I happened to see that Micro-Mark has a Cupola Kit for the Bachmann combine. It says it is a laser cut wood kit, so what does that mean? Is it one of those box-of-pieces that you start from scratch? And what about the ladders and handrails? It would appear that the hardest thing would be to develop a template for the roof --- unless you are supposed to cut the cupola into the roof. So has anyone worked with this kit? Lee in Tucson.

As far, I have found that the On30 flat cars, box cars, cabooses and their frames have been cast in a red-ish color plastic. Usually the frames are more translucent than the bodies. But the sides of the low-sided gondolas have been a creame color plastic. Lee in Tucson

In stripping far too many cars, I have seen the same car in all shades of colors and blacks. In the old old days, there were cars in raw plastic with the lettering applied directly to the body; I even have some 70s N scale cars in raw plastic.  Now that was quality control. But today, everything seems to be painted so I doubt if the plastic injection people, nor the importer, are terribly concerned with the plastic color as long as it is dark. And there are many shades of black that I have seen. Lee in Tucson

That is definitely the engine; this one was a Colorado Southern but I don't know if that was custom lettering or a stock item. It was only pulling two cars on a level loop. So now that you have identified it, does anyone know just what scale it was made?
Thanks for all the info and I am definitely going to keep an eye out for one.
Lee in Tucson

At the garden railroad open house the other weekend, there was a 2-6-0 running at one layout; the outdoor garden railroad group had open houses at 8 different homes around the city ---- no snow to push off the track here. Now the guy was just running the trains for the owners as they had to be out of town so I can't blame him for his answer. But he told me this engine was a Bachmann and only cost $80. It definitely was not a 1:20.3 scale but something smaller (in size). I haven't seen such a Bachmann product anywhere. So could it have been a Bachmann or some other company's loco? Any idea of the loco and for just $80?
Lee in Tucson

After extensive review, it appears to me that if a baggage car had a stove then it was located towards the center of the car. And I was wrong as many of these cars did have have a heater. So I will be relocating the smoke stack to alongside the door opening, opposite the travel of the freight door. I am going to leave the rest of the car as stock; this is going to be tough for me as I like modifying these cars.
And as far as end-of-the-train cars are concerned, Bachmann's 'round roof' (no cupola) caboose also is not in any sets that I have seen; this caboose does not have any end ladders nor roof walk/running boards. I couldn't find one at a decent price so I made my own --- but modified my own way. Lee In Tucson

I bought a baggage car; it has only one sliding door per side. As far as I know, Bachmann only offers the baggage car separately as it is not a part of the passenger car train sets that I have ever seen. I already have a passenger, observation and combine car.

I finally got myself a Bachmann baggage car. I am going to letter it for my fictious branch of the C&S and have been looking for some prototype photos with little luck. So here goes: !) Would a baggage car normally have a heating stove in it? To me, the answer would be no as no one would normally ride the car to keep it stoked; I am thinking of eliminating the smoke stack. 2) Would a baggage car typically have regular doors on the end with the steps and railings? I think that all of the car end detail is just a carryover from the passenger/combine series and should/could be removed. Thanks for any help. Lee in Tucson

As an early diesel fan (before 1970, my vote is for the GP-30. For me, it is one of a few freight diesels with a little bit of styling to the body. Lee In Tucson

Geezer, It always helps when you state why you want to do something and in your case this is very true.
To get rid of the pure white of those LEDs, get down to the hobby store and buy a bottle of Tamiya Color x-26, Clear Orange. Dilute a drop or with the same amount of isopropyl alcohol and 'paint' the LED or even the lens. You can vary the dilution and the number of coats to get shade of light that suits you.
Lee in Tucson

The best smoker that I have seen was a fan/piston driven O scale steam engine; I thought it was a Lionel but it could have been an MTH. I replaced the unit in my Bachmann engine with a n-o-s vintage Lionel replacement unit. It is now a better smoker but I still wouldn't call it a lot of smoke. I am still looking for a 'super smoker' fluid that I was told about but can't seem to locate. Since all of them are an oil based product, I really doubt that one of them smokes a whole lot more than another. But I will try almost anything once. Lee in Tucson

Thanks for the input. I looked thru my paint supplies and located a bottle of Polly Scale 'pullman green'. I tried it on a sample piece of plastic and found that it is definitely is too dark for the C&S cars that I have.  So off to the hobby store ... again. Lee in Tucson

Has anyone found a paint match for the green color used on the C&S and other Bachmann passenger cars? I need to do some touch-up work on an observation car 'modified' by somebody else.

I sure hate it when I told myself that I have all the locos I can possibly use or want and then this 4-4-0 comes along. I am going to get at least one and hopefully sooner than later.
Is there any information out there about the recommended minimum track radius? Same as the 2-6-0?

I have used Rio Grande Hobby On30 decals and I would recommend their decals. In fact, I have seen a 2-6-0 relettering kit from them so there wll be something besides good olde C & S #22s running on layouts across the planet; I am just as guilty. I have used Rio Grande's decals for the Bachann high side gondolas & box cars and was impressed with the sharpness of the white and the thin decal material.