I replied to your question about the driveshaft on your other post on another forum.

Please excuse my novice question.

I purchased a Bachmann Spektrum HO Doodlebug and want to check the gear lubrication in its main truck.  To do so, it appears as though I need to remove truck's bottom cover (see below image ) by prying on it, but I am afraid that prying will break the cover.

Can one of you kind forum-dwellers tell me how to remove the cover without breaking it.  Do I pry on the front and rear tabs or the two slotted side slots? The side slots appear to be the appropriate ones but they have protruding, soldered wires.

Or, is my thinking flawed and I instead need to remove the entire truck assembly, or somthing completely different.

Thanks in advance for any advice, RobertR
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I need a Yoke Assembly for a g-scale Bachmann Shay.  Anyone have the part for sale? 

https://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69_629&products_id=10027

It should be an LED in the pole. So, polarity matters. If you wire the pole up aand it doesn't work, reverse the wires.

Craig and Trainman, all you need is a DPDT (Double Pole, Double Throw) toggle switch. For this application, stay away from the mini or micro switches since, depending on the size of your layout and number of engines running, you may be pulling a few amps through the switch and the standard size switches can handle a greater amp load.

A DPDT switch has six terminals. Connect the center two to your track, one to each rail. Connect one set of the side terminals to the output of your DC power supply. Connect the other side to the output of your DCC controller. Now, depending to which side you flip the switch, you will either supply DC or DCC to your track. However, it is important that both the DC and DCC controllers be set to 0 before you switch power to the track just to be sure that everything is turned off in order to avoid shorts. If you you want to be a little more sure, they make DPDT switches with a CO (Center Off) position. In this position, the switch conducts no power to either side and your track is completely dead.

                   DC  Track  DCC
                       |     |     |
                     __    __    __
           Contacts             
                     __    __    __

Hope this helps.

P.S. One thing that just came to mind is that I have no idea how the decoders in DCC-ready turnouts react to straight DC current. So, if you have any of those turnouts you may want to do some research on the subject before you fry the decoders.

Good.  I like the idea of being to change power sources .  I don't have that but I have a few DC engines from back in the Jurassic that I'd like to run sometimes.  I'm sure that some electrical engineer here can tell you how to set up toggle switches to go back and forth.

Thanks guys.  I wasnt planning to mix the DC with the DCC.  I would remove the DC power supply and then connect tho old DC track to the DCC track by way of DCC ready turnouts or crossovers.  If i dont have to worry about shorts it should work fine then.  Thanks again.

The only time switches short things out is when you use them to make a reversing loop without adding the necessary gaps and reversing circuit. Whether is a toggle switch on a DC layout, or autoreverse unit on a DCC layout.

Len

DO NOT connect DC powered track to DCC powered track.  You will terminally damage everything.  You need to choose one or the other on connected trackage.  I understand why people want to try to keep partial DC, to keep locomotives they've already invested in. But really, it's like graduating from elementary school to high school.  It's a different game and you don't keep stuff from the earlier grades. Leave the training wheels behind and get the big boy toys.

Whoever told you that too many track switches would short out things doesn't know what they're talking about.  There are gigantic layouts with hundreds upon hundreds of track switches that cause no short circuit problems by their numbers. It's a non-issue unrelated to mixing DC and DCC power in the same trackage.

Yes, EZ command is specifically designed to make the world of DCC largely available to train set level users.  And it does a good job with that. But that's what it is and all it is, an accessory to a train set with limited features to keep the cost of the complexity down.  Some people never get past it. Others want to move on and get the rest of the features available in Advanced systems.  It took me about a year to do that, but I never looked back.