If you want plastic track, check out Kato Unitrak or the new Atlas trak. Go to their website to find what they make. You can make an adapter to fit with EZtrak. Bachmann only makes 2 curves. I'd like to see them make more.

Be patient. Mr Bachmann may be on the road these 2 weeks.
I saw him at the WGH Nashville TN show last weekend. The show is at San Antonio TX this weekend.
Bachmann is due to make their spring announcements very soon. They may be waiting for the boat to arrive with 44ton, DD40's, & other stuff.

Another item Bachmann is good at is HO scale steam. Check out the HO scale product. Had their Sodor layout at the WHG Nashville show. Hope you get to see it in person! With 3 levels, the layout can easily handle 5 trains at one time, each one on it's own loop. A Thomas modeler could easily run Thomas, Gordon, Henry, or some of their friends. 

I agree with the Heavy Mountain & Mallet Bachmann can make some great Nscale steam. From the display, even the small switchers look a lot better.  With the New Tenders, Bachmann has made a great leap forward.

Something I don't know how Bachmann can fix is the backlog of Rapido coupler equipment still in the pipeline. There still is a lot of old stock still sold in trainsets.

I'd like to see Mr Bachmann set up a FAQ section for subjects like this. It could help newbies converting from Rapidos to Knuckles.

There may have been a Marklin Z Southern steamer set.
They make a nice Pacific & Mikado. Get them while you can. I understand Marklin has filed for BK in Germany.

It's going to be a Good Day for a Train Show!
Will I see You there?

Temps thru Saturday 60H, 35L
                   Sunday cooler 50 32l
chance of rain Friday eve.

Quote from: Williamson on February 05, 2009, 12:01:30 PM
The Minitrix K4 Pacific is long gone (and has a primitive by today's standards chassis to boot!) so yeah the market is ripe for a state of the art tooling N scale PRR K-4!

Mark

Marklin/Trix in Germany has now filed for Bankruptcy. Perhaps Bachmann could purchase & use some of the old molds? I'd like to see an upgraded little switcher.

It appears you could use a good basic book on wiring your railroad. The simple solution may be to add a couple of feeders to the loop.  It is good practice to supply more feeders to at least 6ft of track.

EZtrak turnouts are power routing. You need to have connections at the bottom of the Y to have power go to either branch of the Y.

Take another look at your combine. Some are combinations of baggage/mail then passengers. The RPO & mail must be separate from the rest of the train. There could be a mail storage car in between the RPO & the passengers.

A combine with the seating section in front of the baggage could be a Jim Crow car where some folks can't be seated together. The seats could be flip overs or have the seats turned at the end of the run. You may have to open the car to turn around the seats in this section.  Partitions in the coach cars separated the smokers from other nonsmoking riders.

Very often the diner was used to separate the coach passengers from the sleepers. The sleepers may have access to a tail end lounge/bar car.

The 46 Freedom Train was made by Hallmark last year in their Lionel series.

The cars & PA1 came out in nearly Zscale. With a little work, you can swap trucks/couplers to run on Zscale track. We are waiting for MTL to release a SD40-2 to have a 6axle motor to power the PA. (the same motor may power an E unit sometime 2009-2010??)

Bring a basket load to the Nashville WGH show!
may need another basket for the 44ton. LOL

Take your pick:

#42531 3 pair couplers, short, medium, long                  $1.95 - $1.29
              (Long-Medium may be needed on loco?)

#42532 25 pair couplers, all short                                  $17.50-$11.99

#42533 12 pair Couplers on trucks, no wheels               $23.50-$15.79
              unscrew old T/c, install new T/c, swap wheelsets

Atlas Accumate  pair                                                       $4.85-$3.49
MTL truck/coupler  pair                                                   $5.40-$3.99
With the Atlas & MTL couplers, you would have to enlarge the bolster hole in the truck to fit over the Bachmann bolster body pin.

You could even swap some of the trucks from one set to one end of the other till you have 2 sets with both types. This may get you some time till your son can get a little older. You will need a small Philips screwdriver. A lot of Nscalers started out this way.

From my understanding, all N-scale Roundhouse went straight to the Athearn line, the HO scale cars were re-tooled with different underframes and then put into RTR (Roundhouse brand) or kit (Athearn blue-box). All MDC Roundhouse cars with prototypes later than the 1950's (there weren't many) have been transferred to the Athearn line, either blue-box or RTR.
[/quote]

Most of the MDC N product was upgraded in the  new Athearn lines with new trucks, couplers & paint schemes. The MDC/Athearn steamers are great products.

Go to the N Accessory Items from the Product List. Take the numbers to your LHS. ModelTrainstuff also has them in stock.

Quote from: Neo Fender on January 19, 2009, 11:55:05 AM
Are they good places to buy "low risk" items, e. g. used rolling stock and track?  I've attended one show and found vendors prices competitive on some new items but not all.

Thanks.

Train shows can be great, they can be poor.  A swap meet can be the best place for used items. Buyer beware, but there should be a test track to make sure lokies run. Prices need to be fair for both buyer & seller.

Quote from: rjtrain on January 18, 2009, 09:54:09 PM
It has been 30 years and I am back to trains, my favorite N scale to be specific.  The problem is that when last I really worked with the sets, there were few track options -- so I returned to Bachmann which seems like an old friend to me. 

The problem I have is trying to decide on track type.   Does anyone know about compatibility between manufacturers or benefits between brands?  I guess that I an pretty old school becasue I am most familiar with cork bedding and actually sawing the rails by hand.  Bachmann E-Z track and Kato unitrack  didn't exist.  Any recommendations? Are EZ track and Unitrack compatible? Should I stick with my old ways? Any problems with locomotives or rolling stock performance?  Any input would be appreciated.  Thanks

I take it you understand about the old cork roadbed & using either flextrak or snaptrack onit.

EZtrak & Unitrak substitute a plastic base for the cork. Both use a different system to join both the plastic base and the rails.
1) AFAIK both systems use the same Code 80 rail, Atlas makes Code 80 flex & snap, Peco makes code 80 turnouts.
2) There can be some difference between the 1/4" cork & the plastic track. You may need a shim to go higher or lower. You can use the same shim if you decide to make a yard area, turntable, industrial track, etc.
3) Kato track uses a plastic clip to join base + the rail. Bachmann uses a clip for the track & normal rail joiners. You will need to cut the clips then use rail joiners for the rail. You may also need a shim for height.
4) For a small layout, Kato's Unitrack is best. You may use an oval of EZtrack to break in locos, etc. While the systems can be used on the same layout, you don't want to mix them.
5) Biggest problem with any sectional track can be the lack of components you need. Performance issues depend on curve radius issues & operating pizza cutter wheels on smaller code 55-60 rails.
6) A 15"-18" radius curve is best for modern & passenger trains. If Atlas-Kato-Bachmann don't make it, you need flex.