Layout-ready rolling stock

The first two layout ready cars have been completed!!! Prepping them took longer than I expected as I reached a major fork in the road. That fork was the question as to whether I would body-mount couplers on my rolling stock. N-scale freight cars are commonly sold with truck-mounted couplers. They don't work particularly well when cars are shoved. As I have decided to step up my game with this layout and shoot for the highest quality of work and reliability that led me to decide to body-mount couplers. Enter Stephen Van Meter: A much-more experienced N-scaler in town. He offered to help. And I needed it. On November 10 I had surgery to repair my torn rotator cuff on my left shoulder. (Thank goodness I am a righty.) I'm currently in a sling and will be for a couple more weeks. The total recovery is six months. Anyway, Stephen and Bob Moore both offered to help with modeling projects as I heal. I can't do a whole lot. I asked Steve to help with couplers. Last week, I went to his house to see how the magic is done. The conversion job was not as hard as I feared. Earlier this year I decided that Micro Trains couplers and trucks would be the standard on my layout. For existing Micro Trains cars, I can cut off the coupler box from the car's trucks and mount them using itty bitty screws. That will save time and money. The other part of stepping up my game has included being more organized.

That's what the above picture is about. Not only is it the start of a rolling stock inventory, it helps me keep track of what needs to be done to a car before its ready to be put on the rails. The extra-long green rows contain the data for the cars pictured at the top of ths entry. Two down -- a couple hundred more to go!