I got into trains because my cat loves it.  He could watch them for hours and sometimes like to batter them.  He would sometimes pick up one of the rolling stocks and takes it with him to go to sleep....my entire set up basically has him in mind.  Hence, the only scenaries that I set up for my layout are tunnels, and crossing gates.  No buildings because he willnot understand it.  No little people, freight, cars or signs because that might be hazardous to him.  No blinking bridges because the light will not be good for him.   Frequently I would put a train of flatcars with toy mice on them and run it, and he loves it.  Whenever a toy mouse drops off the train, he would get on the layout, sits around the mouse, telling me that a mouse has escaped!

http://www.cygoth.com/~buzz

I will take more pictures of him and the trains, plus the layout.

But the webpage is also a good demonstration of the program RRTrains.  The webpage was automatically generated by it.  It is a free program and it is great!

http://www.gregorybraun.com/RRTrains.html

I have around 75 cars and I cannot imagine some of you not wanting to have a program.  I am a computer person and even I would rather use this program than programming a RDB program myself.   I know many of you have cars in the hundreds of different scales and makes.  So a program like this is very helpful.

Also, I buy vintage stuff, so if you pay closer attention you basically see a lot of rolling stocks from different eras of Bachmann.  "Standard Hong Kong" means they are the old ones, made in Hong Kong, came in white or blue or black and clear cases.  Standard China means the ones that came from white paper boxes.  Standard, Spectrum, Silver, those are self explainatory.
Promotion Hong Kong means those are special or promotional items that were made in Hong Kong (thus gave one a perspective of its production dates).

PS.  You will also notice that I collect mostly BNSF (In Bachmann N scale, that means Santa Fe, Burlington Northern, CB & Q, Great Northern, and Frisco)..well, I live in New Mexico, what can I say!  The only UP car, a boxcar, that I have I use it as a spare part...although Buzz one day did manage to rip the car apart: took the box part off the chassis, rip the trucks out, etc.
He must have really hated UP! 



Enjoy

Since I only collect N scales, and especially older stuff, I am looking for older catalogs so that I can have a better idea of for what to hunt.  I am currently lacking the following years:
78, 83-84

Notice that the earliest one I have is 1968, because Bachmann did not enter N scale (or trains for that matter) until 68.  H0 scale started in 1970.

If you have some extras to spares to give or willing to sell, please let me know.  I will pay a reasonable price for them. 

Can anyone with an EMD GP40 checked to see where the traction rings are located?  ie. which wheels have the traction rings.

I have a GP50 and both rings are on the last wheels of the back trucks.
I really need to figure out which so that I can put the rings back.

Thanx

how come for N scale, the buildings and assemblies are not called plasticville?

I post here because I figure this applies to all scales....what are traction rings, and where do you put them in adn how?  If I lost it, how can I replace them?
When I dissemble one of my locos, two rubber rings came out..I think they are called traction rings, but I have no idea where they are supposed to be!

I bought an N-scale Fruit Growers Express.  It is an old Bachmann (Hong Kong made). However it does not have a box.

I'd like to know its catalog number..I know under the old catalog system, a 51' Steel Reefer is listed from 5461 to 5466.  I know it is neither 5462 (Pacific Fruit Express) nor 5465 (Swift), so it can be 5461, 5463, 5464, 5466.

If any of you have an old catalog (60s to 70s), would you please look it up for me?  Also if you have something similar, can you tell me what kind of box it is in?  (eg, if you have 5462, you probably have a white plastic case).

Does Bachmann or someone on the internet has an archive that contains all the information (pictures, and evolving catalog number, etc) off all the trains that had been produced since the 50s?  Esp informations containing special promotion sets.

I have basically figuered out every single item that I have and their corresponding catalog number.  However, I cannot find the Explorer EMD 9A Dummy being sold separately anyway...does anyone ever saw or bought the dummy?  It is made in China.  Just try to figure out its bachmann catalog number for inventory.  The Dummy road name is Sante Fe 215

I am still new to the hobby.  Bought the first set (Thunder Valley N) from Hobby Lobby because it was on sale back in February, but did not start collecting others until early April. 

I have since discovered about other brands...

I am wondering why anyone here buys this brand, either exclusively, or for the majority fo your collection.

