I'm confused by the images I'm seeing for the new old-time boxcars (I haven't yet seen any "in person"). Do only some of these cars have truss rods, or do all of them? Even here on the Bachmann website, the images of the UP and B&A cars show truss rods, those of the CP, C&NW, and PRR cars do not. Anybody know? Bach-mann? Thanks!

Took my brand-new Baldwin 4-6-0 out of the box yesterday to give it its first run. As a life-long HO guy I don't have a whole lot of experience with three-rail AC model trains, but I do have some. When I powered up the engine, it seemed to want to run only in reverse. With no rhyme or reason, it occasionally ran forward, and once it started running forward, stopped with a jerk, and started running backward without me doing anything.

Engines from another manufacturer all ran properly, cycling forward-neutral-reverse-neutral-forward, on the same track with the same transformer, so I'm skeptical that my problem with the ten-wheeler is anything I'm doing--or not doing, although, as I said, I don't have a lot of experience with this type of model train.

As this is my first Williams by Bachmann locomotive, I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't seem to be operating correctly right out of the box, but rather than end on a negative note, I will also say that I think the engine is a beautiful model. I bought the AT&SF version, as it has the plainest paint scheme and seems a candidate for relettering for the Virginia & Truckee, as the locomotive--thought not the tender--looks close enough for me like V&T engines #26 and #27.

I expect I will be contacting Bachmann Service, but any thoughts or suggestions would still be appreciated.

Thanks!

This coming April 12 will be the 150th anniversary of the Andrews Raid and "The Great Locomotive Chase." 

I have learned today that the current home of the "General," in Kennesaw, GA, is now called the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. (When I visited, back in 1994, it was called the Big Shanty Museum.)

According to the museum's web site, the city of Kennesaw will be sponsoring a commemoration on April 12. The museum will be having a "members only" event.

Could one of you DCC guys help a straight DC guy with a question?

I was reading the description for the Richmond American and came across this line:

Quotedual-mode NMRA-compliant decoder with 8-pin plug

What does that mean? Is "dual-mode" something that has to do with its DCC system, or does it mean that the engine can be operated on either DCC or straight DC?

Thanks!

JBJ

Maybe strictly speaking this doesn't really belong under "Plasticville," but this past weekend, after looking for a couple of years, I finally found a set of the Street Signs & Traffic Lights! Hallelujah! Next time I set up a town of Plasticville, finally the streets will have signs and the intersections will have traffic lights!

And the funny thing is, I didn't find the set at an LHS. I found it at the A.C. Moore craft store near my dad's place. Turned out right now, anyway, the store has a whole aisle full of Bachmann trains, sets, Plasticville buildings, and accessories. How about that!

Hi, folks. I've been away for awhile and just got back from the trip of a lifetime, fulfilling a long-standing ambition to travel from Philadelphia to San Francisco and return entirely by train.

It was a great trip. I love the peace, quiet, and privacy of traveling in a roomette. I slept (lower berth) much better than I expected--the train whistle didn't bother me, but rough track would wake me up if I was asleep. Food in the dining cars was generally better than I expected, too. 

Since there is no longer a direct overnight train from Philadelphia to Chicago    I left home Saturday, Aug. 1, and took a Corridor train down to Washington to take the Capitol Limited to Chicago. Since I'm mainly used to the rides on the Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Service, the ride up through Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg was quite pleasant.

I lay over in Chicago for one night, then took the Empire Builder to Seattle. I've been dreaming of taking the Builder to Seattle for years, and I must say it was actually the best train of my trip. The cars seem to have been updated and were in good condition, the ride was smooth (I guess I have BNSF to thank for that), and we even had real crockery in the dining car. 

I stayed overnight in Seattle (and hope to go back some day for a longer visit) before I took the Coast Starlight to San Francisco. I'm sorry to say I found the Starlight to be a bit disappointing. The "Pacific Parlour Car" was out of service for maintenance. I understand that equipment needs to be maintained from time to time, and Amtrak did provide a dinner-lounge car for sleeping car passengers' private use, but in the end I just did not think the train lived up to Amtrak's hype of it as one of the railroad's "premier trains." The also charge for the wine and cheese tasting; that was free (with reservations) to sleeping car passengers on the Builder.

I'd never been to San Francisco before, and I had a wonderful time staying in the city from Friday to Monday. I look forward to going back there again, too. Monday morning, Aug. 10, I caught the California Zephyr for my return east, and I highly recommend a trip on the Zephyr to everyone. The train itself wasn't quite as nice as the Builder, but the scenery is spectacular. First you cross the Sierras on the historic Central Pacific/Southern Pacific route. Then you cross the deserts of Nevada and Utah. Then from Grand Junction, Colorado, you cross the Rockies, through the Moffat Tunnel, to Denver. It was an absolutely wonderful ride. I'm sure I will do the San Francisco--Denver portion of the route again some day. 

