I for one am impressed with the wide range of B'man products across all product lines. I won't comment on the O or large scale trains -- except to say that the "O" EZ Streets and large scale Mogul look pretty great -- because they're not where I'm active but there sure is a lot to talk about in HO and N. Oh, yes. I won't comment on the MSRPs, either, except to notice that they seem to be astronomical. thank goodness we don't have to pay at those levels.

Sound in N-scale locomotives? WOW! And road names like Erie and NP? These are decisions which I'm sure will make many N-scalers very happy. I love the Van Sweringen Berk. As a kid, we lived in a house which had to cross one of the Nickel Plate mainlines to get into town, something we did several times a day it seems like, and the trip often included waiting for one of the Berks hauling a fast freight at speed on a seriously super-elevated curve. If we were the first car it was like the train was actually over us, not merely in front. Once I got over being scared it was really something to look forward to.

Not surprisingly, the HO selection is the most extensive. Three steamers with sound, including more Berks and some Mikes. Now that's tremendous. Did I mention how great it was watching the Nickel Plate Berks roar by? And everything with sound. I'm thinking the DC folks are going to find it harder and harder to hold out. And the Climax, just waiting for sound. Holy cow!

The buildings look neat, if truly expensive. Road names like Alaska, MEC, W&A and Pere Marquette are certainly good to see. The horse cars make me wonder if these are toys or models but I'm sure there will be lots of buyers so my opinion has even less importance in this case than it usually has. I absolutely have to get my hands on the AT&SF TOFC with the Navajo trailer on it.

Is there a down side? Well, I'm still trying to catch my breath on the flex track at $8 per. If the rest of the new offerings weren't so great I'd never be able to get over that price. I hope everyone is as happy with the new line up as I am. I think the B'man did a bang-up job this time.
                                                                                                                                                                     -- D

Is anyone else as tickled as I am that the Bachmann spelling checker always identifies Dynamis as misspelled?

                                                                                                                                     Doneldon

Does anyone have any experience soldering the so-called "Britannia Metal?"

I will be building several of the Model Expo Civil War cannon models for a display in my portable Civil War museum. The metal looks like a variety of pewter to me but I really don't know much about its metalurgy beyond what I found in a quick web search. My fear is that I'll melt the model since I believe that one of the features of Britannia is that it melts at quite a low temperature. Does anybody know what kind of solder to use (I assume not acid core) or whether a gun or iron will work best? Or should I just plan to use CA, which I really don't like, liquid steel or epoxy?

Thank you in advance.
                                      -- D

Here is a link to the Train Festival in Rock Island, IL July 28-31. It looks like a pretty big deal with eight locos under steam, exhibits, train rides, paddle wheeler rides and all sorts of stuff. I looked at some of the ticket prices and they seem reasonable unless you want the swank accomodations in the Milwaukee Skytop observation for a fan trip. But it's a good location in the middle of the country, on or near several freeways, and in an area which isn't terribly expensive. (I know that because I went to college there a couple of hundred years ago.)
                                                                                            -- D

I propose a new thread, clearly designated for gift questions.  We are likely to get many questions about what to buy someone or whether things will work together.  Let's make it easy for people to find us.

How about free LEDs?  Just cut a coupon from the back of many magazines foir a free nine LED flashlight from Harbor Freight.  It's easy to cut the LEDs out and you can even use the three AAA battery power supply if it works with your application plans.  I have many of these and they work great.  And the price - free - isn't too bad, either.

         --D

My grandson wants flashing yellow beacons on his Bachmann DCC Diesels.  He has EZ-DCC so there is no way to program/control the decoder.  Consequently, I'm considering using a flashing LED connected "downstrem" from BOTH the forwrd and reverse lights, and then going to the common.  I've been afraid to connect this up because I don't want to fry the decoder or something.

Will this work?  My thinking is that I won't have a short because the non-working light, e.g.,  the reverse light when going forward, will be turned off (and conversely) yet there will still be current to the LED.

Thanks for any help/ideas anyone may have.

Would it really end the world if I use a 1.5 amp wall wart for the Bachmann DCC system (I'm building a small setup for my grandson) instead of the 1.0 amp supplied by Bachmann?  I'm hoping there is enough excess capacity in the system that I won't wreck anything.  I'm not anxious to get the 5 amp booster because it is too pricey and he won't need anywhere near that amount of current.  Thanx for any replies.

Doneldon