thanks Jonathan, you are probably right, these were military cars so that does make sense. I'll investigate further with your info.

Has anyone ever heard of a brand of rail car rolling stock called Bronco? I was at my hobby store today and they had received a few rolling stock cars made by this company and we were wondering if anyone had ever heard of this company. The packaging looked old but in fairly good condition.

I can't agree with Franz T, however everyone has their opinions. ABC's sugestion is right on, I use different styles of track on my layout and as long as the transition pieces match then you shouldn't have a problem. As ABC suggests, make sure the height of the two different sections match, one thing to add from my own experience is to make a secure tight connection between the rails of the two different sections. I have had issues with this. Good luck.

QuoteI'm price sensitive unless you know of a place with deep discounts.

My local hobby shop is very reasonable when it comes to prices, Jim is also very good at finding just what you need. Here is his website: www.jimshobbiesportland.com
You never know he may just have what you are looking for.

I feel your pain when it comes to building N scale structures, however it is gratifying to have a finished product that you built yourself. I have built my own stuctures and just recently purchased a couple of pre-built structures sold by Model Power that my favorite hobby shop just got in. These are pre-painted and pre-lit. I thought I would try them out on my layout to see how they look as opposed to the stuctures that I buid myself. One other thing I might mention, I visit garage sales and 5 and dime stores and I have found some ceramic stuctures that have excelect detail and look great on my layout.
Larry

Thanks for all the input guys, this is truely a wonderful hobby when you can get so much help from other hobbyists.

If you are thinking that a short circuit may result due to power routing turnouts then an easy solution would be to use plastic jointers on one end. You may have to have additional power terminals on the opposite end to complete the circuit, hard to tell without a layout diagram of your plan.

I'm considering going dcc on my HO scale 4-4-0 Jupiter Steam engine and tender. What I don't know is whether it's dcc ready or not, any information would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.

I just built a Christmas town with HO scale flex track exclusively, only added two rerailers on opposite sides. I opted out of using a terminal section in favor of using powered jointers. I run a 0-4-0 steam loco with tender and it runs very smooth.  As for any cons I would have to say trimming the flex track when curving them is a bit tricky as the cuts need to be as straight as possible so the joints fit right. Aside from that I would say running flex track is the way to go.

This can be challenging when working with N scale, but it is not impossible. I struggled the first few times I attempted it, but I perfected a way that works well for me. It would be a good idea to use an area on your workbench that will catch any parts that fall away, it happens. First when working with engines I very carefully remove the body, this gives me a clear working area. Then turn the engine over, each coupler has a cover that is snapped in place. Carefully unsnap the cover and remove it. Now keep in mind the small size you're working with, the springs are small so I use a toothpick as a tool to compress the spring back and remove the coupler. Install the replacement coupler and set the spring in place. Reinstall the cover and verify that the coupler is installed properly. It should sit straight and have a bit of flex to it when moved. If everthing is ok then repeat for the other coupler then reinstall the body. The rolling stock should be easier since there won't be a need to remove the body. Good luck and have fun.

I'm building a layout with a mainline oval with a freightyard section in the center, so I was attempting to use two turnouts to create a cross section from the mainline to the yard. There is a note that came with the turnouts that explains the proper way to wire these turnouts in this situation. It is very hard to understand however, I am still confused. It says to add an extra power feed terminal at the heel end of each turnout. Do they mean to run a jumper from one turnout to the other or do they mean to power each turnout from the powerpack?

Here is something you may not have considered when using N scale vs HO scale, N scale rolling stock and engines use couplers attached to the trucks as opposed to HO which has a majority of its couplers attached to the body. With this in mind it will be very critical when chosing length of cars in your layout, you need to match the length of cars with the radius of your turns. longer cars on tight turns will derail easily. Just something I thought you might consider.

I am using Bachmann EZ-track with #44861 and #44862 turnouts, however I am having a loss of power when my engines travel through the turnouts when they are switched to the curve side. Is there an easy remedy for this problem?

I don't know if this will help, but we have a steamer in HO scale that is probably the smoothest running and fastest engine I've ever had the pleasure of running on our Christmas layout. Its a Model Power 0-4-0 "Fat Boy" with tender. For our purposes this engine is painted red, green and silver for our Christmas theme. Just thought you might find this information usefull, good luck finding what you are searching for.

Is it possible to convert N scale engines from dc to dcc?