I can’t say that I’ve ever had to resort to firearms. A baseball bat backed up by a K-Bar have always seemed sufficient.
I might think differently if I were working from a distance. Then I’d like to have a 12 gauge with flechette rounds.
Must be the Hospital Corpsman training I’ve gone through…
<The axles rusted (even when oiled), the coupler knuckle pins and springs rusted.>
What doesn’t rust in the Seattle area?
If it doesn’t rust, it has moss growing all over it.
<Is there any way you could run a connecting track from inside to outside?>
Not unless I spiraled up to ground level, then busted out some concrete foundation.
A day-light basement would be nice right about now.
John,
This exact subject is what caused the creation of the “Helix from Hell” in our basement. Took a pane of glass out of a basement window and placed the track on a shelf at that level. Added a little more each year, or as needs presented themselves (like turning power or complete trains), and now there is a basement full of track. It just started with not wanting to pick the trains up off the track or leave them outside.
John Bouck said:Moss - the state flower of both Washington and Oregon.
If it doesn't rust, it has moss growing all over it.
Hey, don’t knock it - this stuff grows on ya!
tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
Moss—Western Washington.
Sagebrush…Eastern Washington.
Somewhere near Ellensburg, Wa. there is an imaginary line drawn. The last tree with moss and the first sagebrush as you head East on I-90. Abruptly–no graduation! 
Next trees are I-Dee-Ho.
A newcomer to the state wouldn’t believe it. Leaving the lush rain forests of Snoqualmie and busting out into the great Basin of the Columbia River.
jb
I look forward to later in the summer when my train barn is done and the trains have a “home.” I never have any problem with rust here on the High Desert but I do miss not being able to grow very much! I am putting locks on the train barn.