Thanks for the info, Terry.

That looks sharp, Terry! Are you using a 9V battery or something smaller?
Great looking car. You're giving me ideas and that's dangerous  .

Well, it seems that in order to view the pictures, one must have Facebook account and, since I don't have one, I can't view them. Thanks for trying.

No, I don't think so. As inflation keeps on going and prices rise, more income must go to meet day-to-day living expenses, thus leaving less and less disposable income for "luxury" items, such as hobbies. That's when businesses close due to lack of sales. In my 75 years, I've seen this happen several times and usually what happens is that once the economy settles back down, prices stabilize and, eventually, wages catch up also. That's when there will be more disposable income available again for the "luxury" items. How long this cycle will take is anybody's guess. Hopefully, it won't be more than a year or two.

Just keep in mind its not only model railroading that's affected, its most other hobbies also.
Hope this helps.

I still have a quite a few (perhaps 20 or so) Testors model paints and they still work very well. However, as with most, if not all model paints, they have a certain luster to them, even the flat paints, that will not match the original model. The solution to that is, after you're done painting, to give the model a coat of a clear flat finish. Testors Dullcote worked well for this but it has been discontinued however, I have also used a flat finish from Tamiya. Hope this helps.

Muggzy, Since I do not model in HO, I'm not familiar with your particular locomotive, but since I model in On30 and my DCC system is from Digitrax, I'm very familiar with Bachman/Digitrax combinations. First of all, just so you know, since DCC is a standard created by the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA), as long as a manufacturer's decoder adheres to those standards, it will work with your setup. Therefore, you are not limited to using only Digitrax decoders.

From your questions, I think what you are asking is whether or not Bachmann makes a specific decoder for your locomotive. Since I'm not familiar with your engine, I don't have the answer to that but perhaps someone else can chime in on this with more information. However, one thing I do know is that Digitrax has an excellent decoder selection tool on their website. You plug some information such as manufacturer, model, etc. in and it will list some suggestions of what would work in your locomotive. I'm assuming that other DCC manufacturers have similar tools but I would try Digitrax's first. If nothing else, it will provide you with a starting point. Hope this helps.

You're welcome, John. One thing I forgot to mention is to also clean the wheels on the locomotive with alcohol or mineral spirits. I just use a cotton swab to go around the each wheel. Don't worry if there are some portions of the wheel where the cotton swab won't reach. As long as you get most of the crud (if any is present) off, you should at least be able to tell if the locomotive runs OK. Hope this helps.

One thing you could try would be to clean the rails. You said you purchased extra track which, if its been sitting on the shelf in the store for a while could be corroded. The corrosion may not be visible to the naked eye. I usually clean my track with either isopropyl alcohol or mineral spirits on a soft cloth or folded paper towel. Try not to use anything abrasive as this will leave micro-scratches on the rail surface which will collect dirt faster and require more frequent cleaning. Hope this helps.

Well, I've been saving my pennies and finally had enough to indulge myself with a Bachmann Spectrum Whitcomb 50-ton Diesel #29201. It just arrived today and, after unpacking it, all I can say is that I am one happy camper. Again, Bachman did a great job with this locomotive.

First impressions: Lifting the Spectrum box out of its shipping packaging requires muscle - this is one heavy engine. It weighs a ton (well perhaps 50 O-scale tons ). The locomotive came securely packaged in its suspended plastic sleeve and a quick examination revealed no obvious damage. Running the engine around my layout was pure joy. The loco runs very smooth (probably due to the weight) and quiet, with no discernible side-to-side sway. Acceleration was very smooth and it had no problems negotiating the 15-inch radius curves on my layout, even at max throttle on my Digitrax controller. Since I do not have any grades on the layout, I can't speak to how well it will do on an incline. Bachmann includes the horn and the bell as separate items and provides instructions on how to mount them. This involves removing the shell and drilling two small holes at the spots so designated.

Between this locomotive and the wood-sided side door caboose that I purchased a couple of months ago, to say that I'm impressed would be an understatement. I'm overjoyed!!

Keep up the good work, Bachmann!

Great idea, ScottyB! I would definitely be interested in kits like that, reminiscent of the old Athearn blue-box kits.

Ralph,

Basically, you're on the right track (no pun intended). Both motor decoders and/or sound decoders can be a mobile decoder, meaning that they move around the layout. A lot of motor decoders and sound decoders are separate entities but there are some out there that are combined into one package. However they all have one thing in common: they all move around the layout, usually in a locomotive but sometimes in freight and passenger cars as well.

Stationary decoders are, usually, for turnouts, turntables and other accessories that need to be controlled on the layout, hence the term 'stationary".

I know this tends to be confusing but hopefully I've been able to add a little bit of clarity.

Mine arrived today. Great issue. Looking forward to reading some of it later, especially the articles on 3D printing.

For me, I would like to see a re-release of the Gas-Mechanical. I have one and the best phrase I can think of to describe it is "it's so darned cute". Also, I wouldn't mind seeing a re-release of the Porter 0-4-0 and 0-4-2 engines.

As for rolling stock, I would like to see a re-release of the pulpwood car and some passenger cars other than excursion cars. I'm particularly partial to combines, but coaches and parlor cars would also be great. That's all I can think of for now, I'm sure I'll come up with some more as time progresses  .

That's great news, Lee. Thank you for the update. I'm glad Chris managed to avoid catching the bug. Looking forward to getting my copy.

It is very possible that, given the age of the set, any and all lubrication has by now dried up and is causing the motor and drive train, i.e. gears, to bind. I've had this happen on several locomotives that had been stored for a number of years. Some of these engines did give a little lurch before freezing up. One thing you can look at is the headlight (assuming it's not burned out) - if it gets brighter as you increase the speed control, then there is definitely voltage going to the locomotive.

Back in the 70's the drive mechanisms were a lot cruder and a lot more heavy (i.e. thicker) grease was used. Over time, the oil in the grease evaporated and the grease then started to act like glue. If you feel comfortable doing it, remove the shell from the engine and just take a paper towel and wipe off all the gears you can readily access. A cotton swab works well for tight areas. Don't worry about leaving the gears dry as the engine won't be run long enough for it to matter during testing. If the engine runs, then perhaps perform a more thorough cleaning of the gears and then lightly lubricate them again. Hope this helps.