Hi,
I was wondering if the AC power supply to the E-Z Command system was the same one as the AC power supply to the standard DC 16V power packs. They appear to be, judging from the manufacturer's photos, but I wanted to ask to be sure. Is this correct?
Thanks.
-Paul

Hi guys,
I see the long-wished for E-Z Track turntable has been released, in the Thomas line. Thankfully, it looks like it can be fairly painlessly adapted to fit prototype modeling.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=3096

Does anyone have this already? If so, what's the length, in scale feet, of the turntable's capacity? (ex: 90', 120', etc.)

Hi, I'm selling some old Tru-Scale turnouts for a friend. Some of them are labeled, but some aren't. I need to know what size they are (#4, #5, #6, etc.) I'm not experienced enough yet to be able to identify the different types of turnouts by sight.
Can one of you identify the size of these 6 turnouts? (The rest of his I've identified already)

A.


B.


C.




D.


E.


Thanks for your help, in advance. I'm still a relative novice, and haven't learned the 'tricks of the trade' when it comes to identifying turnouts!

Hi,
recently I've been selling a few things on eBay. I've noticed that some sellers post photos in the description of eBay listings, presumably to get around fees for uploading more than one photo.
How do you do this? Is it as simple as the [ i m g ] ... [ / i m g ] (without spaces) code used on this forum, or what?

Thanks in advance,
-Paul

Hi guys,
I recently bought my first brass locomotive, an older Alco Products RS-2. It's detailing is awesome, and runs okay (for a brass locomotive, from what I've heard.)

My problem is this: When it runs, it moves in the opposite direction that every other locomotive of mine does.  This means that I can't lash it up with another locomotive, and if running alone it would complicate operations a bit.
I know this was a common problem before NMRA standards - does this mean this brass loco is significantly older than I thought?
Is there a simple way to fix this problem?

Thanks,
-Paul

They look great! The track cleaning tank car is nice, I may get one of those. The GP7 was a great choice to make, especially in the Standard line.... the Proto 2000 GP7's are great, but very expensive... a less expensive GP7 is indeed welcome!
Last but not least, the EZ track connector pack is also welcome... hopefully it will have that 2" straight we've all been wanting!

Thanks Bachmann,
-Paul

Happy fourth of July, y'all. Enjoy the fireworks and our nation's freedom.
-Paul

Hey guys,
I've been in the hobby for more than 6 years now, and thus have some extra things that just don't fit in with the theme of my layout. I've sold some of them on various forums, but also want to rent a table at a train show to sell more of them. This will be my first time to be a seller at a show rather than a buyer.
Do you have any advice for a new dealer?
-Paul

I was reading a back issue of TRAINS magazine in an article where they were talking about 'captive shippers'. They mentioned a couple of exceptions to the rule that an industry would only have on railroad serving it: one exception was the Powder River Basin shared line, an another was a 'neutral terminal railroad'

What's a terminal railroad? How would it differ from a short line?

I've been needing an airbrush for a while now, and I'm thinking about getting one now. I'll be on a limited budget, but I think I should be able to get by with a pretty basic airbrush.

My first choice for airbrush is this Double Action airbrush:
http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=HS28

My first choice for a compressor would be this smaller compressor: http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=AS16

Do y'all think these would work out okay for me, or should I invest in something better (and more expensive)?

Hey guys,
I swung by my LHS today, and picked up a recently manufactured Athearn Blue-box gondola. I was surprised when I opened the package- it had metal wheels included, like the RTR series, instead of the standard plastic ones. It also had smaller scaled sprung McHenry couplers, instead of the larger EZ Mate Mark I couplers with the plastic coil.

What are some fallen flag freight cars or locos you've seen while railfanning recently? I don't mean recent mergers, like a BN hopper or a SP boxcar. I'm talking about railroads that haven't been around for 30 years- or more.

I'll start us off, I guess.
Recently I've seen a CE&I 70-ton hopper, an orange ex- Milwaukee Road covered hopper, and a light blue Great Northern woodchip gondola ( with the goat painted on the side!)

Hey guys,
while railfanning I was walking along the tracks of a local shortline whose tracks date to 1910 and are ex-ATSF... I stumbled upon an old 'Cable' steel placard painted silver, in the roadbed. I've seen others of these, too...

Any information on this?

Hey guys,
I've been gone from the forum for a while. I decided to show you some of what I've been doing in that time:

Texas & Pacific GP9 #1132


As you can see, it's not perfect, but it's good enough for me.

I'm also working on an older Bachmann trolley, painted for the 'Emhurst Transit Authority'.

I still need to finish the interior and paint the sideframes of the trolley.

Tell me what you think,
-Paul

How would one calculate the scale speed of a locomotive? Model Railroader does this a lot, but they don't seem to provide a method or equation for calculating this.

Hey guys,
I know I'm slow.... I haven't been on the forum in a while. But, I need to congratulate Bachmann on their excellent HO releases.

The 45-tonner looks great, and is just ideal for the gravel mine on my layout. The 0-6-0T would have been great too, but it got discontinued....

The ATSF 2-10-4 would be a good kitbashing project to turn into a T&P 2-10-4, too!

FWWR Green Goat Genset #2014 derailed last Friday. I have a slideshow on it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-GWztmZ2Sc

Thanks for watching!

Tower 55 in Fort Worth, Texas has 100+ trains daily from five railroads. It has been abandoned since 1994 but has a double-track Union Pacific mainline, a joint BNSF Railway and Fort Worth & Western Yard, an intersecting BNSF mainline, Amtrak Texas Eagle and Heartland Flyer Service, the DFW Trinity Railway Express, and lots more!

We saw numerous UP SD60's, an unpatched ex- Burlington Northern init, a HATX leaser GP40 in a very rare blue n' gray ex- CSX scheme,
a new BNSF 'swoosh' Dash-9, a TRE F59PH, a helper DPU, and even a sandwiched unit in the middle of a train!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3n2Cq5P7F4

Tell me what you think!

Does anyone have a link to a roster of unpatched ex- BN and ATSF locomotives in BNSF's roster? I've googled it, but the most modern I've found is one as of 9/ 05, and a lot has changed since then...

Thanks in advance!

-Paul

Most Union Pacific locomotives are lettered UP. The new genset Green Goats have UPY reporting marks. Other switchers have UP reporting marks, but this friday I saw what appeared externally to be a MP15DC switcher; it also had UPY reporting marks.

Anyone know why the gensets have UPY lettering? How 'bout the MP15DC?