let's see your Favorite Bachmann loco workin' on your layout.
be it steam, electric, or diesel, any scale!

Here's mine
HO UP 2-8-0 with vandy tender


HO ND5-II


N 2-6-6-2 vandy tender


so, that's mine, now let's see yours!!!

worth getting up early for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZAayYeIPR0

happy-happy, joy-joy!
http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/attachments/media_kit/steam/2010/0725_3985-update.wmv
http://www.up.com/uprr/newsinfo/attachments/media_kit/steam/2010/mo-river-eagle/video/shes-alive.wmv

They have ARRIVED!!!!!
Dual Speaker enclosures in the fuel tank is an unexpected treat, as is the DCC decoder of the 8-pin variety, not part of the lightboard.
Paint is sharp, screens and fans painted brown, nice touch.
wish it had a solid pilot, but it has to be that way to run on our tighter curves. My only initial dissapiontment is the same oversized yellow LED for the roof beacon,  and the horns have always seemed to be too big to me.
Have'nt got to play with it yet, but looking foreward to it.

Dear fellow forum members',

As the April issue of Model Railroader will be arriving in the mail anyday now,

Please, I'm begging you, keep the April fools' item to yourself,

at least for a while, say March 9th, which is the average day issue hits the newsstand.

Every year it seem that someone has to blab and give it away, spoiling it for everyone else days before most people even get to see the issue.

Revel in the knowledge that you know something that others do not, and take pride in being able to keep a secret.

So will Bachmann be showing anything new?, any Hints???

Do you have any Pics of the rest of the New Products due to be out soon?
DDA 40X for both HO and N as examples.
Thankx

On a whim, I picked up a Revell Big Boy kit on ebay for $19+postage, and figured as a worst case, I could just shove it into the roundhouse, or spread it's carcass and remains around the scrap yard.
As I looked through the bag of shiney black plastic parts, the scap yard seemed more likely.
Well, as I started assembly, I noticed while most all the details are molded on, and the few free standing railings were big, the kit may yet hold some promise.
The cab, for one, has exellent detail, So I stopped, backed up to the beginning, and treated this kit as if it were a fine scale loco kit.
So, I broke out all my tools and paints, and over the course of three evenings, an actual BB rose from the pile of parts originally destined for the scrap yard scene.
At this point, what I had was a shiny, clean loco that looked like it belonged in a park scene, but since I have no park, I broke out the weathering supplies, and below is the end product, which I now think will end up front and center on the layout under the coaling tower.
Three days from trash to treasure.

   

Can there be too much depth of field?
With the recent popularity of Helicon, and other software programs to increase depth of field in photographs, are some users going overboard, removing the depth of the photo, and defeating the purpose?
The cover photo on the latest issue of Model Railroader, is to me, a perfect example of too much.
The image appears flat, and , forgive me, too - two dimensional for a shot designed to show long view of trains and scenery.
(I have no information if that shot was processed with the Helicon software or some other method, and use it as reference example only, and do not want to single out any one photographer or publication.)
Items in the shot twenty or more feet away from the camera seem as much in focus as the foreground, lots of DOF, but no Depth to the image.
Are we becoming Helicon-holics?
The human eyes and brain, well mine anyway,  expect that objects that are far away to be less sharp than Objects that are up close, giving a reference for distance, and dimension.
That a freight car thirty places down the string should not as sharp in focus as the first
one, or all the distance is lost.
Heck even the air that is between would affect sharpness
The result, “phlat photos” that just seem unnatural and lacking in both depth and “atmosphere”
Do we know when to say when?
I am curious as to your thoughts.

The HO guys are not the only lucky ones anymore.
found these in the local wally last night.
Malibu models "Microns" cars, price $.97 US.
they are very close for N scale, the Green one mesured out to be 22' long only about 6" scale off, and about 8' wide, just a hair big.
the card says the series will include police, fire, rescue vehicle, plus several buses, and construction equipment along with the "customz".
here are a couple of pics







there appeared to be about eight different models, plus different colors for each. check 'um out!!!

This does not effect Bachmann Products!
THERE IS A RECALL FOR WOODEN THOMAS TOYS!!!!!
Announced today, RC2 wooden thomas toys, primarly red ones
Consumers Product Saftey Commission press release
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07212.htmlwarning
the effected items need to sent back to rc2

While this does NOTeffect Bachmann products, we need to protect all those lil' engineers out there.
THERE IS A RECALL FOR WOODEN THOMAS TOYS!!!!!
Announced today, RC2 wooden thomas toys, primarly red ones
Consumers Product Saftey Commission press release
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07212.html
warning the effected items need to sent back to rc2

After years of waiting,    today I received my very first Bachmann E-mail Newsletter!!!!

new pics of some of my bachmann steam are up

album
http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f123/river_eagle/N-Scale/steam/

  it's a triple double
reolution is low, but if click the size button to the smaller version it's better!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ivJy3X7RM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDHBP9jn_LE

Here is a how-to for a sound decoder  install on Bachmann’s new J.
If you have done a hardwire install before, you will have no trouble with this one.

Removing the tender shell  is easy two screws, and it slides off.

There are two copper jumper tabs that need to be removed.

Remove the screw(s)  holding the board, and pop the rear light leads out  of the mount, and lift the board out of the way, to remove the speaker/ pickup mount.

End chapter one.
Because the MRC decoder used has a slightly larger speaker than the mount in the tender, remove the 4 screws that hold the speaker/ pickup mount and with a sharp blade remove the speaker ring flush with the frame.
Before

After

Reinstall the pickup frame, and with a file or Dremmel, thin the inside walls of the tender frame just a bit to allow the speaker to sit flush on the bottom.

Now we’re ready to begin installation.
End chapter two


To begin the install, the speaker goes in over the grill, routing the wires to the rear of the tender, between the pickup wires, and the magnet will fit into the hole in the PC board .

I like to put the board back into place before setting decoder wires.

End chapter three
With the decoder generally in place, the wires are loomed through their respective holes to get the correct lengths.

The wires are cut to length with the decoder in place leaving a little extra for stripping and tinning.

Remove the wires from the solder pads, strip and tin the ends, and solder them in place one at a time, keeping everything neat  and separated as you go.
The speaker wires ,which are connected to the opposite end of the decoder from the harness, and run under the decoder when installed.

End chapter four
While you still have the iron hot, remove the two capacitors near the front of the PC board on the firemen’s side, you can also bypass the induction coils if you like, but I have never found it necessary.
Before

After

Align the decoder so that it, and the wires will clear the mounting lugs, slide the shell back on and replace the two screws to lock the shell down. (the long screw goes to the rear of the tender, short one next to speaker.

Test, program, and enjoy.
End chapter five

started doing some scheduled maintenance today, and decided to fire off a few shots.
Boy, I sure wish Bachmann would revisit this model, now that the UP crud is behind us!!!
Talk about a great DCC/sound canidate!!
 

I'll bet somebody is jealous!!!!

  finally off the workbench
started with Atlas undec.....



album
http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f123/river_eagle/HO-Scale/caboose/

  I have not post these in a couple of years, so if you veteren member, and remember from before, give the new guys a shot.
What's missing here? (besides the yellow paint!!!)

Pics of 0n30 and Thomas
http://s46.photobucket.com/albums/f123/river_eagle/atlanta/
enjoy!