Dr EMD, But I thought when it was worded as "drive axels" it drove something, not just ride along! I bought it for more pulling power on a long coal train. I already got a Trix Big Boy with 8 drive axels. With its weight and length, it has more pulling power than this Triplex.

I just found out the hard way that MTH's HO Triplex has dummy axels on the tender. I was lead to believe it had 12 live drive axels. MTH's owners manual calls them drive axels, when in fact they are just for looks. The old saying "what you don't know won't hurt you" doesn't apply hear. If I had known that, I would have not spent that much money on one! I just thought prospective buyers might want to know this!

I don't know how you are going to suspend your track from the ceiling, but you are asking for trouble coming out the gate. If your tracks are not mounted on something solid and placed perfect, you will not be able to keep your trains on the rails. The least movement of a rail will cause a derailment. Mine is on the ceiling, but around the perimeter of the room, like you see some restaurants with G scale trains. Mine are laid on 1 inch birch and solid enough you can do chin ups on them, but that is what it takes. If you don't take extra care in placing your rails as straight as possible on a solid foundation, you will have one continual nightmare, as nothing will stay on the rails. I hot glued my rails down as I never had any luck with nails, they will warp your tracks at every nail placement. As far as for power, are you going DCC or just DC? With DC you can only run 1 train at a time. With DCC you can run as many as you want at the same time, but it is according to how much you want to spend. I started out with a $150 train set 6 years ago. I now have almost $19,000 in my layout! I did use Digitrax but went to MRC's Prodigy Wireless with 28 function control. One of my trains is MTH's K-4, which has a 28 function decoder. I have 18 trains on 3 sets of rails and run 4 at a time. That is about all you can keep up with at a time. Anyhow it is kind of up to you as to how much you are going to get into railroading. It doesn't take long to invest a fortune.

I can see why an opinionated person would have to quit the teaching profession. After all, you know what they say about opinions!

I received, in an email from a Digitrax tech, that they were working on a 28 function controller to keep up with the market. This was several months ago. Has anyone heard any more on this? I am getting so tired of MRC's bugs in their system. Instead of calling them recalls, they call them upgrades! That way they can charge to fix their screw ups!

Does anyone know what Woodland Scenic snow is made of? I was trying to make my own with styrofoam, using a food processor, and it is just to light to grind up. It makes great HO scale snow balls, however!

Clear Block,
                   No, I don't have a tube clip of it, but I was experimenting around with another idea before I started on the Bose idea that worked good. I used an old Vacuum cleaner handle, which has an inside diameter of 1", and used it for a baffle. I cut it into 2 pieces, mounting the speaker about center and made the whole length the length of the inside of a box car. I connected them together with JB Weld. The thin wall rigidity is the secret to the volume. You can adjust bass/treble by positioning of speaker in tubes. The more length behind the speaker, the more bass, but you have to be careful, as you only have about a couple of inches you can play with while adjusting sound. If I could locate some more Titanium tubing, like I had years ago, it would really improve the volume in this system, as it was as thin walled as sheet of paper.

In reference to the limited sound you can get out of a 1" speaker, it is true it will only put out so much. But, the sound comes from the baffling, not the speaker. I disected a Bose radio and used its technology in HO speakers and you wouldn't believe the volume of sound I have came up with in a small place! You can not use over half the volume or it will give you a headache. And with small modifications on baffling placement, I can control the treble and base mix! I was going to start manufacturing these until I found out Bose wasn't too happy with that idea, so I guess I will just enjoy them myself. I get a kick out of people asking me how I get louder than O scale sound out of HO! I also already run them in stealth mode and only turn the sound on for demo, as its like trackside at a Nascar event!

I have found through personal experience with Bachmann engines that they have a tendancy to be jerky after they set for several days without running. I throttle mine wide open for about 5 minutes, then slow them back down to normal pace and it usually straightens them out. You might say you need to blow the sut out of them! Also on the cheaper Bachmann trains, unfortunately, they only have rail power pick up from one axel each per truck and sometimes just one truck powered. This limits rail contact and power lose to motor. This is real evident in the Bachmann Gandy Dancer(a 2 man motorized handcar). It only has one axel power pick up and it was born jerky! Hope this helps you.

