Posted this before, but I didn't get help, so I'll try again  with video this time.


A little video: Please note that the light flicker in the engines are the engines shorting out. These are stock Bachmann locomotives from the DCC line, and not one car on the train is derailed, nor is the engine I pick up off the track and put back on. The train is on a hill, the single GP is not strong enough to lift the train out of the bowlbut you can see its headlight is solid through the controller's cable, and as soon as I put the other engine back on, they run fine together. They were consisted on a 400 and then dumped so I could run them on my UT4. It doesn't matter which engine I pull off, and sometimes putting one of them back odoesn't fix it. They onyl do it in that section of the layout, so I'm inclined to think there's something they don't like about the way its blocked, but those two are the only engines that short like that through there. Different engines, different consists, different trains don't give anyone the same problem. It's just those two.

Maybe you canhelp me with an odd conundrum. I own two NYC GP7s DCC ready, 5607 and 5608. On their own, they run fine. However, of they occupy the same piece fo track, (consisted, hadn't thought to not run MU'd) they start to stutter, that is a ghalf second of running, then they stop, run a gain for a half second, stop, lather rinse repeat. not unlike a block with too many engines on it, but that's not the case. Introducing   third locomotive causes no problems for said locomotive (I didn't have any more Bachmanns with me to test with) and if I pull either 7 off the other begins to run normally. Dispatching and re-aquiring did solve the problem short term twice. 

Additionally, the layout just ended from a large ops session, and we did have to dump the memory once, although while both engines were on the layout, only one was operating. It's a Digitrax system.

So, is this a Digitrax issue, or a known bachmann problem, or what? I think it unlikely, as P2K, Digitrax decoders and Soundtrax units all worked fine in the same vicintity, although as I said, there was a large volume of rail traffic on the layout.

It has come to awreness in the MRR forums, of the existance of a Bachmann Spectrum China Schnabel Car. (As in, made for and sold by the Chian division of Bachmann) Currently, there is one nice, flexible, but somewhat lengthy kit available in the US, and proabably room for an RTR. I know of three in the MRRs that would get one.

The mold's been done by a factory, so that part of thelegwork is clear. What say you guys?

Just to get the before out of the way, I'd like to try to fix this myself, I think it's something I did and can undo, but I'm new to steam repair and would like some tips. Also, I've done enough damage to the engine trying to send in the drive and save the shell (C&O George Washington)

A bit less than Two years ago, it's taken me that logn to get on this puppy) I discovered the GWs were wired backswards for DCC=a nice rendition of a cylinder blowdown, coming from the tender. Sent in drive after >4 monthsof busy, and between the time the GW was in DC and my laziness, Bachmann was fresh out of GW locos, or C&O Mountains in general. Instead, I got a lovely DCC/Sound N&W version (kudos Bachmann, for the bonus) that I was told I could keep the leftovers. Had to move the headlight down for the Dirty face C&O mount, (in the process lost the headlight, now drilling out the N&W headlight to accept the bulb) and to do that, I had to split the weight to flex the wires into the old C&O slot. Put the weight back together, swapped piston cases (lost one of the side drive-rod arms, the smaller one, gonna find a junker steamer to patch with...) and reassembled engine. Worm gear not connecting with drivers at all. Resettle shell and weight, get them to meet, but eith some minor clicking, mostly in reverse. Two weeks later from that, I had the shell loose, as the rear screw that holds the shell and the drawbar stripped, and now the engine clicks and skips/skids from momentum every few inches. I'm not sure what's loose, the weight and drivers were never loosened, and the wheels are tight, I can't free-spin them. I'm open for suggestions on where or how to troubleshoot.

At trainfest, I found (and purchased) a Bachmann Daylight painted in Chessie Steam Special. (Still working on pictures of it) In looking it up, I heard mention online of a Daylight in Amtrak, I'm intrigued. Mostly, because I just did an old Lionel up in AMTK Phase 5 with no prior awareness that Bchmann beat me to it.

I'm looking to get inside a Bachmann John Bull fo rmy Dad. Unfortunately, I have the engine, not the paperwork. But I can't ficure out how to pull the tender off the chassis. (Motor's in the tender) It needs to be cleaned, and if there's room, wire and stash a Z decoder somewhere, or maybe stick it under the boiler of the Bull or in a coach. I've tried flexing the sides, and the screw is out of the drawbar. it don't want to budge

But yet, the DCCboard in the tender did a wonderful rendition of the cylinder cocks being open. I dunno what happened, Dad and I installed a Soundtraxx decoder, an 8-pin plug n play using the socket on my 4-8-2 C&O George Washignton. I couldbn't get it to work, we put it omn the test track at the club, track was god to every other loco, but now I have a partially melted Diode, and a steamer that reeks. Yes, I'll call Customer Service tomorrow, but in the meantime, I'm open to theories as to what happened. Also, am I guarenteed that I'll get a GW Mountain back? Cause I don't want a standard C&O pulling a crack train like this one.

I saw at the Great Train Expo yesterday a diesal in Spectrum. Undec,I coulda swore it was a Centenial, but they were closing and I didn't check. So what Might I have seen? 

That there was a plan to do the SP Daylight in Spectrum, and possibly with sound. (and then, maybe in the AFT scheme) Which would save me a lot of time, effort, and pain in trying to convert the DCC On Board I have to a Sounded Loco. 

Could you (or someone) confirm this, please?