I live in the Atlanta, GA area.

I'm looking for top notch train shows.

We had one here last weekend and I was disappointed.

Have tic willing to travel. AirTran and Delta go most everywhere from here.

Where are the really good train shows where you see manufacturers there and/or retailers displaying their new products?

I am new to this hobby and I was wondering if someone could address freight car quality.

I have seen prices from $8 to $30. Is there a correlation between price and quality?

And I have noticed several lines by the same manufacturer.

Are there things I should stay away from?

thanks

I lived in a small community (E. Pembroke) in Western New York and everyone called the RR that went through the village the Peanut Line. It delivered coal to the Kohorst business and may have serviced a canning factory as well.

Any suggestions on how I can research the Peanut Line and find out where it went and the owners? The NYC mainline was not that far away.

I went. Great disappointment. Spent $7 to get in. Another $4.95 on a new HO truck. Which I found on ebay tonight along with 3 others for $3.99 plus shipping or $2.29 per vehicle.

There was a lot of used and tired merchandise. Evident vendors had been trucking the stuff from show to show for years by the condition of the boxes.

No manufacturers there showing their new merchandise. Not even local internet vendors there. That says alot.

I had $250 in my pocket. Spent $4.95. Was looking for a new DCC switcher. Nothing to look at.

I won't go back.

The highlight of the show was the local train clubs that had terrific displays. Even the Live Steam group in Atlanta. Hats off to you guys for displaying!!!!

bb

Thanks for the info.

I'm gonna go broke.

Going into this hobby nobody told me one had to be in the upper tax brackets<g>

I have a slew of Bachmann R and L Remote turnout switches (e.g. 44562).

They come with an 18" green wire (actually 3 wires) that attach to the rr switch and then to the remote mechanism.

18" is not enough for what I want to do on my  layout. I want to run the switch wire ~3-4 feet from the actual rr switch to the remote mechanism, then to the electical source.

Does anyone sell a longer wire with appropriate connector? Or am I going to have to splice three wires to make it longer? What a pain for so many switches.

HO SCALE TRAINS ENGINE SANTA FE DDT SWITCHER LOCOMOTIVE     

HO SCALE TRAINS ENGINE SANTA FE DDT SWITCHER LOCOMOTIVE
Model #M96670

HO scale Burlington Northern DDT Plymouth Industrial switcher by Model Power. Don't let the size fool you, there little switchers pack a punch! Includes knuckle couplers, working headlamp and manufacturers warranty.

I'd put a picture here but can't figure out how to do it.

I bought a Bachmann DDT switcher by mistake. Can someone please tell me what DDT means. And can it be converted to DCC?  thanks.

I was going to do a 4 x 8 layout until the local train store recommended a 5 x 9 layout so as to accommodate a 22 degree curve, necessary for the longer passenger cars. They said to look for a used ping-pong table which is 5 x 9. Well I couldn't find a reasonably priced used ping-pong table so I built a 5 x 9 frame and used 3/8 plywood. Then I saw this shunt puzzle design and my space was ideal for the addition of the shunt puzzle(~ 2' x 7) to the main layout. I can run a switcher on the puzzle and a regular engine on the main line using Bachmann's DCC controller. Or I can isolate the puzzle and run it separately with another controller I got on ebay. Grand kids are having a blast with it!

If using dowels, get a self-centering dowling jig. Another excuse to get another tool.

Just google it as there are several suppliers. Don't go for the cheap plastic  one tho.

I spoke with a gentleman who worked for a company that made corn syrup. He said there was a special cleaning device built in to the top of the tank car. All they did was attach a high pressure steam hose. The pressure drove turbines in the device and they used a caustic solution to clean the cars. I think he said the manfacturer of the device was Butterworth but I may have misheard. Butter something anyways.

But that was corn syrup.

What about acids, alcohols, polymers, sulfur, oils, etc. Are there tank cars dedicated strictly to one liquid? Can a tank car that carried hydrochloric acid also be used for sulfuric acid? Or must it be cleaned?

I have often wondered about tank cars.

Once a car carries a particular kind of fluid is it always dedicated to that fluid? If not, what is the process for cleaning that car.

I can see all kinds of problems using cars for multiple liquids such as  food grade liquids, acids, polymers, and the list goes on. Surely there must be FDA regs for food grade liquids. But what about using cars for multiple purposes such as acids and polymers?

And reefers. Can they carry veggies and meat as well?

Any insight?

I talked to the retailer about swapping out the defective controller for a new one. They didn't  have one so they said to call Bachmann.

So I did. Got connected in short order to a tech in the Service Dept. A live person answered the call initially and I waited less than a minute for the tech to come on line. None of this press #1 for Swahili business<g>.

I described the problem to the tech and he said it sounded like a faulty controller. Just send it in and they'll replace it since it is under warranty. And be sure to put "controller" on the box so they know what's in the box and can expedite.

Now here's what is even more impressive: He said if it wasn't under warranty the charge would have been only $20.

Impressive so far.

I have Bachmann engines which came with the set.

I just tried it again and now there is no variable speed control. Engines run at full tilt, out of control. Have to use the stop button. Both forward and reverse is full speed.

I  have another controller which I had purchased to control switches and tried that running the engines. It works fine. But of course I can only control one engine at a time.

I fear it is a faulty controller and will be calling Bachmann in the AM.

Anyone know if they are speedy with repairs? The grandchildren are coming<g>.