YYYYYYYYeeeeeeaaaaarrrrrrsssss  ago a company called Roundhouse (I think) made something called Harriman passenger cars, with the baggage, observation, etc...and they were short.  I don't think the were exact models of a prototype, but they looked ok going around smaller radius curves.   I am just returning to HO (if my eyes let me.....been in large scale for a long time) and wondering if there are equivalent cars still available.
    Thanks for the help.

Probably been covered several dozen times here....but how many dpdt toggles are necessary for an engine to enter and leave a reverse loop in dcc?  Some articles I have read show one and others show two.   Using two seems to make more sense to me because the "main" would have to be altered once the engine is in the loop and must come out the other side which must be matching.   It obvious I don't use dcc at the moment....but I am hoping.  Thank you.

Purchased a Bachmann set and an uncoupling magnet to see how HO performs.   It was the ECHO VALLEY
I have large scale set up presently.   Engine was not dependable and was sent for repair.   It has been gone several weeks, so impatience got the best of me and I ordered a 4 6 0.   Much more dependable.   Runs very smoothly.  BUT no matter how smoothly the engine moves at slow speeds, there is a LOT of false uncoupling with the cars when they pass over the magnet.   If this is a common occurance with HO, I would find it really irratating.  Can anyone speak from experience and tell me if this is common with HO scale?

We are hoping to move to a new house (once we find it).  Our present basement holds a large scale layout more than 25 years in the making...nothing great, but it is mine.  Lots of Bachamnn engines ( I kind of collect them), Accucraft and Bachmann rolling stock....and stuff you can't get any more because the interest in large scale has so declined that they don't make it anymore.

When looking for a house we somewhat are hoping to down-size.  But I don't want to give up modeling.   Sooooooo  a basement is necessary if I hope to continue in large scale....But starting out in an other scale (selling off what I can) taking up less space (such as ON30 or HO) probably would be no more expensive than purchasing large scale track and switches needed on a new layout.  (Lots of glue, ballast and nails holding the present layout and track intact and the track and even some structures would not be removable).

Being slightly over 21 (by nearly 50 years) I don't have the eye sight, patience or motor control that I once had.  So I was thinking of starting out in 0N30.  But what little I have read....it seems to be ebbing away as well.   Thus....perhaps HO is the answer.

Hard to believe, but the practicality of starting a new layout, will influence the purchase of the new house.

Please share your thoughts...What would you do?

I have a Dallee sound card installed in a trailing car behind my climax.   Used a reed switch with two sensor magnets on an axle of a wheel to provide chuff sound.  But that arrangement does not provide enough chuffs per revolution of the wheels to look in time with the piston motion of the climax engine.  In hopes of getting a higher chuff rate, I installed 4 mags on the wheel of the car.  But the reed switch did not seem to open/close fast enough and was equivalent to the two mags on the axle.......so....

In hopes of using the optical chuff from the engine I ran wires from the Bachmann board in the tender area, splice out the reed switch, and spliced in one wire to the locomotive ground from the Bachmann board and the other wire to the # 5 pin (Chuff trigger 1) on the Bachmann board.  But then there is no chuff at all.

Can someone explain what is wrong with my thinking....and how using a trailing car, I can use the Bachmann mechanism to stimulate the chuff circuit on the Dallee board.

Obviously I do not know a great deal of electrical "stuff" so help would be appreciated.   Thank you.

Just received my first horse cattle car as a gift for father's day.   It is kind of "cute" to see the horses' heads move in and out and bop around a bit.  Looking forward to b-day when I might hope to see the cows along the route.  NOW.....Bachmann....how about the electronic box car with the little men that gently shoot the boxes of dry good onto the loading platform!!

just in case Bachmann is thinking about producing a new engine ( i know....i know....I've read it all) how about something from the East Broad Top...you know something with a definite Eastern profile.   Yes there is the Forney....but it is a modified two foot gauge prototype.  A number 11 would be a smallish engine....but if done with the care that the C 19 has....it would be a super model.   Number 12 would be a tad bigger...and might have a larger following.   Just wishing out loud!! 

Hey all...for those familiar with the three truck shay:
   I would like to place some electronics in the trailing tender of the three truck shay.   But I must be able to access them easily once insalled...which means being able to lift the shell off without taking the shay off the track once complete.  Looking at the schematics, I can see that there are screws which hold the shell in place.   Will this shell stay on the truck if the screws are not replaced?   Are there hidden problems that I have not foreseen?  Thanks in advance for any advice.

