The 12 with 4 same size fans are likely F7's. The 1 with the large fan and 3 smaller fans is an F9.

First train robbery in Nevada, yes, but first in the US, no. The first train robbery in the US was outside Seymour Indiana and was committed by the Reno gang. It's part of my family history.

Is this what you're looking for?

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=204

The one I have (Conrail) is 8 wheel pickup and 8 wheel drive.

I believe the curve ends up being a little tighter than 18" radius due to the fact that the first part of the turnout is straight.

I don't know of anything in HO that will run in that small of a loop, outside of a streetcar or 4 wheel switcher. The smallest radius in sectional track in HO that I've seen is 15" radius and there isn't a whole lot that will run on that small of a circle. It would require at least 30x30 inch space.

If it doesn't say DCC Ready or DCC Equipped or DCC OnBoard on the box then it's most likely standard DC. These can be converted to DC but the decoder will have to be completely hardwired.

If your loco is slipping while pulling three cars up an incline that indicates that the incline is way too steep. On your derailing problem the weight of the car could have a lot to do with this. It's been my experience that cars that came in a set are too light. I've seen trainset cars that weigh as little as 1 1/2 ounces! Lightweight cars are usually problematic on anything other than absolutely smooth track and can have problems at turnouts and crossings. According to NMRA RP-20.1 a 6 inch long car should have a weight of 4 ounces. Cars longer than 6 inches should be 1 ounce with an extra 1/2 ounce for each inch of car length. By this formula a 12 inch car should weigh 7 ounces.

Try another battery.

Quote from: Car Bud on November 03, 2008, 01:08:10 PMif so why did Bachmann choose to number its UP engine #806?

Artistic license. They used a design they already had rather than spend a huge amount of money on tooling for an accurate version.

If you feel that space is an issue you can use a Z Scale decoder. Digitrax makes one that I use quite often, the DZ125. It's robust enough to stand up to most HO equipment. I use them in Athearn BB locos.

I've looked at many places online and can't find anything that says whether it does or not. I would think that if it were made to NMRA standards it would.

Do yourself a favor and get the nickel-silver track.

What can you do with the Plasticville Coaling Station?

How about going from this:



to this:



This has been an interesting project and is still underway.

Some dual-mode decoders have a nasty habit of jumping into DC mode when there's a momentary short or spurious noise. To eliminate this change the decoders dual-mode setting from Analog Conversion to DCC Only.