Don't be afraid to think outside the boundaries! Notice that the church and the gas station structures are set to the side of the gray clearings where the houses normally would sit, thus forming paved parking lots. Matchbox cars commonly available at Walmart and toy stores everywhere are close to S scale, and are seen throughout my layout. I have tried to use cars and trucks from the late forties and 1950s. The people that are seen here and there on the layout came out of "Tonka" toy sets, and these are also close to S scale and actually quite nice.

Curved Panels can hold Straight track too!

So many curved panels, so few straight! Two curved panels that are being used for straight track. This opens up a nice green area in the center for several buildings. Kind of my business district. Construction crews are doing something with the roadbed that used to hold curved track. I wonder what it is going to be?

I love the way the trains run on the Gargraves track. I have run my Alcos pulling passenger cars, my 346, and most everything else prior to installing the switches. The 336 doesn't run due to the tight curves. My S-Helper SD-9 also seems to grind a little going around the tight curves.