Well, i'm back. Anyway,  i have a Bachmann sound value B&O royal blue 4-4-0 (just one engine in my 40 engine collection now) I have wanted one for years but when i got it, a section of one of the traction tires was missing, so whenever that part of the wheel touches the rail, it dips down quite a bit due to the change in elevation. So my question is, how do i replace the traction tire? Especially the removal of the connecting rod, replacement itself, and the subsequent reassembly. Thanks.

I got a richmond  4-4-0 today, it is southern railway and is green. I want to change the coal load to a wood load (the one that came in the box) But how do i do this? i can't figure out what to do to remove the current coal load and install the wood one. Does anyone know how to do this?

What do you guys think of my layout plan now? It is fully completed and ready to be built in the coming months!!! and if you remember my earlier posts a few years back you will see it has changed quite a bit. https://www.flickr.com/photos/141984945@N08/27938543549/
Any feedback or criticism? I will not be offended.

I'm not sure if these types of posts are okay, but what is your locomotive roster? Im curious to see what other modellers collections are like

My collection is all HO but any other scale is welcome.
Bachmann PM 2-8-4
Bachmann USRA 0-6-0
Bachmann Baldwin 2-8-0
Bachmann Porter 0-6-0T
Bachmann Lafayette
Bachmann B&O 4-4-0 (Royal blue)
Bachmann Dewitt clinton
Bachmann 2-10-0
Bachmann 2-6-6-2
Bachmann alco 2-6-0
Bachmann modern 4-4-0
Bachmann SY 2-8-2
Bachmann 4-8-2
IHC 2-10-2
IHC 2-6-0 Camelback
IHC Streamlined 4-6-2
IHC 4-8-2
BLI PRR T1 4-4-4-4
BLI PRR S2 Turbine 6-8-6
Sunset Brass N&W unstreamlined J class 4-8-4
Athearn Genesis Big Boy
Proto 2000 0-8-0
Athearn SW1500
Bachmann F9

 I need an ho scale overland limited tender shell (my kitty had his way with it) but it is not in stock. It has been that way for months and months and i want one but they never seem to restock anything in the parts store. Why is this? It's always good to make sure they are always in stock, you can't just leave us hanging! So i'm wondering will it get restocked at some point?

I just bought a 4-4-0, B&O #703 with sound (the royal blue one) it's an absolutely gorgeous engine and it seems to run okay, except for one glaring problem. The locomotive jerks up and down very badly while in motion, it is especially bad in reverse, accompanied by the sound of something hitting something else. I believe this is because of the cross head smacking against the cylinder or the other side of the guide. This causes it to jerk the body of the locomotive down significantly. How can i correct this issue? does the valve gear need to be adjusted or do i need to break it in and wear away the plastic a little bit? i haven't heard of others having this issue. thanks

Im back! but anyway, i just bought a new locomotive at a train show today, a spectrum Susquehanna SY 2-8-2, #142. I now have 20 ho steamers in my collection! ( i just got a walthers 0-8-0, a BLI PRR T1, and a athearn big boy and i ordered a BLI S2 turbine 6-8-6) But anyway the SY is nice. Anyway the issue is, the Chuffing is very poorly timed, if i turn the power up and leave it just at the point where it doesn't move, it still makes chuffing sounds. And it is way out of sync with the drivers, like 1 chuff for every 2 revolutions.

I have to match the speed just right so it is correct. It is not in sync with the drivers. Is the sound normal?  because the box doesn't mention anything about sound. So i think it was added afterwards. Is it just out of sync because it's DC? Should i just remove the sound completely?

I am going to buy an ho sound value 4-4-0 and I would like to do a custom paint job. But I want it to be realistic, what colours would a 4-4-0 have been painted in the the 1850s-80s? All the preserved 4-4-0s now are usually painted in nice colourful bright schemes but I don't think the paint was as good back in the 19th century. What would a locomotive in the 1800s look like in terms of paint job?

I am a scale modeller, but I'm thinking about buying a Bachmann Emily to convert into an actual stirling single. I saw a video of someone who had done just that, they added a new realistic smoke box, removed some of the details and replaced them with more realistic ones, and gave it a new paint job and it looked like a real HO scale British engine!

