Welcome back to your weekly stop at Squeaky's. This week the layout builders eat first: three fresh Walthers kits hit the shelves, a certain North Pole express rolled in five months early, and over 230 items are sitting in the deals pile. Here is the full story behind this week's newsletter.

Just Pulled In

Structure and track week! If your layout has been begging for a scene upgrade, these three landed at just the right time:

• WalthersTrack Code 83 90-Degree Crossing, $27.99. Nickel silver rail, ready to drop two mains across each other. The kind of trackwork piece that turns an oval into an operation.
• Walthers Cornerstone Modern Yard Tower Kit, $34.99. Give your yardmaster a view. A clean modern tower that anchors any freight yard scene.
• Walthers Cornerstone Amtrak Rural Station Kit, $29.99. The classic small-town Amtrak stop, right down to the platform. Pairs beautifully with that crossing.

And the pick of the week is pure fun: the Kato F40PH, Chicago Metra "Operation North Pole" 2016 at $199.99. Yes, it is July. Yes, it is 95 degrees outside. And yes, this festive Metra commuter is exactly the Christmas-in-July energy your layout needs. It sells for a good cause of a scheme, and it will be long gone by December.

Still open: pre-orders for the Broadway Limited UP Big Boy #4014 "250th Celebration" with Paragon4 sound, $764.99. More on that big fella below.

Browse all of this week's arrivals here.

Marked Down This Week

The deals pile is deep right now: over 230 items marked down between the sale rack and the clearance corner. A few that caught our eye this week:

• MTH Premier Dash-8, Santa Fe #851, O scale, $479.99 (was $539.79). Proto-Sound 3.0 aboard, warbonnet on the nose. A serious O gauge machine at a serious markdown.
• WalthersProto GP35, Southern Pacific #6663, $149.99 (was $179.99). DCC ready and thirty dollars friendlier.
• Woodland Scenics Country Store Expansion, O scale, $119.99 (was $144.99). Scenery folks, this one is for you.
• Lionel FasTrack Grade Crossing with Flashers & Bell, $89.99 (was $101.99). Lights, bell, action. O gauge crossings do not get more fun.
• Southern Pacific rolling stock from $14.99: the 68' Railgon gondola ($15.99, was $27.18) and the 85' G85 flatcar ($14.99, was $25.99) are both under half of nothing.

Clearance is first come, first served. When one sells out, that is it. Shop all of this week's deals here.

The $5 Fix for Georgia-Summer Track

July in Georgia means humidity, and humidity means your rail oxidizes faster than any other time of year. If your locos have started stuttering on track that ran fine in spring, do not blame the decoder yet. Give the rails a quick once-over first.

A Woodland Scenics Tidy Track cleaning pad is $4.99, takes two minutes on your mainline, and fixes ninety percent of "my engine hesitates right there" complaints. Make it a habit before each operating session in the summer months and your motive power will thank you.

Here is the fun part. That question went out in our newsletter first, right alongside the new arrivals and the deals, so subscribers get the answer (and first crack at clearance) before the rest of the site does. Want in on the next one? Join the Squeaky's newsletter and play along. And if that trivia has you wanting the real thing on your layout, that Big Boy #4014 pre-order is sitting right there.

Come Roll With Us

Trains are more fun in person. Swing by to get hands on with the new kits, see the North Pole Metra before somebody else takes it home, and talk shop with people who love this hobby as much as you do. Local pickup is always free.

You will find us at 1885 Braselton Hwy, Suite D, Lawrenceville GA. We are open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 11 to 6, Friday and Saturday 10 to 7, and Sunday 10 to 4. We are closed Wednesday for maintenance, but curbside pickup is available.