Owing to a decades-long friendship with Rick Spano, I've developed a very strong interest in animation. I now had a layout that was essentially a blank slate, where the "hard work" was already done: it ran. I could indulge in a hobby within the hobby, and so I wasted no time devising all manner of animated scenes, including:

• Barber Pole
• Gas Station Car Lift
• Video Store Sign
• Crossing Gates
• Turbine Vents
• Enginehouse Doors
• Excavator
• Firehouse Doors
• Hobby Shop Layout
• Ceiling Fans
• Road Compactor
• Rotating Sign
• Stoplights
• Windmill
• Window Fan

I've also had a very strong interest in lighting effects. My goal has always been to illuminate objects, as closely as practical, the same way they're lit in real life. Regrettably, the layout was born just a bit too early: white LEDs had not yet been invented, and I was stuck using micro bulbs (tungsten lamps about the size of bits of spaghetti) for white lights. I lost count how many micro bulbs I burned through, and they were installed in dozens of items, from streetlights to signs.

Consider, for example, what a nightmare it was to replace a burned-out bulb in the bar sign above right. It has six bulbs soldered into a grid mounted in a styrene frame that's fully enclosed. No easy task.

I was grateful, at least, for the small colored LEDs that we had at the time; otherwise, I'd never have been able to make grade crossing flashers or fully-functional stoplights, as seen below (which includes a left-turn signal, bottom left). Also consider that Mobil sign: it's illuminated and it rotates! Oh, and did I mention the functional ski racks on the police cars?

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