Thats another good video, and I like the music as well, Johnny Cash is always good  music to listen to while running trains. I have a question, how did you post the pics of your weathered boxcar? I would like to post a pic of the mountain I am working on. Well I guess its actually a bluff, in Wisconsin its a mountain though lol. - Rock

I have the Woodland Scenics book "The Scenery Manual". It is filled with information and ideas for scenery. I have been using Woodland Scenics ground cover and am very pleased with the outcome. I just picked up a roll of their plaster gauze today. I can't wait to try it, and thank you for the tip on using a spray bottle to wet it. Will thin cardboard work as a support to hold the gauze in place, like a shell? I want to cover an open space on my layout. It won't be supporting anything other than ground cover foam. I was thinking of shaping thin cardboard like from a cereal box, in the shape of a hill and covering it with plaster gauze. I need the empty space under the hill for the train to run, thats why I need thin. Thanks again for your tip Gene. - rock

i havent tried any weathering yet myself, but i think it looks good. When I do start heading in that direction I will know who to ask now. LOL Thanks for putting up the pics. - rock

Thank you Gene, yes i plan to do a side track yet and a few other things. Yes I realized that it is travelling way too fast, lol. First video i ever made so I didn't want to delete anything until I knew that it would work. I have taught myself everything on the computer so when I get something to work I have to save it for awhile to review how I actually did it. LOL - thanks for your input. will definitely slow the train down, and more scenery work will be done before I try it again.
My wife is vice president and treasurer of my railroad, but believe you me there is always an attempt to overthrow the president for complete control. LOL

Thank you, i enjoyed your videos as well. I am a total "Newbie" at this hobby. So, I am sure I have committed some major mistakes on my approach to this, and probably some unforgiveable faux pauxs according to model railroading etiquette. But I'm the President of my railroad and provide all the funding so I guess thats how it goes. LOL I am having a great time doing it, and am trying to make as many scenery items and structures from scratch. I am using pink foam, and I am probably going to start building up the terrain now for more track layout. My sophistacated tools include a fishing filet knife, sandpaper, white glue, an awl, etc. LOL So thank you for the input. You made my day! Keep having fun. - rock

I made a video of my layout as it is right now. I just had to try it, i just used my digital camera to make it. Its not a proto of the Badger Express, just whats in my mind.

If you don't mind, I will remind you to tell that story. It sounds interesting to me. I will grab a cup of coffee, and listen intently.    -  Rock

Thank you Bob, I will get into the tinkering part here soon. Its just that I am new to the hobby, and was a bit afraid to pull the shells off. But I was having a bit of trouble with a light on another loco. So I slowly indulged, and I noticed the light contact wasnt making contact, so its fixed and it was fun to accomplish a problem. I will be digging into this F7A soon. I have been busy building a mountain/tunnel for my layout, so I havent had much time to tinker on the loco yet. Thank you for your advice.

Wait a minute, long before the WWW came to be, I was called a "geek" because I read books. I use the WWW as just another information source. I still read books, but if your looking for an answer to a question that has you stumped, what better place to find it than in a message board like this. I think of this as a huge room of friends, brainstorming, solving problems, offering advice from experience as well as what they might have read. Aren't we all authors of life? It's just that most of us haven't put pen to paper. I bet if we could put the author to the Bible in a discussion group we could get a lot of answers to questions we have been wondering about for centuries. LOL  If the WWW would have been available 50 years ago, we all would have used it as well. If your not a "Newbie" at something, then your not trying to learn something new everyday. An author is only as valid as the reader believes them to be.

That explains alot. I think the Locomotives are weak, and why they weight the B Units so heavy makes no sense. I will power up the B Unit because I dont want to put it on a shelf. We have the Green Bay Christmas Village and would like to run the train during the Christmas season. I am doing a 4x8 layout and my Athearn pulling  7 heavyweight passenger cars will lap the Bachmann A&B Unit by themselves. Thank you for your input, it really helps me.

Thanks for your input Stephen, that is what I will probably do. I am thinking that the Reps at Colllectables Today are trying to be helpful, but really don't know anything about trains. Oh well, I will wait and see if they send me out another unit. I still have the Unit that is free wheeling, so I will end up powering that one up.

Thanks Mike, I think if I decide to keep the set that is what I will do. It should assist in the pulling correct? I realize before I bought the collector train that the price was jacked up, but what can I say, I've been a Packer fan for over forty years, so I was looking at a unique keepsake to add to the hobby. The words mighty and powerful engines in the ads sucked me in.

Now I am done bitch'n.
How much trouble would I have purchasing a motor and powering up the HO B Unit by Bachmann. Is it something I could accomplish myself? Or maybe purchase a powered B Unit and switch shells. Would this assist the F7A in pulling power?

I have the Green Bay Express, and I love the paint job. Why make a dummy unit so heavy? Like I have said, the F7A loco is not powerful enough to pull the heavy B Unit and a passenger car. My Athearn F7, which came in a set similar to the Bachmann, free track, free transformer etc, pulls a dummy unit plus seven heavyweight passenger cars with no problem. The Bachmann loco I have to run at full throttle constantly. I have greased the shafts of the motor with a light grease for model trains, lightly oiled wheels. No better performance. If this is the case, Bachmann is certainly not on my list of purchasing again. Its not Collectables Today that make the train, its Bachmann that is responsible for the power that is put into them. I sent a letter to Collectables Today along with the B Unit and told them if the B Unit isnt powered, dont bother to send me a new one, I will send the whole set back to them. To me its useless to have a set where you have to watch the loco struggle at wide open. I dont believe there is anything wrong with the loco A Unit. Its just not made to run a track other than in a little circle, not a 4x8 layout. I know the price is jacked up extremely because it is a special paint job. But that has nothing to do with quality of the power. I am new to the hobby, and am learning valuable lessons. Rule number 1: dont get burned a second time by buying a product with poor performance. The ads your reading online are just a snippet of a two page ad and two page color brochure I received explaining that by adding the B Unit Engine it will boost up the power to pull the Green Bay Packer Express along the track. I really didnt just buy this set on a whim, I checked and rechecked before telling my wife, sure go ahead and order it. She wanted to buy it as a surprise, but thought she better ask me first. LOL  I told her next time just surprise me, that way I have someone to blame other than myself for being a sucker. LOL

The Rep's from Collectables Today agreed that the B Unit is supposed to be powered. They said they are going to test the next one to make sure it is working properly. However, I removed the shell on the Unit that was free wheeling, (Second unit they sent is not free wheeling.) The trucks have a gear on each axle, there is a plastic frame that would house a motor, but no motor. The frame of the Unit is thick heavy metal so there is where the weight comes in. More info to come after they send me a third B Unit to try.