I have the New York Central set and I bought the DCC controller, track, DCC turnouts, tall pier and incline pier set. Problems: The rear truck of the rear car always derails at the turnout. The incline is set at a greater than each track join so the incline is less of a pull than the manual states but the loco slips and cannot pull the 3 cars. There is no parts list with Bachmann sets so it's impossible to know what you get in the set but the couplers un-couple at numerous locations. I have read that these couplers are pretty bad but at least they shouldn't uncouple out of the box. The loco also sounds like the gears are slipping but it doesn't matter if it's up or down or on the level.
Everything I own is Bachman so at least I know who created the problems. Nothing I own is more than 3 weeks old.
Does the track bend and move when the train goes over it? If you're not supporting the track at each joint, the track can flex at these weak points. This changes the height of the couplers and causes them to uncouple. The problem with the switch might also be related to this. There needs to be a smooth transition from flat to an incline. Is the turnout on the incline, or is it flat? Also, what kind of surface is your layout on?
I'm not sure what the problem is with the locomotive, someone else with experiance with spectrum connies will probably step in and help.
Kevin
If your loco is slipping while pulling three cars up an incline that indicates that the incline is way too steep. On your derailing problem the weight of the car could have a lot to do with this. It's been my experience that cars that came in a set are too light. I've seen trainset cars that weigh as little as 1 1/2 ounces! Lightweight cars are usually problematic on anything other than absolutely smooth track and can have problems at turnouts and crossings. According to NMRA RP-20.1 a 6 inch long car should have a weight of 4 ounces. Cars longer than 6 inches should be 1 ounce with an extra 1/2 ounce for each inch of car length. By this formula a 12 inch car should weigh 7 ounces.
Thank you for the replies. I was setting up the incline on carpet and it is way too unstable. I am changing the whole set-up and going to delete the incline for now. My wife only allows me one bedroom and the Scalextric takes up most of the room. I am going to run the trains around the car track instead of over it. BTW - my wife won't allow me to tune my nitro cars in the bedroom either!
must be the terrible smell of gas ???