I just bought a used transformer at a flee market yesterday along with a bunch of switches, plastic buildings and a couple of bridges.
The transformer is a TAC 2001 by Troller Corp. of Chicago IL. It has two settings for track voltage; 0 to 9 volts and 0 to 18 volts, also has mulitple taps for accessory voltages. Has seperate whistle controls for each track. Tested it with a multimeter and it put out the proper voltages that were listed on the transformer.
My question, is it Williams compatible? And can it safely work with other brands? If not, I will sell it at the train show in late January here in south Florida.

Lee F.

How about some items like Reading or Strasburg hopper or box cars?
Maybe a set of four Reading Company passenger cars with a GP-38 diesel engine to round out the set?
Also haven't seen that much in Central of New Jersey!
Maybe a mixed freight set with a Reading SD-45 with some Reading and CNJ freight cars. Reading & CNJ used to work together some as Reading owned the controlling share of CNJ stock for several years, so seeing RDG & CNJ together would be very close to realistic.

Lee F.

I would like to purchase another Plasticville Club Car for 2009. The tank car looks great on my layout.
Is Bachmann going to sell any left-over cars soon?

Lee F.

While there is at least five parts for almost every engine posted on the parts section, what about hard to find parts? Like the handrails for a diesel engine, or the front and rear couplers, plastic cab windows, how about replacement wheels for engines and wheelsets and truck assemblies for freight and passenger cars?

Lee F.

Just looked at the product section for Williams and saw the new transformer, but it leaves me with a question. What kind of power cord does it have and how long a cord?  Also didn't see what kind of terminal connections it has to the track.

Lee F.

While almost all maufaturers are producing stuff for the largest railroads, how about some stuff for the northeast railroads, especially the Reading Company and Reading Lines? Also the Central of New Jersey is left out a lot.

Lee F.

Is there a fix for the older Williams passenger(made near 1997) cars that have three axles and the knuckle couplers don't open? They keep derailing every where! What I have done is to cut some plastic near the place where the coupler arms meet the truck frames, this helped with one or two but the whole set of cars will derail even at low or moderat speeds anywhere on the layout.

I put on another set of passenger cars and there is no problems with the track and the other set works great with the same engine.

Lee F.

I have an older SD-45 that has plastic wheels for the inner set of wheels, is there a replacement set of metal wheels that will go in place of these? These wheels don't have connection to a motor so there is no need of a gear needed.

Lee F.

I was on the Classic Toy Train forum and there is a topic; "Lionel & Marx," that concerns Bachmann and a company called Sanda Kan.
In it some people are starting up a rumor that Bachmann may produce Marx Train items and or K-Line items.

Lee F.

I have some older passenger cars(Reading King Coal set of six) that the wires to the lights keep coming off; either at the base of the light socket or at the center roller. When this happens it shorts out the whole track it is on.
What I have done to a couple of the cars is to re-solder the connection but it happens again after a few months.
The newest repair I did to these was to install a 4.7 MF capacitor and replace the light socket with one the has terminals on the outside of it and soldered slightly heavier wires to it, today, I will have to see how well this takes. So far I have a little better constant lighting in the passenger car that I did today.

Lee F.

I was just curious does anybody make a curve in H.O. smaller than 15 inch radius?
I am wanting to do a small H.O. layout and so far the smallest track I can come up with is 15 inch curves. Have very limited space for a layout.

Lee F.