Howdy, since the age of 6 years old I have been into trains (and I've ALWAYS had a layout) ... but, with this one I decided to go for broke and it ended up being over 1450+ square feet (as It took 53 4 by 8 sheets of wood to build). Today however, I'm not so hot on Trains as my interests have strayed into other things (like classic muscle-cars). OK: a quick overview: In my many engines (over 750+ engines alone / amid many thousands of cars) I am OR I WAS a great MTH supporter ... BUT in the last 10 years +, MTH took a HUGE turn downward fall and then did a total "about-face" with regard to ANY Customer Service (in ANY venue). Later-on things got even worse (amid un-returned phone calls, unanswered letters, and even e-mail's), this THEN became the norm ... so a good many of us abandoned them. Worse that this: employee upon employee were fired, and things have been reduced to literally nothing anymore. NOW, a war-like "attitude" exists upon contacting them !. *Now their gone / "sad".