Government durability ratings are for emission compliance only. They may offer some insight as to the overall quality (durability) of the engine but not necessarily so. At least not in a linear relationship. Most smaller engines are splash lubricated. Some rely on a "dipper" (think of a spoon) than hangs down from the rod on a horizontal crankshaft engineand smacks into the oil laying in the botton of the crankcase. Oil splashes willy-nilly and the bearings get sprayed as does the clyinder. Some engines may have a gear driven "squirter" which is a small piston inside a tiny clyinder that sucks in then squirts out oil in the general direction of the moving parts. Ball bearings last longer with willy-nilly lubrication, plain bearings last longer with pressurized oil being fed into them. Major bearings in your car are pressure fed whereas the roller cam followers in the valve train are willy-nilly splashed. Glow engines are 2 cycle just like most trimmer engines. The ball bearings last longer than plain bearings when lubrication is dependent upon 50 parts of gas vaporizing and leaving behind the 1 part of oil. Why not rebuild a small engine? Doesn't take a lot of time, can be done sitting down and is more efficient than recycling in the smelter. Iron sleaved engine may just need rings and a hone. Aluminum clyinder may have to be bored oversize, with an oversized piston and now approaches the not worth doing stage. Small trimmer engines have "chromed" clyinders. Although the coating is very thin it is very hard. Yungman, I can tell right now what you need is a 2 cycle Lawn-boy. Others agree?

As far as what can be confiscated: On a return trip from Shanghai to LAX, the Chinese authorities (?) set up shop in the jetway and confiscated all water bottles that had been bought and/or filled after security but before boarding. What? The American flight crew was dumfounded when boarding passengers told them what was going on. Upon arrival in LAX, U.S. customs confiscated bags full of food products brought in by a multi-member Chinese family. It was hard to tell, but it looked like it was at least partly meat products. There was enough of it that perhaps it was a "commercial quantities" problem. If you happen to be passing through Aukland, NZ, you can expect their cute little beagles to be checking out all your carry-ons as well as checked luggage. They're very serious about agricultural contamination. Good for them.

I don't understand your terminology....what do you mean "root plug" or "peat plug"? When you first planted the tree, you should have adequately loosened the rootball to encourage lateral expansion of the root system and in the process, discarded a lot of the potting soil. And then after planting, watered slowly and deeply but not too frequently. And when you did water, for a long enough duration for the water to penentrate the full depth of the rootball, not just a surface sprinkle. FWIW, virtually all woody plants - trees and shrubs - will concentrate their fine feeder roots - those that access soil moisture and nutrients - just below the soil surface. And I also agree about the quantity of mulch....less than 2 inches of mulch is like using no mulch at all..........

Re: "There aren't any new developments that even come close in terms of architectural quality in our city, and neither in terms of pricing." That tells me that the proximity to trains has been already figured in to the price, which means that if its a nuisance a buyer can put up with it can be a great way of getting an otherwise great place in an otherwise unaffordable neighborhood. Sounds like you did your due diligence and decided to go for it - pls report back once you are moved in and tell us how it's working! I bought a house immediately adjacent to tracks after thoroughly checking it out, incl calling them and asking if they used herbicides. They didnt - they mowed. For about 5 yrs anyway, then they started doing massive amts of herbicide spray which killed off entire trees and half my yard, - needed to file complaints w/ state environmental regulatory agency which got them to reduce but not eliminate the applications. Im planning my exit strategy, moving as soon as I can. Too bad, cos I otherwise liked it and the noise didnt bother. In my price range, I cant get the perfect house so the question becomes what I can put up with, and what I cant.