Quote from: Ralph S on November 03, 2025, 02:13:56 AM...The definition from US Federal Railroad Admin and the Assoc. Of American Railroads is confusing.  Can someone restate that in layman's terms (I have no experience in or on real railroads).

As best I can parse it,  a train consist (locomotive and freight) may be powered by a single locomotive or by a "multiple unit control" (two or more locomotives connected to function in unison). Two or more locomotives connected to function in unison is a "locomotive consist".

"Rolling Stock" is the wheeled vehicles owned and used by a railroad, including locomotives, freight cars, and passenger cars. This definition is widely accepted in the rail industry and can be found in various Association of American Railroads (AAR) publications and resources and the US EPA website. (https://www.epa.gov/epcra/what-items-are-covered-term-rolling-stock.

A "Train Consist" is a specific arrangement of specific rolling stock, e.g.,locomotive and freight cars (http://www.railway-technical.com/trains/).

A "Locomotive Consist" is two or more connected locomotives. "Multiple Unit (MU) Control" for diesel electric locomotives is "a standard arrangement approved by the AAR and its member railroads and manufacturers, enabling each unit of a locomotive consist to function as one from the controls of any unit in the consist."  (http://www.railway-technical.com/trains/rolling-stock-index-l/diesel-locomotives/us-locomotive-mu-control.html).

See also the definitions here: http://www.railway-technical.com/glossary/rail-lexicon-mk24.pdf

Quote from: trainman203 on October 27, 2025, 01:25:01 PMBack in my day in the Jurassic a contest was the cars in a train. At some point it changed to mean a bunch of connected diesel locomotives.  If it means a bunch of connected diesel locomotives, what do you call the cars in the train today?

Seeing as I'm new to this hobby and this forum, I'm guessing folks here know more about the terminology than I do, but here's what I found out:

The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration in a 2014 proposed rule on train crew staffing defined it like this: "The type and sequence of locomotives and cars that are assembled or coupled together to form a train is referred to as the train consist."

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) standardizes Multiple Unit (MU) control for U.S. diesel-electric locomotives as "a standard arrangement approved by the AAR and its member railroads and manufacturers, enabling each unit of a locomotive consist to function as one from the controls of any unit in the consist."

Quote from: acuomo017 on August 26, 2025, 09:03:11 PMmy track layout is a straight line with two circular turnarounds, 1 at each end...The track will not produce power

acuomo017,
If you aren't comfortable with reverse loop wiring, removing the turnouts and adding 3" straight track to each outer loop at the mid-point solves the problem, and gives you the option of using the turnouts to add two spurs.

I had a very similar issue. One Bachmann HO nickel/silver EZ-Track 18" radius remote turnout was derailing Bachmann Silver Series rolling stock continually and consistently at the frog.

The coach car consists derail every time.
Running the coach car consist over the turnout, I saw that the coach cars always derailed to the right as they passed over the frog.

40' box car consists never derail.
Running the boxcar consist over the turnout at very low speed, I saw that as each box car passed over the frog, the box car wobbled left-right-left.

Solution:
I removed the turnout and examined the several miniscule screws embedded in the ties. Apparently the screws had loosened over time by several turns. I tightened the screws, and no more derailments.

Hope this adds to the knowledge base.

I guess we may never know. Seems the OP disappeared soon after trainman203's initial response, without even the courtesy of an acknowledgement. Does that happen often on this forum?

Quote from: TB7Studios on June 05, 2025, 01:19:03 PMI read on an old post somewhere that Bachmann HO EZ Track switches can be converted to be Power Routed. But I have yet to find any solid info or tutorial on how to do such a thing.

Is this all a rumor? Mind you, I have a 4x8 DC Layout comprised of Nickel Silver Track.

To the original question raised by OP TB7Sudios in creating this thread:
The instruction sheet that Bachmann provides with the nickel/silver 18" radius remote turnout has instructions for routing power to the frog on a DC analog layout. The instructions are labelled "Powering the Frog". Is that what you're enquiring about?