Is this a wood kit? It doesn't look like the Plasticville version.

I agree with their usefulness in tight situations like that  crossover. That is why I invested in the jigs to make my own. My new layout will have 8 of them, including one in a crossover as you described. Another place they come in handy is extending a passing track into a curve. When you have a single track mainline, you live and die by the length of your passing tracks. If using curved switches gains you an extra carlength or two it's worth the investment.

Years ago a number of manufacturers offered 18-22 inch radius curved switches, but I haven't seen them new in a while. 18-22 corresponds to the two most common radii in sectional track. The biggest problem I see with the currently available curved switches is that they are of uncommon radii, or degrees of curvature and thus do not work easily with sectional track. This isn't a problem for more advanced modelers who tend to use flexible track cut to fit the situation, but for a beginner trying to keep things simple it can be frustrating.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/187840650261?msockid=35b3f0e29a8a603a274be6339bcd6188

OO and HO track is the same. It doesn't matter which scale it is marketed as, the guage is the same and either scale will run on it just fine. Just be aware that European curves tend to be much sharper than their American equivalents, and American trains may not work well on those sharper curves.

From my understanding of the Digitrax naming conventions, DT is a throttle, and DB is a booster. You have no command station, which would be marked DCS. Can you even run a throttle off a booster without a command station?

Try placing a 1000 ohm resistor across the rails pf your programming track. You should be able to read and write to any CV the decoder supports.

That is consistent with tests I have run with the Bachmann 0-6-0. They are only good for 3 cars on a 4% grade. The Bachmann pier set works out to about a 5.6& grade, far steeper than I am willing to go on my layout. That would reduce pulling power even more. ANY diesel is going to pull more than those small steam locomotives. Even Bachmann's Plymouth switcher, which has only 6 wheels. is good for about 8 cars on a 4% grade. It should be noted that my test trains were made up of Bachmann Silver Series gondolas, which are very free rolling. Using older cars that don't roll as free would lessen the number of cars that can be pulled.

That's a GP40. the upgraded version probably from the early 2000s.

In all fairness this train would be a good project for a scratchbuilder, or a 3d printer. Apparently Overland Models made these in brass, but they are pricey, well over $2k if you can find one. Overland has since gone out of business.

I find it kind of odd that the OP thinks Bachmann not producing a model of an obscure one of a kind passenger train is bias against certain parts of America. It is ironic seeing as the standard Bachmann caboose in all the HO sets is a midwestern prototype, and they did a GP35 on Alco trucks as a Frisco unit (the only model like this they produced)

If  there is no socket for a decoder you'll need to bypass the board. You can connect the decoder's red and black wires directly to those screws. Then desolder the wires from the board one9 at a time, trace them to see where they go, then connect them to the appropriate decoder wire. Your setup is different than mine.

Quote from: Ralph S on November 03, 2025, 02:13:56 AMI agree, and there's a "But"  behind that.  The OP (original post) was asking what the EZ command can do and hopefully I provided a way to do "Consist" of a train using the EZ Command.  Yes, it's more complicated than the more advanced DCC systems, but we don't know of the OP's desires.  Therefore, I assumed that the OP is like me, i.e., not having a desire to enhance the controller, or adding additional finances at this point in time to enter into advanced systems.   

The only problem with that is that what you are doing is not a consist, either by DCC or by railroad definitions. Consist means all locomotives are controlled as a single entity. What you are doing is more akin to a helper locomotive with its own separate crew independently controlling their locomotive. There is nothing inherently wrong with what you are doing, and you've found a workaround for the limitations of your system. But the only way I can see to consist locomotives on EZ Command is to run all of those locomotives on a single address. If they were all running on say address 9, that would be be a consist. The advanced DCC systems have a way of doing this without reprogramming the individual locomotive addresses in a consist.   

It looks like there may be too much play in that truck.. One nice thing about Bachmann diesels is that the trucks can be tightened just like a freight car. The bolster screw sits on top of that round piece above the drive shaft. Put the drive shaft back in place, then tighten the bolster screw to reduce the play in the truck. Don't over tighten as too stiff a truck will cause derailments just like with a freight car.  If  you encounter this problem, back the screw off in quarter turn increments until the derailments go away.

If this doesn't solve the problem and the drivee shaft still keeps slipping out get a slightly longer one. They are available from Bachmann parts you just have to look under the listing for each individual locomotive type to find them, because they often have a different part number than what is on the diagram that came with your locomotive. The listing in parts will tell you the length of the shaft, like 20mm for a GP30 or 30mm for a GP40. They are pretty cheap, $1.35 each, so you might want to go through all the locomotive pages and order one of each length you find. That way you can test fit them in any locomotive you have this problem with.

Here is the  parts diagram I have. It came with a locomotive  I purchased at a train show in 2009. I suspect this locomotive was about 5 years old when I bought it.

Here's how i did mine.

On my 0-6-0s, the light sits wedged between the frame halves and must be removed. I also remove the smoke unit. the cavity where it sits is a perfect place for a Z scale decoder like the DZ126. The circuit board in the cab has two wires to the motor, and two to the drive wheels, you simply connect these 4 wires to the appropriate wires on the decoder. Please note that Bachman wiring does not use the same colour code as the decoder so be careful when connecting the decoder. Use a voltmeter before soldering any connection to be sure it is wired correctly, and only work on one wire at a time.

If you want to use an HO decoder, particularly one with sound, you'll have to run wires between the locomotive and tender. That's something I've tried to avoid. If you opt to go this route, I'd look into adding a power extender to your decoder. Those 0-6-0s can be finicky on switches with unpowered frogs.

On the Digitrax HO decoders, the wiring harness plugs into the decoder with that 9 pin plug. It's not something you really need to worry about. Digitrax HO decoders can be unplugged from the wiring harness without having to desolder the harness from the locomotive, which really helps if you ever have to replace the decoder.