I need some suggestions from someone with electronic savvy. I have several flashing 5mm red LEDs in tops of water towers and coal tipples. I needed to replace one that quit and install some Fred lights on some caboose. Now I can't even find a flashing LED online or at hobby shop that will flash. I've tried all ranges of resistors. I have been trying the clear LEDs, as I can't find the diffused. Would that make the difference? It shouldn't, if I use the right resistor. I use the formula, supplied power - bulb voltage / .02 and start out 200 ohms above that. I  also have some bridge rectifiers I was going to use on the DCC rail power for Fred lights, but I can't get past the 12vdc scenery units. Can anybody help me?

Does anyone make an HO scale Climax? It seems they only come in ON30 scale.

Atlantic Central: I have 18 trains and 12 of them are DCC with sound, with one being MTH's K-4. I enjoy all the sound, but it is expensive. My first $80 train my wife got me in 2002 has turned into a $18,000 model railroad museum! But what got me is what MRC done. If you get their latest Prodigy system, you have to trash your DC units are put them in a display case like I did. The Prodigy will not recognize straight DC! They explained it messed up DCC signals. You can still run one DC on a Digitrax DCC system, but have to get it off the hot rails when not in use. But in reference on what you said about MTH's voltage, I use a booster, with a digital power read out, and set it on 16 volts when I run the K-4, then turn it back down when I park the K-4. I have been doing this for over a year and haven't had any problems. I was informed by several "experts" that 16 volts wouldn't hurt the rest of the trains, but would shorten bulb life, which I haven't even had to replace a bulb! But with being able to monitor my voltage that close, do you think I am still playing with a loaded gun? Thanks for your comments!

Is there a problem with the production on this model as I have been watching it closely and all the bugs that had to be worked out.  Since it's release on Jan 8, there have been very limited units on the market. Some Ebay guys have had one once in a while, but people are paying retail plus for them. Trainz had 280 available on a pre-order, relisted them twice on 30 day auctions and still only sold 3! It seems like they are slow sellers, or either the public is keeping the supply down so the demand will stay up, along with the price! I  read some threads where some don't like it because of the smoke. It has an on/off switch, so what is the problem? If you don't like the smoke, turn it off! But anyhow, I would like to hear from all you guys that have bought one. Are they a deal or a dud?

It kind of depends on what brand type you have. I have both, an Athearn DD40 and a Spectrum DD40AX, both which have been converted to DCC with sound. The DD40AX is a dual motor and about an inch longer than the DD40, which is a single motor unit. The Spectrum has a tighter turning radius than the shorter DD40, due to the way the trucks are made. They have about double the swivel to them. I have all 33" radius curves and the Athearn stills tries to bind up, if I don't keep the speed up. But the Bachmann will creap around flawlessly. If you have not already purchased one and want one of higher value, get the Bachmann Spectrum DD40AX. Now you will have to pay attention as Bachmann made both! They had a DD40 plain Bachmann single motor in a white box and a DD40AX Spectrum dual motor in a black box. They have been out of production for years, but you can still find a few on eBay. They all are a trick to convert to DCC, if you are not familiar with this procedure. If you have a professional do it for you, it could cost you way more than the train, if you count the parts! Hope this helps you.

I give up, hope someone has some answers! I have a consist of E6 passengers. The lead unit has the factory sound. The others are straight DCC decoders (no sound) and the problem is the Mar's lights on them. The factory one has the correct slow alternating pattern, but the other add on decoders' flash rates are so fast they just have a fast flicker. I've tried all kinds of values in CV62 and nothing helps to slow them down. The Mar's lights are 3 wire incandescent, not LEDs. The wires are red, white and blue and attached on the R,W and B post on the board. I was informed by an "expert" that you had to run them off the decoder and not the loco's board. These are Digitrax DH123 decoders with FX3 feature, but state you don't use the green and brown wires. I thought the brown wire was the Mar's light wire! On both of these E6s I had to move the yellow wire from post #2 to post #3 on the NRMA plug to get the Mar's light to even work. Can anyone help me to slow the flashing rate down on these to a believable prototypical rate?