OK, just for info so if others ask. I had run these locos for a while but evidently not long enough. I've run them a bit more on my test track and find that they are getting quieter and running smoother. Low speed has improved some but not as much as the other symptoms. I'll be running them more soon and when they quit improving, I will try jwards suggestion of playing with the cv a bit.

 Rich C. I'm familiar with a 3 phase motor single phasing, 35 years as a maintainence mechanic does that to a guy.

jward, I'll check that cv2. I don't need much sloowww running from it since it will be a mainline consist for the most part.

 I have 2 GP 40 Bachmanns. They both run about 9/28 well but are a bit noisy(lugging elect motor noise).At about 10-12/28 they quiten a lot and run well. They will run slower but eventually stall.
I also have a Walthers GP40 that will run all the way down to 1 and just barely crawl which I assume is normal. I'm just asking to be sure this is normal but since both Bachmanns do it and I know most claim they don't run slow as well as others, I'm assuming I'm right. My plan is to run the Bachmanns as a consist so slow speed op will be minimal so I don't see a problem for me with that.

 I have a Bachmann GP 40 that came in a Rail Chief train set. It's Road Number is 3001. I found a 3002 Road Number from Bachmann that is dcc ready. I'm wondering if this loco is the same? If it is I would like to fit it with a decoder. I'm using a NCE powercab and also have a road Number 3519 that is DCC ready. Is there a preference on decoders when using the NCE or would it be more appropriate to use one matched to the loco?

 Does Bachmann print any kind of track guide? Basically I'm looking for a guide on what turn outs and curves work together, what manual/ground throws work with EZ tack, what all track parts are available, mostly general track facts so I have a better idea of what I can accomplish with EZ and what will require moving to flex or another track system.

 Ram, I missed the steam era by accident of birthdate. They were all gone by the time I was aware and I come from a Santa Fe family so I was aware at an early age. I did manage to ride a passenger train a few times when the locals still carried a Passenger car, the old Pullmans(I think) with the velour seats and a conductor that watched out for his buddy's grandson. My mother's cousin was a mechanic on cars for a long time and I've actually (shhh) gotten to ride an engine and a caboose in the yards at Amarillo a few times. My maternal Grandfather was a switchman and was killed switching in the late 30' early 40's when he had his legs amputated by a car running over him. My mother was only 12 so I never had a chance to meet him but my grandmother remarried(unheard of for a widow with 3 kids in those days) another trainman who worked Santa Fe all his life. I also had an uncle who only ever had two jobs, the Santa Fe, summers during high school and the Army after graduation, four years later, back to Santa Fe. Several of my great uncles and cousins were also SF lifers. 3 of the 28 guys in my HS grad class were also SF lifers. A couple are retired and one will late this year, he's a Brakeman/conductor and doubts there will be any in the next few years. Trains are so automated these days that he says he's usually just along to be sure the engineer doesn't go to sleep and because he likes to ride trains.

Len,  I've done a place here Called "Mac's Speed Shop" and though it's a chain and therefore a bit generic(3-4 stores) it's better than the local everyone raves about. BTW if you're near GSO there's a trainshow at the local club sat.


Ram, Born in Amarillo Tx and spent my childhood/school years between there, Canadian Tx and Waynoka OK. Those are like within 240 miles of one another and both sides of my family are centered in those three places.

Trainman, I eat healthy 6 days a week and both maternal Great grandmothers lived to 100. My paternal grandparents lived to mid 90's. I think I'm just going to hope I don't care when the time comes.

 I'm an amateur Foodie. I'll be enjoying B-B-Q Texas style (I've bee in NC 10 years and still can't take the B-B-Q sauce here), give me Tx or KC anytime, Dyers in Amarillo is good but not as good as the parent restaurant in Pampa was.. And Mexican, unfortunately I will not be in SA this trip, but I have a couple of spots in the panhandle of Tx I always hit. I also do a place in Silverton called "Something Different by Kay" my aunt owns it. And I'm hoping "Café Banoff" is open while I'm in Waynoka OK this time (homestyle German). A high school friend also does a Mexican food truck in NW Ok. "My Cousins Place" is a spot(sports bar) that my sister and I usually make in OKC.
If I manage to eat everywhere I would like to, I'll be eating 5-6 meals a day.Between Food , Train shops and Family, I should have fun. Then within a week after I get back, I'll be leaving for Auto Fair and that's always fun.

 Great info guys. Keep them coming so I can get my route home nailed down. I do have to be back by April 3-4 so I can shower and get ready for the Charlotte Auto Fair but I still have plenty of time to take the "scenic" route home

 My wife was in Dallas in Jan and bought a car. We live in NC. So next Sun. I fly to Dallas to pick it up and bring it home. Since I have a sister in Amarillo and one in OKC. I'll be stopping to visit for a couple of days in each city(in laws in McKinney). I'm just wondering if anyone has any shops in those places or close by to visit. Once I leave OKC, I'll be coming East across I 40 so any along that route I may be tempted to stop at also, you know for a road break. I did a search and found a club that has a layout in OKC at Crossroads mall, is it good to check out? I also found the "Whistle Stop" in OKC.


Thanks for any commentary and shops.

