When laying new track or checking track alignment for a suspected problem, it is always a good idea to 'sight down the rails' to look for kinks, dips and misalignments. For those of us who have gotten older and don't bend so well anymore, pick up a small mirror or a 'Mirror Tile'. By setting the mirror on edge on the track, you can sight the rails without contortions or getting track imprints in your cheek. The mirror can also prove useful when placed alongside the track to watch the action of trucks and wheels while the train moves over a trouble spot.

(Based on a March 97 posting to rec.models.railroad by Chuck Davis )
Rusty Spike Vol 27 #2 Mar-Apr 1997

In the Mar-Apr 1997 issue of the Rusty Spike there was a short item about using a mirror when laying track. While the item discussed using a mirror to get at difficult locations, a mirror can be useful for trackage that is right out in the open, too. The idea is to inspect the alignment of the rails, not by looking directly along the rails, but rather by looking into the mirror at the IMAGE of the rails. You would be surprised how many times you can sight along a rail and it looks pretty smooth, but when you look at the image of the rail in a mirror, you can see a little kink somewhere. This is a helpful trick that I first learned about in one of the articles by the late John Allen of Gorre & Daphetid fame; I think it may have been in an old issue of Model Railroader magazine.

A few days ago, there was a question on the Internet about using household "junk" for modeling. Well, this got me to thinking. After all, 'junk' is in the eye of the beholder. Isn't it? There is a sanding tower in my South Henderson Yards that looks like something you would make from a kit. It's not. It's a lipstick tube mounted on a 1/8 inch brass 'pipe' using a piece of number 14 household electrical wire for the swingarm and a piece of small solid insulated wire for the hose. Very effective.

I also have a small town water tower that is a plastic shell from a 25 cent 'Toy in a Shell' machine. I added some Plastruct (TM) I-beams for legs using wire and plastic cross bracing. A heavy pipe (plastic) down the center, a ladder up one leg, a cone top made from some light cardstock and a light on top finished it off. Again, it looks like it came from a kit.

The street lights in my city? Yep. More household 'Junk'.
Rusty Spike Vol28 #2 Mar-Apr 1998