Just finished my track redo - 132 sections of n/s ez track. Try as I might, I cannot get rid of all the rough edges at the rail joints. I've very carefully made all the joints, swapped/replaced sections and rail joiners to get good fits, etc. Still have a few tiny burrs which trip up my steamie pilot wheels. Will sanding or filing the rough edges cause problems with the track? What is best to do the smoothing? Would  filler between the joints help? What kind of filler? Help please. I'm a rank beginner trying to build a knockout layout for my grandson, and I think I have bitten off more than I can chew.

ABC's post reminded me about the Thomas line. They are the most robust, easiest to get on the track, and easiest to couple up that you will find. I have some for my soon-to-be 6 yr old. He doesn't mind mixing Thomas and proper HO scale stuff on the same track. The EBay sellers I mentioned offer Thomas also.

I have a grandchild about to turn 6 for whom I am building an HO layout. I cautioned him on how to handle the rolling stock and he has impressed me how careful he is. Unless you plan to continue to grow a layout with G scale I would go with HO. For a starter set I would recommend one featuring an F series passenger diesel locomotive. It is fairly robust and has the least amount of fancy detail that can be broken off. Also easier to get only 8 wheels on the track. For the same reasons I'd avoid a set with a steam loco - too many fragile working parts, tough to get little wheels on the track, etc. If you're willing to go on the internet, I have found "trainsetsonly.com" to be friendly and reliable. They have pretty good sales. You will probably find Ebay prices to be lower on average - I've found "internetrailroad.com" and "thefavoritespot.com" to be reliable, with the former offering lower priced  items (the Model Power brand) and the latter the more expensive stuff (Bachmann Spectrum). I'd avoid the used Ebay stuff and buy only new items with a warranty.  All this just my opinion based on my experience.

Recently bought 2 new Bachmann Spectrum two truck Shay locos from Thefavoritespot.com. Don't ask why I bought them - I don't know why.
One loco runs fine (slow, but I expected that). The other just makes a whirring sound, like the motor is spinning. No wheel or gear drive movement.  Its not my track - happens exactly the same in a cradle. Any thoughts anyone? I seem to remember a thread describing this same problem some time back, but I could not find it.

Hi Mr. Bach Man. I'm very grateful to Bachmann for this forum.
A few days ago I bought a Bachmann B23-7 HO loco at Hobby Lobby. Impulse purchase. The warranty sheet in the box said "Lifetime Warranty for Bachmann Locomotives purchased in the U.S. and Canada". Several days later I bought an HO Bachmann DCC Onboard GP40, again at Hobby Lobby. Another impulse - I really should stay out of Hobby Lobby. Price was about the same. For the GP40 the warranty sheet said "One Year Warranty for Bachmann Products purchased in the U.S. and Canada".  Both sheets say underneath the first line "effective January 1, 2003 , this warranty supersedes all previous (and/or concurrent ) warranties."
What gives? Change of policy? Wrong sheet? What is the current warranty on locos?
Thanks for your help.

I popped for $39.97 to get the Ebook. In my defense I can only say I am the sort of crazy person who will do almost anything once! Was it worth the $39.97? Probably not - it is very shy on the real nitty gritty stuff and has too much fluff. Also not very convenient to search through. On the other hand, Robert Anderson continues to send me emails with info, and some of it has been valuable. My advice - save the $ and wait for a Walthers sale to buy $40 of goodies. If you have questions and problems, this forum is the place to go - gold plated advice from guys who have done it, for free.

I just bought a new Spectrum DSH8-40CW loco with DCC. I couldn't help myself - it was just so beautiful, and a good deal. I don't run DCC yet - maybe sometime next year. Question is: should I just store this loco til then, or can I run it on my DC layout without hurting it? Will it run properly as a DC loco? Anything I should do to it to run as DC?  Will running on DC void the warranty? Thanks to all who respond.

Thank you Hellhound.  Your description fits this loco perfectly - it has traction tires on one axle of the drive truck. I'll run it til it stops or the noise gets unbearable, then on to the scenery siding. In the future I believe I'll adopt your thinking and avoid locos with this design.

I've purchased a number of new locos on Ebay, in particular from 2 sellers  with Ebay userid's "INTERNETRAILROAD" and "THEFAVORITESPOT", both of whom claim they are "factory authorized dealers" for Bachmann products. They both sell a ton of Bachmann stuff. The locos I received are obviously new, in Bachmann wrappings, and I've never had a problem with any of them. I see so many posts on this forum about sending locos back for warranty service, I just got to wondering if anybody has actually sent back for warranty service a new loco purchased on Ebay. If so, what was Bachmann's response and what sort of proof of purchase did they require? Thank you.

I would like to know if there are guidelines as to how long a stretch of track can be driven by one standard 16V/1A transformer? I plan to expand my 8'x4' layout with 2 more 8'x4' sheets forming a U around 3 sides of a 12x12 room. The track will be Bachmann n/s EZ Track. My partner in this venture, my 5 yr old grandson, isn't interested in switching - he wants to see long consists roaring down long straights at top speed. We will have a 22" radius loop at each end of the U, with 2  90 deg turns at the corners. About 56 linear feet of track. Will I need to break it into blocks with insulated joiners? Or can I just gang more transformers on, of course paying attention to polarity? Get a single more powerful transformer? Appreciate any help. I discovered this forum only a week ago and I've learned so much in that brief time. Thanks guys.

Jim Banner, The  motor is mounted vertically; that is, I can see the armature spinning around a pole which is perpendicular to the plane of the track. This loco isn't very old, judging by its shiny paint and general lack of wear and tear. If the noise is due to gear problems they aren't slowing it down - it is a speed demon, roaring around my layout and threatening to derail at half throttle.

Gee, this is getting interesting - I'm learning a lot, thanks guys. The rear (powered) truck has a can motor. The front truck (the one I just reversed) has only wires and a post, and its wheels turn freely. In the cradle, electricity applied across only the wheels of the front truck will cause only the rear wheels to spin. Applied across only the wheels of the rear truck also causes only the rear wheels to spin. Front truck is definitely not powered, just picks up electricity from both rails. Gear noise is present when running in the cradle and comes from the rear truck. Any ideas on the gear noise? Thanks again.

Congratulations to PD and Jim Banner - I reversed the front truck and IT RUNS!! That leaves me free to work on the other problem - a horrible grinding of gears in the powered truck, which I noticed while struggling with the failure to run on the track. I'll leave that for another day. Thanks guys for all the help.
I'm beginning to think my "friend" who gave me this loco is not really a friend.

Thanks for your response. The front truck does not appear to have any orientation.  Anyway, it is not powered, so why would it matter?

A friend gave me a used f7 loco which he said ran fine when last used. It has all metal wheels, a can motor driving rear truck w/2 axles. It runs fine in a cradle no matter how power is applied. The powered truck turns over fine with one set of axles lifted off the track - doesn't matter which set, but not with all 4 axles on the track - no hum, no lights, no response to slight push. Any thoughts?