 Great input guys. I knew the s would probably be a derailing nightmare but never thought of replacing it with something like a 36. My original plan is still in motion. Put together a table(almost done, needs more paint), lay it out as close as possible in EZ and play with it a bit, then change it up and see if I like something else better. Also to determine how much of each type operations suits me best. I have a couple of other track plans that look like they might work but they didn't have as much yard area. I had one with a double loop and some yards but switches between the continuous and the local wouldn't work with the elevation changes. I'm still playing with the trackplans so I may find something I like better. I tried the inset along the 7 ft side but found It left little room because of the walk-in area. I'm trying to keep that 30 in reach so I can keep scenery and such taken care of and hopefully when I finalize for a perm layout, I can learn to lay flex well enough to have very few derails.

 I'm not stuck n the EZ. I just have enough (Minus turnouts) to layout most of these. I hope to lay track other than EZ when I actually firm up what I plan. I just haven't been playing long enough to have developed any skills in that yet.

The reason I will be using the center of the room is because I have doorways to avoid, like the one to the closet where the emergency water shutoff is (I can share the aisle to one side of the bed with that closet) and another to a closet with stuff I need to get to every 3-4 weeks (Which I can't block the door but may be able to restrict the access to and make the entry into the layout  a little tighter). I did not finish this basement and honestly cannot think of a worse way to have set it up. There are at least 4 doors in every room. There's not a plumb or square wall anywhere. The box over the sump pump is not even service removable, it would have to be torn out and rebuilt to service the pump. There are only two short walls that don't have multiple opening in the whole basement. The plus is that there is a bath and a wet bar. The guy who did the work was the previous owner and he was a Dr. of something besides M.D. or carpentry. The plumbing wasn't wrapped and sweats to the point I have to change ceiling tiles about every 18 months or so. I'm actually moving the guest bed to get this much space, otherwise I would be stuck with 8X5 and that would restrict one of the aisles.

 My initial idea was to lay it out in EZ and see how I liked the ops, then try another and see which actually interested me most. I got the initial bench built and should have it sanded and painted tomorrow with any luck but I picked up a small paying job today so I'm going to try to finish that between sanding/painting to replenish the hobby fund. I got it cut and just need to do some assembly and install on a Dutch door for a shop here in the neighborhood. I need to get both of those done so I can take a couple of days while I have the weather so I can replace some metal on a truck I'm doing. That will leave me some time in the evening to play with track plans and see if I can come up with a way to squeeze some more space or use what I have better.

 Great suggestions on the higher numbered switches. The yard would actually be accessible from 3 sides. I know the guest room isn't the best choice but it only gets used 1-2 times a years for a night or two and no kids. Any other spot would have a "LOT" more (Non train) traffic. Like I said, this is just one of many I've considered and the input really helps me determine what pitfalls I would have. I'm looking at a couple of other plans but neither have the yard areas this one does. I may do this one temp to see if it really works for me.
Seems like I've spent more time on trackplans and made less progress than any other area. Momma told me there would be days like this.....

 The table is a 5X9 with a 2.4 ft long x3 ft wide extension on the left and a 4X2.4 on the right. I fudged a bit over the 9X7 , so the notch comes out 2 ft wide and about 2-2.5 deep. Just enough room to be able to get in and reach every area of the layout except where it will be against the wall. I may need to flip this a and let the narrower extension be against the wall. That would make the longest reach a bit over my goal of 30 in but the painting and artistic talent is just a hair over 5 ft so it will be 38 in tall in the begining but I built the bench with an option to lengthen the legs so I can raise the height if I want.

The actual overall comes out to 9 ft 4 in X 7 ft 4 in. If I fill in the notch, I have way too long a reach to do scenery and retrieve derails(not that I plan on having any because my trackwork will be absolutely perfect lol). This plan isn't set stone but the space is. If anyone has a better plan, I'm all eyes. I'm still looking at other track plans also.
BTW don't mind my amateur attempt at SCARM I'm trying to learn a lot of new skills at once.

 That is the basement, and realistically, that's what there is for now. I have a "zoning Committee" and getting this much past was a tough sell. Removing the guest bed would make things much better but for now that isn't an option. I'm hoping I get the go ahead to expand after my painter(also the "Zoning Committee") runs out of decorating projects. I have to build while allowing room for a bed and dresser, the sump pump box and the aisle. The way I have  laid  it out allows me to use a shared aisle to access the long side on both sides the base of the L on one side will be against a wall. I looked at literally thousands of plans and some were really good but limited my radii to 18 in with the space. I don't have any "long" rolling stock yet but do want to keep that option. I also choose HO because of the amount of choices and my eyes aren't getting younger. Point to point didn't allow as many options for continuous runs and really cut back on scenery choices. That basement is actually about 1200 sq ft but has a family room, a wet bar, a bathroom and library in it also so the guest room was the only space I could use, unless I wanted restrict my layout size even more and have more windows and the same number of doors to contend with. I did compare an around the room type setup in it but had less options, due to the rom.

The idea here was to freelance a small town forgotten by modern life but revitalized by a shipping container point coming in to keep the town alive. I'll be mixing the down on its luck local with a more modern long haul system to give me options on scenery and motive power.

I know the PtoP would be better for ops but the zoning committee get mesmerized by the train going thru, which is the time for negotiations.