My reason is that once I purchased my first two sets, which were cheap in Hobby Lobby (40% off), I discovered that other good brands are more expensive, even though they are indeed better in quality in my opinion.  The second reason is the different coupling systems that the other good brands use.  Thirdly, there is no point for me to buy other expensive and good brands because the only persons that play with the trainset, other than me running it, is for my cat.  I always run them for like 10 to 15 mins a day, with he and I alone in the room.  He likes to watch, chase and atttack them :-)
Father and Son time I guess...:-)

I have a question concerning my N scale Explorer set, however I think it will apply to all scales and beyond.

It comes with two EMD locos, one a powered, the other a dummy. They are both exactly the same in scheme, including road number (215).

Can anyone explain to me is this really possible in real life?  I understand that if a train has an A and B units, then maybe it is possible to have both units having the same road number.  But identiccal A units?

What are road numbers painted on the side of a loco anyway?  Are they loco identifications, or a route identification?

I have seen several of these.  For example ebay number:330124946418   

None of the sellers seemed to have a boxcover.  I wonder was that the way it was packaged, or was it a promotional item with no box...

I also like to know which Bachmann catalog number is this set, and what year was it made.

I have installed the RR Trains 2000 program and although it is not perfect, it is very good as a freeware!

I am trying to identify the following trains original Bachmann catalog numbers, as they are no longer in production.

1. 50' Steel Reefer Fruit Growers Express 90699 Orange.  I do not have the original box..

2. The EMD F9 and its dummy Sante Fe from the Explorer Train Set.  I have the catalog numbers for the very very old versions made in Hong Kong, which are now no longer relevant.  I wonder if those two had ever been sold independantly and not as part of a train set.

3. Also the off center caboose (Sante Fe)..what was its catalog number when it was sold originally..was it a Silver series?

4. 51' Flat Twin Sea-Land Container Car New Haven.  Made in China usually in the white paper box.

5. 41' Chemical Tank Car Hooker 69502.  Also made in China usually in the white paper box.

I am in the process of collecting vintage rolling stocks.  While I pretty figure it out as to the range of the old silver series, I am curious about things like special editions, and really old stocks 60s -70s, etc.

What would be some good years that I should look for vintage Bachmann catalogs?

I am planning to convert all my cars from rapido to MT..either 1133 or 1134.
I neither have a physical sample of 1133 nor 1134.  All my rolling stocks are from the current catalog: I have every single BNSF (Great Northern or Santa Fe) rolling stocks..which comes to about 20.  All of them except one use truck mounted couplers.  I want to do coupler conversion as opposed to truck conversion since I do not like plastic wheels.  I understand that 1133 is mid shank, while 1134 is long shank. 

Can anyone give me a report on which one is more suitable...1133 or 1134?
A closer coupling (1133) makes it more realistic, but a longer coupling (1134) makes it less likley to have problems..

All my curves are 11.25" radius curved.  The current couplers are ok, but they uncoupled on occasions, usually between the spectrum loco (body mount couplers) and the first car. 

If some cars are more suitable for 1134 than 1133, or vice versa, can someone give some suggestions, such as "cabooses use 1134, boxcars use 1133..)?

http://www.sil.si.edu/smithsoniancontributions/HistoryTechnology/pdf_hi/SSHT-0025.pdf

Hope this is helpful

While trying to install DCC the contact on the PCB to the motor snapped off.  Even though I soldered the contact again, it still breaks again because it is too fragile. 

I am wondering am I better off calling the service department to ask for a ne w PCB to save time, or should I send the loco back?

PS.  The loco is a Spectrum GE Dash8-40CW.

I purchased the N scale blinking bridge.  It blinks...but the train ends up doing stop and go, stop and go, matching the blinking.  I gave the DC circuit a bit more juice, the train still goes slow and fast, slow and fast...matching the blinking.

Is that normal?  I am suprised that the bridge takes the electricity from the DC circuit instead of the AC.  Anyway of fixing this problem?

I am still new to the hobby.  I read from this board and people mentioned rapido couplers, dummy knuckle couplers, MT couplers, magnetic couplers, etc etc etc.

I am totally confused.  My trains came from the basic train sets..so I have no idea what sort of couplers people are talking about.

Can anyone please be so kind as to post pictures of different type of couplers?

I have added a #6 turnout in my layout, but somehow whether I connect the two green wires underneath each frogs or not, both tracks (all four ends) on the #6 still are powered..  What did I do wrong?

What is the difference between 46720 and 44879?  Will 46720 lower the gates when the train passed by?