Anyone has successfully figured out a quick way to turn an engine from DC to DCC and back by installing some form of a switch?  I am interested to know, in particular N scale.

Nail it through.  No need to drill. There should be three holes, one in the middle, the other two on each end.

http://cgi.ebay.com/N-STEWART-TRACTION-TIRES-FOR-STEAM-LOCOMOTIVES-12_W0QQitemZ160149624218QQihZ006QQcategoryZ486QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Look for traction rings

Many thanx!  All my questions are now answered!
I also found a radio shack toggle switch which I can use for my waterfall.  So I no longer need to have a separate power pak just for it ;-)

Nope it is still in the mail.  I won't receive it until next month.

Quote from: max (uk) on August 19, 2007, 08:18:08 AM
Pete Waterman, most known from Pop idol, has his own model train company! Its Called Just Like the Real Thing and the website is http://www.justliketherealthing.co.uk/

You mean he spent all the money he made in the late 80s and early 90s to have a train shop?
Now I feel good about buying all those Kylie Minogue records years ago...the money ended up for a "good" cause. 

PS.  When you turn the Magnum off, will the AC supply also be turned off?

Dear Bach Man,

Do you think the company will ever produce the Bascule Bridge for N scale?
Also, is it possible to convince the company to make some models in N scale for Northern Pacific?  Since personally I collect BNSF, Northern Pacific is the only missing major fallen flags in the BNSF family that Bachmann does not make in N scale.  Does not have to be engines, some freights will be fine.

Quote from: GlennW on August 18, 2007, 07:56:46 PM
You may try the MTL coupler tweezer to hold the assembled coupler & put it where you want. It's a nifty little tool.

The problem is that you cannot assemble the draft gear box and coupler outside of the car.  You have to assemble it with the coupler box inside the car while the coupler itself outside the car.   
I am a trained watchmaker, so I have plenty of tiny tools.

Quote from: GlennW on August 18, 2007, 07:56:46 PM
What was wrong with the dummy couplers? Do they mate with anything else? Are they too high/low to be useful? It's very difficult to get any info about the new couplers.

No idea.  But since all my trains are rapidos, I need to change the engine's dummy knuckle to rapido.

I got a new B23-7 and it already came with the dummy knuckle couplers.  But it does have a pair of rapidos just in case if you want to revert back to them.  I decided to revert.

As it turns out, it is impossible to revert it if you disassemble and then assemble entire draft gear box in the exact reverse order.  The coupler pocket should be upside down when you try to put it back.  The problem is, while normally you would put in the rapido into the draft gear box and then push it  through the coupler space of the body, it is impossible to do so with the rapido on the B23-7.  The empty slot which the coupler comes through from the draft gear box to the outside of the body (let's call it the coupler body opening) is barely big enough for a dummy knuckle coupler to go through. That is, you cannot put the entire draft gear box assembly through because it is too big for the opening.

Instead of cutting the space and make the coupler body opening bigger to allow the housing to go through, here is the better alternative:

After disassembling the draft gear box and get rid of the dummy knuckle coupler, you can now install the rapido in this order:

1.  Put the coupler pocket on the underside of the body where the coupler cover usually sits.
2.  Put the draft gear spring on the rapido
3.  Push the rapido through the coupler body opening and carefully put it on/in the coupler pocket.  Make sure now the rapido and the draft gear spring sits correctly.  Use a tweezer or your other hand to press the coupler pocket against the coupler body opening to prevent it from falling out of the place where it sits on.  Also, make sure the rapido "trip pin" points down instead of up (ie, it should NOT be facing you).
4. Gently push the coupler pocket assembly away from the coupler body opening, but only for a milimeter.  (ie. one milimeter away from the opening)
5. Now put the coupler cover on top of the coupler pocket assembly.  Now the entire draft gear box with the rapido is assembled.
6. Use a tweezer and gently hold the draft gear box and now turn it upside down 180'.
7. Now you can push the draft gear box back into the spot tight against the coupler body opening (ie. one milimeter towards the opening).
8. Use a tweezer to gently put one screw into the draft gear box, while use another tweezer to hold the it steady.
9. As soon as the screw drops inside the draft gear box, use a small screw driver and screw the screw through the gear box into the body.
10. Check whether the rapido sits correctly and that it has a correct slack.
12. Now screw the other screw into the draft gear box.
13. Double check whether the rapido is working correctly.  If it works, you are done.
14. Now you can repeat the same thing for the other draft gear box.


Summary:  Assemble the entire draft gear box upside down, then turn the entire assembly downside up to its normal position, then you can screw the gear box into the body.

Hope this helps.

I lost the entire assemblies of both body mount rapidos of my spectrum dash 8w.   
Does anybody has a pair of spares that can send to me?  I am sure some of you run this loco and converted to MT.  If you no longer need the rapidos and their housings, can you donate them to me?  Thanks.

Quote from: RAM on August 18, 2007, 03:47:03 PM
Why don't you just run your main with your Magnum and the yard with you old bachmann pack. 

That is actually my plan.  I do have two black packs, and one modern gray cap. So technically each district can have its own pack.   But I still wonder is it possible for the Magnum plus to handle two consists.

Quote from: ebtnut on August 17, 2007, 01:09:53 PM
Your typical DC power pack provides unregulated DC, which is the straight DC from the rectifier at full voltage provided by the transformer (about 12-14 volts).   It can also be used to power items like accessory throttles, which are essentially a throttle control and reverse switch and normally used for walk-around control. 

Does that mean that if I get an accessory throttle, hook it up to the fixed DC section, I should be able to run 2 consists on 2 different districts? 

In reality I only plan to run one consist at a time, since there is really only one track.  The other three are the yards.  So basically I can set the entire layout as one single district if I want to.  But I like to separate the yards from the track so that while I can let consist #1 runs around, I can still move consist #2 within the yard.

Buzzie likes two things.  Either the 6 cars mice train, or a very long 20+cars train.  So having two trains always ready will be nice, as opposed to having to take one train off totally and assemble the other.

This is the original version:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bachmann_Industries&oldid=116698719