But I'm just curious, is the Bachmann Emily and the entire Thomas line actually 1:87 scale? Or more like British OO or some made up scale? Is the Emily actually properly scaled like the real one or just a generic cartoonish representation? Let's say, I compare it to my 2-6-6-2, and I compared the dimensions of the real engines, would it match up? Is that big driver 8 scale feet in diameter? Sorry about all the questions but I would like to try this but I would like to know if it's really an HO scale engine that has realistic proportions to the real one

Hey mr B, I assume you know those old time train sets? Like the Dewitt Clinton, John Bull and Lafayette? Will any more ever be made or have they become unprofitable? I think one should be made of the "best friend of charleston" or possibly the stourbridge lion. Is there any chance of this happening? Also could a train set ever be made featuring the GS4? The overland limited set has a 4-8-4 so I think a daylight train set with 4449 and a few orange daylight cars would be awesome and would be popular. I imagine my suggestions won't be taken seriously but it never hurts to try eh?

I am posting this again because apparently nobody wanted to answer my question and it looks like it got removed  

Anyway, I am planning on buying the Dewitt Clinton, is it a good quality locomotive? What is the locomotive made of, metal or plastic? How well does it run?

I got my 2-6-6-2 fixed up and it now looks just like new, thank goodness! Now for the main part

I hope the bach man sees this but, do you think you could you someday make an ho model of a Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis "Dixie" 4-8-4? i think it would be popular since it's a nice engine and a real one (576) is being restored to operating condition. I think it would be a hit

I forgot to post this but my H4's shell was quite damaged during shipping so i want to replace the shell. But for some reason there isn't an H4 shell in the parts catalog, only the USRA version. My question is why doesn't bachmann have H4 shells? i find that to be a huge oversight on bachmann's part. If i sent it to bachmann could i get the shell replaced?

With the recent comeback of the 4-6-0 is there any chance that some of the other spectrum steamers will come back? or are they gone forever? i would love to see a return of the class J as well as the 2-10-4 and 2-10-2

I came up with this paint scheme for my ho scale F9 to be repainted in. After literally dozens of different paint scheme variations i created ranging from okay to terrible i finally settled on this:   https://www.flickr.com/photos/141984945@N08/33114115972/in/dateposted-public/

There are two variations but i'm leaning towards the one on the left. What do you think of it? Keep in mind the lettering would be smaller but that's the smallest i could get it

My 2-6-6-2 H4 arrived after over 2 weeks! It runs great but the headlight is a little disappointing, it's orange, oranger than Donald Trump's face lol. Jokes aside, is this normal for the 2-6-6-2? How hard is it to replace the bulb if so what would you recommend?

I recently ordered YET another locomotive, a spectrum 2-6-6-2 on Modeltrainstuff (a warehouse find) and i have heard good things about them for the most part, but i forgot to research one thing, how many cars max can it pull up a 2% grade? Does it have any mechanical issues like the 2-10-0 that i should know about?
My ho locomotive roster as of now:

C&O H4 2-6-6-2 (on the way)
UP 4-8-4 806
PM 1225 2-8-4
WP 2-8-0
Erie 2-10-0
USRA 0-6-0
Alco 2-6-0
Baldwin modern 4-4-0
0-6-0t
F9
Athearn SW1500

I recently bought a Bachmann spectrum 2-10-0 in the Erie scheme , it is the earlier black box version without sound. Aside from being EXTREMELY finicky on dirty track it runs like a dream but there is one issue, the wire from the tender to locomotive is uncomfortably low, it is almost dragging on the ties, is there any way to make it higher?

I plan on getting a GS-4 to add to my collection (which is now comprised of a UP 4-8-4, 2-8-4, 2-8-0, 2-10-0, 0-6-0, 2-6-0, 4-4-0, 0-6-0t, and and F9 and SW1500) But i noticed something strange, in a lot of of the pictures i have seen the ho scale 4449 seems to be a lot glossier than the 4446. Yet on the Bachmann site they look EXACTLY the same, is there really a difference in paint between the two road numbers?

I am going to get a 2-10-2 at some point and there is an abundance of them on ebay. But that makes me wonder why so many people are getting rid of them in the first place...... Are they prone to issues like the 2-10-0 or are they reliable and hardy?