I don't use EZtrack for my layout but I had some laying around and built this for my son:

N scale for my son to play with.....




A large HO layout that I help out on.....I would have rather done flex track but he had the track and it has been running flawlessly for 5 years now so I can't complain.





Custom built 36"R turnout out of a #6... (HO)

Suggestion is to get away from the Atlas snap switches. I have had more than just steam hang on them. Caboose ground throws or under table solutions look and work much better.

Snap switches are a little tight for large articulated loco's anyhow.

It you pay attention to the Admins post, it hints at what is going on.

I bet they are currently setting on a container ship in the Pacific Ocean, just like a couple billion dollars worth of other merchandise that is waiting for the dockworkers union to realize they are not worth as much as they want and get back to work.

It is amazing the amount of items on back order at hobby distributors because of this mess on the west coast. Items that were supposed to be here months before the Holidays still haven't arrived.

Most of the current Bachmann loco's are very easy to replace traction tires on. The side rods are generally not attached to the driver with a traction tire. Although not always true, many of them are designed that way.

As far as traction tires coming off, most of the time it seems to be from people having the bad habit of sliding the locomotive on the rails when placing on the track. Any loco with traction tires, especially steam, should not be slid on the rails to re-rail it. Pick it up and place it on the rails. Sliding a loco with traction tires tends to stretch them and roll them off of the rims.

Sorry to continue the thread drift but James is right, there has NEVER been brass track in N scale. Very old Nickle Silver will tarnish to a weak copper / gold patina and some claim that it is brass but it is not.

There has been steel track out there, again very rare and if you do run across it, please throw it away for the good of mankind. We have a module in our Ntrak club that somebody repaired with a piece of this mystical steel track and it is a constant dead spot on the module. We recently dead lined the module until that track gets replaced.

To the original poster - 35 year old N scale was still in it's infancy. If you like to tinker, play with it and get it running. If you are not interested in tinkering, buy new stuff and save yourself some headaches. Modern N scale run 1000 times better than the stuff of early days.

PS. Arnold Rapido track was blackened steel also.

It depends on the version of the loco, there have been at least 5 variations I am pretty sure.

It sounds like the frame is warped or broken. There are no parts for these things so any cure you come up with will have to be something you make.

More info needed....

What type of cars? .... how long are they?
What radius track?
Do you have reverse curves?
Do some of the cars have body mount couplers?
Is there a certain place they derail or is it random?

MT trucks are a safe answer for replacement but you must make sure they are shimmed correctly and the coupler box does not interfere with anything on the bottom of the car. 

The early turnouts were power routing. Last year they changed to constantly on as Bachmann switches to DCC as the new norm. The only way to kill the sidings is to put an insulated rail joiner or cut a gap in a rail and then wire a shunt with an on/off switch to bridge the connection between the gapped track.

Didn't do anything with the motor other than paint everything visible on it flat black. Some guys have put cab curtains on them to hide it. I found just by getting the tender snuged up close to the back of the loco that you don't notice the motor nearly as much.

Assuming a couple inches outside the curve to safety, you are looking at realistically about a 30-32" Dia. for the outer track so you should be safe with 15"r and 16.25"r if you want to do sectional. Suggestion...learn to use flex and you can make it what ever you want.

If you just want something to run it on, it really doesn't matter what radius or type of track you have. Those were designed to run on 9 3/4 and that is considered small by today's standards so you are pretty much safe with anything you can get to run it on it. Bigger radius is always better if you have the room.

That's OK, it was going to be rough on the pocketbook with the Kato FEF / passenger set and Berkshire hitting at the same time. A delay won't kill me.

Quote from: astrogene1000 on November 06, 2014, 09:39:19 PM
Unit runs fine on DC, just reacts on DCC as if steady state DC voltage

I put my oscope to the L&R pins on the decoder board, all looks correct as far as signal strength and rise/fall times.

I did order a dz126 to replace the original if I cannot figure it out.

The spec460 did not help, had already found that one.
Found a picture of the bottom of the decoder board on the Bmann parts site.
http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_70_578&products_id=3982
C7 and C8 are tied to the two inductors.

The controller is a custom one I built with android bluetooth 'console'
A quick video of the unit operating the dz125 in the Mogul and sound from the 1617.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK23hhkMUAA

The custom DCC system may be where your problem comes in. The decoder that Bachmann uses is based on an antiquated Lenz decoder chip set. I would try it on a different DCC system if you can to see if that is the problem. CV reset is CV8 = 8 BTW.

It's from the ATSF 4-8-4 Northern. It's pretty unique to those locos. I've seen some people use it as the basis for a kitbash of the long distance PRR tenders.

You may be over-complicating this. There are two options, one takes a lot more planning but both work fine.....

As standard with most hollow core door layouts, the first thing you do is add a 1"-2" layer of high density insulation foam on top. It gives room to dig down and helps deaden some of the noise that a hollow core door by itself would resonate.

Option one - Simply drill through as you need and make wiring connections below. This is assuming you have added some sort of legs to the door. When adding the legs, you have to add some sort of framework which gives room to hide the wiring. It's not as safe to do this if you are placing the door directly on a banquet table, even then, a couple furring strips glued to the bottom can provide a stand off to keep the layout from resting directly on the wiring.

Option two - This takes a lot of planning but can be done. Before gluing the foam to the door, pre-run as much wire as you can between the foam and the door. You can even drill into the foam from the side by hand to run wires after gluing by sharpening a piece of brass tubing. I've seen people leave a channel around the outside of the layout to make a wire chase that is hidden by fascia once the layout is complete. The nice thing about the foam, it's very easy to work with.