I had to buy one of the Bachmann DD40X's even though I model the Canadian Pacific in the 1950's. I had to have one because they look great. This was also the first DCC on Board Loco I ever bought and I must say I was not impressed with the running of this unit.

This weekend I was putting a decoder in another loco and it dawned on me that maybe a different decoder would make a difference. I took out the Bachmann decoder and dropped in a Digitrax unit. I also wired the roof strobe light to the F1 output so I could turn it off and on. Then I tried it. It runs much better now. I was supprised at the difference just by changing decoders. Plus the seperate strobe control is a bonus.

Maybe I'll now have to have a CP/UP exchange now. Hmmm.

The new GP7's look great but I have one beef! Why no Canadian road names?    Just think how good those babies would look in the Canadian Pacific maroon and gray paint scheme or Canadian National geen and gold. Come on Bach Man, don't forget your nieghbors to the north.

I was at our local model railroad show last weekend and at the used table I found a Spectrum 4-6-0 lettered for Canadian Pacific, complete with Digitrax decoder for $85.00. It's in mint shape too. I dont have any steam on my layout but I thought it was a good deal so what the heck, I bought it. And dang it looked good running around the layout!

Then I pulled out this IHC  Canadian National Hudson 4-6-4 that I had laying around under the work bench for a couple of years-


and redid it as a Canadian Pacific loco (I know that Canadian Pacific Hudson's never looked like this but I like it).


And now I'm hooked. I model the Canadian Pacific in the 60's. Now I'm going to move time back to the 50's and model the transition era. Just when I thought that I had about every loco I needed. Yay steam!