They are not truck mounted couplers, they are body mounted.  I pulled off the trucks and put on standard freight car trucks and it seems to be working better.  I wonder if more weight above the trucks would help.

I was given a beautiful Athearn Bombardier Metrolink passenger car for my birthday by someone who did not know what I was modeling.  I really like the looks of the car and thought I might make a set and modify them for my layout.  But I am having a real problem with the trucks.  I have very wide radius curves and still this thing wants to jump the rail.  Anyone else have these and have some hints, tips, tricks?

It depends on the decoder.  I am not interested in wiring my trains so I buy Digitraxx plug and play decoders.  If the train is DCC Ready, you simply snap out the existing board that is attached to the plug and snap your new decoder in.  I have done three in the last few weeks.  The hard part is getting the shell back on.

You will need two decoders.  One to power the loco and then a sound decoder.  Digitrax makes sound upgradeable decoders but good luck getting a straight answer out of them.  When I emailed tech support they told me to do one thing when their website clearly tells you to purchase something else. Let me know if you get a straight answer, I am sure we are not the only two trying to put sound in an Athearn loco.

Hey Folks

Excuse me for being math challenged but is there a simple formula for making measurements in HO scale?

For instance if my sidewalk is 3 feet wide outside my house and I want to model it in HO, how do I figure out how wide it should be?  Thank you for the help.  Remember math challenged so it needs to be easy which I am sure it.  Math is why I majored in media, not engineering.

I found a New York IRT Red Line train that will serve the purpose of my layout.  While I would like Chicago, New York will do fine as my layout is freelance.  Illinois Railway Museum is worth the trip for those who have not been there and the Rochelle Train Park is great for Railfans of the UP and BNSF.  You could make a nice short vacation out of those two spots.

Thank you very much, I'll give that a try this week.

What is great about this forum is that until Bob asked for more info, I never thought that the problem was with the loco, sometimes we all need someone to pick our brains to get the gears turning.

Hi Bob

It is only with one loco so I am thinking the problem may be with that engine.  I bought it new, but it had been sitting on the shelf for years.  It is a Life Like Proto 2000  GP30 L&N  it has (forgive my newbie ignorance here)  two sets of wheels in the front and two in the rear. 

When the loco gets to the switch it shuts down and the controller gives me a warning signal.  If I give a slight push to the loco it starts moving again.

The loco also slows down in some spots on the track which also leads me to believe it has something to do with the loco and not the switch.  Any advice on making this loco run better would be appreciated.  She is a beauty.

Finally purchased my Digitrax Zephyr and put in my decoders.  I am so happy and have only wrecked twoce today!  When I was running DC I never had any electrical problems but now it seems that my Locos want to short out when they hit an EZ Track turnout.  Any suggestions?

I have searched the forum and found some info on dealing with corrosion but I thought I might get some help for my "special" problem.

My layout runs from the main room into a tunnel that is in the mechanical room for my 95 year old house.  The vent for the water heater has a small leak that I have patched several times but it dripped on the track this week and now my nickel silver track has green corrosion all over it.

What would be the best way to clean this?  I really don't want to replace the track.

And of course I am fixing the vent so no home improvement folks out there need bother me about that.

Love this forum, I read all the time but rarely post.  Thanks for the help!

If this has been covered before please forgive me but...does anyone make an elevated train such as Chicago's CTA in HO?  If so, where can I get it, I have looked in all of the usual places Walther's etc..

That item looks like it will do the trick, I assume that since it says EZ command that it will work with DCC.

Thanks for the help.

I need to know how to do a reverse loop using Bachmann easy track.  All the help I have gotten has been for wiring standard track.  Any help here?  Please!