it would not light up the wall.

NTS&B Lionel #252 Operating Crossing

A Friend at the MCA sold his childhood trains to me.  This included a Lionel #252 lighted Operating Crossing Gate.  I had never seen one before, so waned to use it.  It took some thinking, but I finally found a place to install it. Then I had to move a couple side panel switches around, but was able to add another button switch for guests to control the gate.