  Just received a NEW 3 truck shay and it is a beauty.   When it was released many years ago there was a published "fix" for the wire harness coming from the engine to prevent the wires from breaking loose from the board.

"WE HAVE PERMISSION TO PUBLISH THIS (FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO TRY TO CREATE PROBLEMS AT BACHMANN, I HAVE IT IN PRINT)"...begins the document.....which mainly involves hot glue to secure the wires.

My shay is a bit different than the one shown in the accompanying video.   There is only one wire harness, rather than two, extending from the engine.   There is only one whole in the drawbar between the two parts of the model.

Is it possible that there were modifications made to the model along that way that make it unnecessary to do the "fix"?  I really do not wish to dissemble the model, if it is not necessary....and yet, if those wires will eventually break loose from the board, I will surely attempt the fix.

Thanks for the help.

I would like to increase the reliability of track pick up in the newer climax.  Is there an EASY was to take power from and trailing car with wheels for current pick-up and feed it into the climax engine?  At very slow speeds the engine finds it difficult going through the plastic frogs of LBG switches.  Thanks for any suggestions (other than converting to batts!!   )

When first released, the rail truck had some problems with the gearing.   Would these have been eliminated in the model that are now on the market?
   Thanks for the input.

At the "fill-end" of both the K-27 and C-19 Bachmann models the are two circles surrounded by six "dots."  The circles are actually holes that go into the tender.  Does anyone know and able to tell me what they are in the real engines.   If the are actually holes, could the be for adjusting the air pressure in the tender as the water is used?   Thanks for the help?

In no way did I intend my last post to be rude or upsetting to anyone, but it was deleted by someone....would someone explain what was wrong.   Thanks.

Just received my Connie back from service and Bachmann Service did a fast, good job.  But on the trip back, some how,  the smoke box front was damaged and the hinges for the door were broken. The door hangs.  I have checked the parts store list and the door is available, but the intact front with the hinges, in not available.  Might someone out there have a scrap Connie and are willing to sell the smoke box front piece?

Thanks for the help.
bob

I understand that Barry has withdrawn from the market....but I also read that he is somewhat involved.  I am thinking about the purchasing a 4-6-0 chassie.....is it too later?
   Thanks for the advice.

the back of my heisler, shay, and climax pick up wheels often become coated with a black powedery/greasey kind of stuff.  I do avoid over lubing....at least I try....I clean the deposits regularly with Q-tip and cleaner....but I am wondering if the material might be conductive and it should be left alone.  A similar material develops on the treads of the wheels.  That, I also remove.  A good idea or not?   Is it also conductive?....doesn't seem to be.  Oh....yes...I use track power on an indoor layout.

...since it has been nearly three years since Bachmann introduced the C 1-9, i have patiently been saving my pennies (dollars actually) to purchase a new engine.

Perhaps something like the EBT #11, or any 2-6-2 based on a 3ft prototype would be acceptable.   Modernizing the Spectrum 2-6-0 or 4-4-0 would also be a real draw for purchase.

If the engine were of the approximate size of the Connie or the C-19, it would make like so much easier for my wife at the Holidays...she would certainly know what would make an appropriate gift without all the worry of "did I do the correct thing?" 
   Yes....in consideration for my wife...I think Bachmann should release a new engine!!!   ....Perhaps an "in-scale" 4-6-0 based on something other than the ETWNC??

When the 3 truck shay was first release, there was a notification by someone (with agreement with Bachmann i am almost positive) stating that the wire harness from (or to) the third truck needed looking into. i think hot glue was to be applied to keep the wires from pulling loose or causing some type of problems.  As a result i was hesitant to purchase.  i have been looking at purchasing the 3 truck shay again.  Have adjustments been bad to the model since its first release so that there are no longer problems?
    Thank you.

Is it advisable to remove the cover plate and put a drop of light oil on the motor shaft that exits the housing of the motor in the trucks of the climax, shay and heisler?....or will this lead to problems such as clogging,etc.   Thanks for the input.

Seems like we are always "dumping" on Bachmann for things done wrong when an engine or car is released.   So....i would just like to take a moment and congratulate Bachmann for the super C-19.  i have had mine since they were first released.  Slow speed performance is great (i run off track....DC in my basement), it looks pretty good going around my small 8ft diameter curves. and the electronics worked as the should, allowing me to easily install a sound system....and it is very quiet.

Hope that we do see another small engine in the future with these same attributes.   I do miss the busy valve gear action that we see on the Connie or the K-27 and hope that the future release does have that feature.  Of course the C-19 prototypes did not have this.

Well done Bachmann....more please.