How about cabooses with lit up interiors?
Just a simple bulb of some sort or LED inside at the very least.
It would look great during "night-time" running.

So far as I know,,,No one makes HO cabooses that have operating lights!

How does one take apart a bobber caboose without wrecking it?

I would like to take mine apart to add some clear plastic "glass windows"
to make it look more right,,there is just something about windows without
"glass" that I don't care much for.

Is there a schematic explosion chart for the bobbers or
something like that?

I just bought a Bachmann FT-A and B unit locos,,the DC versions, New York Central System.
Over all,I have found these to be well made locos.

There was one small problem. The A and B units would come uncoupled,
the A unit being a wee bit faster than the B unit. It was quite amusing the
first time, watching the B+consist chase the A.
Then it became consistent. A brief test showed me the couplers were easy to pull apart.
Did this with the power off and just used my hands and it did not take much effort at all to pull them apart.
I have noticed this about knuckle couplers on rolling stock before.

What to do?

I remembered that i had some old school Horn-Hook couplers!
If nothing else, those old school horn hooks are Reliable.
So I removed the knuckle couplers between the A and B units and replaced them with the horn-hooks.
Made a test run, about 20 laps.
No more uncoupling incidents!

So there it is, just one possible and simple solution.

most of us have heard the news about the demise of the Athearn Blue Box kits.
Time to get the pitchforks and torches out and storm the gates, but be careful and watch out for boiling oil response.

Anyways,,for anyone who wishes to contact Athearn and write up a polite and diplomatic e-mail stating why this is a Big Mistake here is a chance and the link

http://www.athearn.com/About/Contact.aspx

if there is enough responses,,,good reasons,,good essays or the like
there is a chance, be it great or slim [ i won't give odds] that athearn
Might change their minds about the issue.

It is worth a shot anyways,,,the worst that could happen is that Athearn will say "No".

The best that could happen would be to revive the line.

Much like what happened with the Coca-Cola company when they dropped the "original" formula to "New Coke".  The "new" coke soon vanished and
Coke Classic made its triumphant comeback.

Is it possible to get/order front guide and rear trailing trucks for 2-6-2 Praires in HO?

I already checked the "order parts" on the left hand side of the screen and
the selection there seems very limited. Wich i found odd considering how large the product line is.

only saw N scale available,,,,,need HO scale

Any chance of ever seeing these again? They have been MIA for some time.
Cool and different buildings, go good with 4-4-0, 4-6-0 early steam locos.

http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/bachmannhoscalekits/id37.html

Ever run Intermodel wellcars with steam power?
Why not?
It Really does happen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhgHrDbN4EU

Long ago Bachmann made a really sharp tri-level auto carriers, they even came with 15 cars on the racks.   

I always liked those auto carriers.

[hint hint hint if you make them they will buy them hint hint hint]

Any chance of ever seeing these for sale again?  New Ones that is!

Does anyone still run or even still have,,rolling stock  that you have had since you were a kid?

I still do!
For me my old rolling stock dates back to the mid to late 1970s.
Sill got some of my original AHM and Tyco cars.
I even still have an NW coupola caboose, HO scale, made by Lionel!
I was going to scavenge it for parts,,but then i turned it over and
saw the word "Lionel" on the bottom it became a Keeper.
I was surprised by that,,did a bit of research and rediscovered that yes,
for a brief time Lionel did produce HO scale trains

Sometimes I still run these,,get out the Tyco cars,,a Sara Lee box/reefr,Star Kist box/reefer, Borax hopper, Ajax hopper,Jell-O hopper,Kellogg's hopper, Berkshire Ham and Bacon reefer,,AHM? Dairymans League reefer and a AHM Oscar Meyer reefer that i still got the AHM box for it!
Used to have the Tyco Morton Salt hopper,,but that one vanished,,no idea when it vanished.

Still got the Tyco,,I think it is about a 60 footer Hi-Cube Union Pacific boxcar,
a very prototypical car for Tyco at the time.

Still have the Michigan Alkyline tanker,PennRR Gondola and SF caboose and
FM C-Liner from my very first set, AHM. The C-liner still works! It is not in mint
condition, took parts from a beyond fixing it twin C-liner such as removing
the traction tire wheels and replacing them with wheels that do not need
tires,,the loco can't pull more than 3 or 4 cars now,,but it Works!
Kind of thrill to hear that loco growl again after being in storage for about
24 years. The C-liner is Santa Fe War bonnet, classic red and silver.

Got some other rolling stock units too, but thats enough for now.
Your Turn!

Stumbled across this,

http://www.collectiblestoday.com/ct/product/prdid-49082.jsp?cm_ven=Shopping&cm_cat=NexTag&cm_pla=Direct&cm_ite=49082-Collectible%20NFL%20Football%20Chicago%20Bears%20Express%20Electric%20Train%20Set%20Collection

But nowhere does it say WHO makes this.

I can still recall TYCO used to do this sort of thing,,make promotional train
sets that is.

A True Tale I tells ye.
The other night I was running my Bachman 2-6-2 Praire.
I use a MRC 260 power pack.
I ran that Praire at 100% full throtle for a few minutes.
It is a suprisingly fast  loco for a little guy. It will outrun
my Berkshire and Overland Niagra.

Anyways I brought the loco to a stop.
It Looked Different somehow.
The Smokestack was LEANING against the headlight!
Apparently the smoke unit got so hot it heated up the plastic body
enough to do this!
SO,,,,a few more laps at 100% throttle then stop and VERY quickly bent
the smoke stack back to its proper posistion before the plastic cooled off
back to its normal state.

Lesson Learned: DO NOT run this loco at full throttle for very long,
55% on this power pack is fast enough.

Has anyone else done this?