I am excited about this locomotive!

Yes! I'm excited!

It ran quiet as a mouse at the train store I bought it from, but it was a bit loud when I brought it home and ran in on my DCC layout. I know I have to cut the capacitors on the board, which I still have to do (I see two of them on the board). Not sure what else I can do, maybe lube the gears and drivetrain a little.

I'm excited!

I am ANXIOUSLY waiting for the new N scale 2-8-4 to ship. Anyone know when that will be?

I have an old Bachmann/Lenz DCC decoder that I took out of my 4-8-2 Heavy Mountain. However, I want to reinstall it without paying money for another decoder. When looking at the top of the black heat wrap, there is some writing on it. If I untangle all of the wires, so that each one comes straight out of the decoder, which wires are which? In other words, which wires go to motor, pickup, lights, etc. when looking at the decoder from the top?

First thing I did was to get a Bachmann Spectrum short tender with all wheel pickup. You can pick one up from Modeltrainstuff.com for $15. This is essential for DCC.

Next thing I did was to flip over the drawbar. Normally, the drawbar looks like a 'z' that flips down. Well, in order to adapt it to the 2-6-2 Prairie, you have to flip it up. However, once you do this, you will run into two problems. 1. The end of the tender will interfere with drawbar performance and it being able to go around curves, and 2. There are two knobs on either side of the bolster pin on the bottom of the front tender that need to be grinded off. This is so that the two stiff metal electrical contact pieces don't interfere with the drawbar turning around curves.

Now I'm in the process of isolating the motor and running wires to the tender. I will post pictures later today and tomorrow or the process.

With the near non-availability of the N scale Heavy Mountain for under $150, would it be possible to put the Heavy Mountain shell on a Light Mountain chassis? Maybe with a little grinding?

On the stock Bachamnn DCC decoder for the N scale EM-1, there is an extra wire that is not on any of the other DCC decoders. It's wire 3. What's it used for? I want to replace the stock decoder with a tsunami, but don't want to fry it.

Has anyone ever put in a sound decoder in an N scale Bachmann 2-6-6-2 with Vandy tender? I was looking at the Tsunami, however, the Loksound Select Micro is $40 cheaper, doesn't need the thermal management like the tsunami, and is smaller in space (where space is limited in the Vandy tender). Has anyone ever installed a LokSound Select Micro in an N scale 2-6-6-2 with Vandy tender?

For some reason, on another forum, a member said that the long-haul tender shell was made of metal. Is this true?