Part of my point in posting this is to jog some folks interest - my house is so small that we don't have room for a layout like we want, but we get our train-fix by volunteering on the "local" tourist railroad, the SVRY.  And, from what we've seen, anyone, anywhere in the country, can do the same, as there are MANY of these "tourist trains" that need volunteers.  If you look around you will probably find one within a couple hundred miles of where you live. They will train volunteers for the jobs they need and you will find yourself getting the hands-on time that helps fill the need.
The SVRY trained my wife and me the first year as Rear Brakemen, the next year as Head Brakemen, and from there we can get into Conductor and then to Firemen, and finally to Engineer. All this without any cost to us other than the cost of transportation to SVRY, about 60 miles from the house, and the time to do it.  We originally thought we would do coach repair work in the coach shop, and maybe work on the engines in the back shop, but we found we could actually ride the trains!

I may be 66 but I am the perfect kid - I get to ride a steam train and drive a fire engine - (we also volunteer for the local volunteer fire dept) !

You can too!

This is a  movie of the train runs I worked over the Dec 7 and 8th weekend.  I was in the caboose as Rear Brakeman.  Although there was only a little snow that weekend, the cars are all heated by wood stoves so are fairly warm.  I only got cold when I had to get out to throw switches and couple/uncouple cars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYVzcHcsqDw&feature=youtu.be

Rich,
My wife got it for me but isn't aware of the finer points of DCC, DDC-ready, etc.  but thanks for the link, that's just what i needed.  I'm sure there will be more questions to ask when I start to add sound to our loco's but right now we're just enjoying our hobby.

OK. I guess you're saying it's DC ? not DCC.  I will be adding sound PCB's to our other locomotives in the near future, but I'm not sure how to add a DCC PCB to something that's only about 1 inch by 1/2 inch.  Do they make a PCB that small ?

This was a Christmas present from my wonderful wife - the speeder is advertised as "self-propelled" and it's a Spectrum-series and it's got a motor in it according to the parts blow-up, but is it DC or DCC?  I don't see a PCB, so is it safe to run on my EZ command?

modify the last to read:
Is it to supply DC to polarity sensitive circuits when the incoming DC might have polarity reversed, as in a model railroad DC world?

Well, technically, DCC is "pulsed DC" not AC..  It is the pulseing that communicates commands to the DCC devices.  But all your information here  is very usefull in understanding how the lights work.  (or don't work, or only work for a while.)  That's what I wanted/needed, Thank you.

Usually, there is  no use for a bridge rectifier in a DC circuit, as the purpose of a rectifier is to create DC out of AC. So why is there a rectifier in the cars ?  Is it to supply DC to circuits that are polarity sensitive?

I found several lighting kits for the old-fashioned Walthers Budd cars.  But there's mention of "DC" kits and then "DCC" kits. Since I'm runnning EZ DCC command I would think I want the "DCC" kit but I've already bought the "DC" kits and put one in a car and it works, so what am I looking at here ?  I mean, what's the real difference ? None of them are still listed as "in stock", all are obsolete merchandise, so can I make them work?
These are actually for my wife (she's the passenger guru - I do the freight trains and we work together) and are for Christmas presents but I'm having prob understanding.

I have a EZ Command controller and a Bachmann 4-8-4 locomotive that won't move forward or reverse, even though I found that being addressed as 3 I can turn the light on and off with Function/10.
Is there a way to reset it to factory with a switch or something ?  I don't see anywhere that the EZ Command can do a reset.

Hey thanks ! That was a pretty good description - I think I understand now - it ***IS*** PFM !

My second question then was: What happens on a double-header going thru the loop  ?  But I think you already answered that.

As always, PFM saves the day.

Can one of you gents explain how a DCC reverser works ? I mean, I realize the track section has to be isolated from the main track by cutting rails. I assume cutting both rails? But are both rails cut in two paces to isolate the problem?  Then what happens when an engine goes through the section ?
Or is it just plain PFM ?  (pure functional magic)

These are grreat ideas - thanks for the contributions ! I'll be trying them.

I have recently gotten some ore car kits. The instructions point out that the parts should be painted before being assembled, and I believe that would make a better finished product, but all my model paints are enamel which is a glossy finish  - not what one would expect of ore cars that had been in use for a while !
Any ides on de-glossying paints and finishes ? ( I have to ask, as we live in a small town (1800 pop) 100 miles from a LHS.  (or more)

That's what he said. I'm talking about the guy was gonna ride our train, and he appeared envious of me and my job.  I was working as rear brakeman on the Sumpter Valley Railroad (www.SVRY.com ). 
I was heavy into model railroads in my tens and teens (the fifty's and sixty's) then it got left behind when I went off to college, and war, and then got married and worked my butt off. But now I got a different wife and found the SVRY is in our neighborhood and she said "let's volunteer there and find out what it's like!"  SO, off we went and and got trained up and qualified to do brakeman duty, and it's a blast working on a real railroad, just like it was done 100 years ago on steam and narrow guage.
Anyway, we also dug out my stash of HO stuff left from my dad's estate. Yes, he save all my stuff when I left home for college and work and I collected it from his estate and put it into storage too.  Now I remember - I was into O-guage, but had given up on it and wanted to convert over to HO, and had bought some stuff but never got it running.  Now we got a portable layout working and are using DCC to run two trains on a dual-loop 4x8 table. This is a winter time activity to last us intil the SVRY starts up again in the spring.
The point of this post is:
You, too, can get involved in real railroading, for very little cash, just by volunteering for work on a tourist railroad. They'll train you and you just have to show up.  I know we, at SVRY, have folks from all over the Northwest, and as far as Alaska, that show up to work the train weekends. You start as Rear Brakeman, progress to Head Breakman, then Conductor, then Fireman, and finally Engineer.  Never thought you could drive a steam locomotive? this is how you can !
Sorry for getting so wordy and thinking backh to how it "used to be", but sometimes newer just doesn't seem better.

I need to replace some couplers on older cars, but I see there are nine items listed in the Bachmann catalog. What are their diffferences and how do  I determine which I need??