I stayed overnight in Chicago again, and then I caught the Capitol Limited eastbound to continue my return home. I got off the train in Pittsburgh at 5:15 a.m.  in order to transfer to the Pennsylvanian, as I was planning to stop with my father in Lancaster overnight. I completed my trip home on a Keystone Service train Saturday, Aug. 15.

Funny, but the whole trip went by so fast that it didn't seem like I'd been gone two weeks. 

Ever since I tried EZ-track, I've veen very happy with it as a good, solid base for my "semipermanent" layout. Makes me wonder, though, why it took so long for the idea of sectional track with a roadbed to catch on?

When I was a small boy in the early 1960s, one Christmas my grandparents gave me a Gilbert/American Flyer HO set, "The North Coast Limited," a very nice Northern Pacific passenger set that came with an oval of sectional track that included a roadbed. I never really used the track; by the time I received the set, Grandpa had already built me a 4'x8' platform with a double oval of track complete with double cross-over, so I had no need for the track and it got tossed years ago.

The train set, however, I've always hung onto, and just last week I was able to acquire an oval of the Flyer track to "restore" the set somewhat. It's not bad-looking sectional track, really. The roadbed is plastic, molded in gray. The ties are part of the molded roadbed, but they're brown. The sections are held together only by the rail joiners--no clips like EZ-track.

I probably won't much use this "new/old" track any more than I used the track that came with the set originally. The set remains stored at my father's home, where the train is run every Christmas on a small platform that I build years ago with a 36"x45" loop of track.

But I still wonder whether Gilbert was ahead of its time in making this track, and why the idea of sectional track with roadbed didn't really catch on until, what, maybe 35-40 years after I got my "North Coast Limited" set?

Anybody else remember this Gilbert/Flyer HO sectional track?

Um, this really doesn't have anything to do with Bachmann trains, but I'm feeling so proud of myself this morning that I need to share, so please bear with me.

Anybody remember, maybe a dozen years ago, IHC came out with a line of old-time 4-4-0s in 14 different versions? I bought two, direct from IHC, one painted for the B&O "William Mason," and one painted for the Central Pacific "Jupiter" (not the historically correct blue version, the inaccurate red version, just because I like it).

The "Mason" ran well right out of her box and has never given a bit of trouble. The "Jupiter" wouldn't run, so she went back to IHC for an exchange. The second engine was always a marginal runner--and I'm being charitable here. I should have sent it back, too, but I didn't, so it just sat around in its box for the past dozen years.

Meanwhile, I've always suspected, for reasons that will be pretty obvious to anyone who knows these engines, that they had been made for IHC by the same manufacturer who built the Rivarossi Virginia & Truckee engines, although the IHC models never seemed to perform as well as their Rivarossi cousins. 

Nevertheless, on a hunch, I bought a late-model (red box) Rivarossi "Reno" on eBay. I probably paid more for it than I should have; it was the version with the tender lettered "K.C., St. L. & C.," and the engine had other cosmetic problems (missing whistle, missing air pump, no coupler on the rear of the tender, missing a tender step). On the other hand, out of the box it ran like a humdinger.

Well, last evening I tested a theory. I attempted to mount the engine superstructure (boiler and cab) from my non-functioning "Jupiter" onto the running gear of the "Reno." It worked. With a simple swap of tender bodies and installing a coupler on the tender, I now have a "Jupiter" that goes "like buttah," and the old IHC mechanism and the "Reno" superstructure can go in the parts box.

I may make a few more cosmetic adjustments, maybe replace the plastic bell with a real brass one, but I'm feeling well pleased with my effort, probably more than I should be. 

Can anybody tell me if there is any resource available that can tell me exactly which Kadee coupler to use to convert a particular manufacturer's model to knuckle couplers?

I'm the proud new owner of a Spectrum American, so I finally need to convert some of my rolling stock from horn-hooks to knuckle couplers in order for her to have something to pull. 

Some of the cars I'm interested in converting include Mantua "1860" freight cars and "1890" passenger cars (couplers are truck-mounted); MDC/Roundhouse 36-ft. old-time boxcars and "Overton" passenger cars (couplers are body-mounted); Athearn 40-ft. boxcars (couplers are body-mounted); possibly some Mantua equipment of varying ages (some with body-mounted and some with truck-mounted couplers). I've also got a couple of Con-Cor coaches that are essentially the old AHM/Rivarossi Virginia & Truckee cars (couplers are truck-mounted).

Any advice in how to find out what Kadees I would need will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!