My forney is 1/24 scale with a Bachmann porter drive topped with a Delton C-16 frame, boiler, steam chest and cab. Styrene, ABS, and lots of parts from Ozark and other places finish it up. Total cost of less than $120.

Some pics -










-Brian

Here are a few daylight pics of my mining diorama I brought up to ECLSTS.
Its a dual gauge 1/24 scale with a 42 inch gauge ore train (featuring my Bachmann bashed Dunkirk and modified ore cars) and a 15 inch mine tram. The mine tram ran in and out of the tunnel automatically on a 30 second cycle.







-Brian

and I heard they aren't doing any large scale events at all this year. That's not good! 

-Brian

I found a nice pic online of the prototype of the Bachmann closed street car -





full size - http://www.davesrailpix.com/dct//jpg/dct203.jpg

-Brian

Lewis Polk mentioned on the Aristo forum that Bachmann is coming out with Thomas in large scale - http://www.aristocraft.com/vbulletinforums/showthread.php?t=13618
Is this true, Mr. Bachmann? and where the pics? 

-Brian

My second 7/8's loco project is a rail tractor. It is basically a Bachmann Dizzy truck with the body of a modified diecast 1/16 scale bulldozer. The 45 tonner Dizzy truck is unmodified except for wiring it to use with a battery trailer car. It will be a simple battery power trailer car using the same speed controller I used in my rail truck. The diecast dozer body was chopped, channeled and widened. The seat was also redone and relocated.






Details added - air tank, muffler, foot and hand controls, grab rails and coupler pockets cast by Bill Martinsen.






The rail tractor painted and grunged. I still have to finish up the electronics. The trailer battery flat car will hold two crates - one for the battery pack (as seen in the pic) and the second for the speed controller and DPDT c/o switch.






-Brian

Dear Mr. Bach-Man,

Ever since the new forum came into being, I am unable to participate in it with my Firefox browser. I get error messages when I try to post and it shows me as logged in but I am unable to log out and log back in. IE seems to work though. 

-Brian

The first National Train Day is coming up Saturday, May 10th. There are major events scheduled in New York, Washington, Chicago and LA, as well as events across the country (http://www.nationaltrainday.com/events-information).

The Washington, Virginia and Maryland Garden Railway Society (www.wvmgrs.org) will be part of the festivities with a display in the Starlight Lounge of Washington's Union Station.

Get your choo choo on!



-Brian

The first National Train Day is coming up Saturday, May 10th. There are major events scheduled in New York, Washington, Chicago and LA, as well as events across the country (http://www.nationaltrainday.com/events-information).

The Washington, Virginia and Maryland Garden Railway Society (www.wvmgrs.org) will be part of the festivities with a display in the Starlight Lounge of Washington's Union Station.

Get your choo choo on!



-Brian

It was a fun time at this year's East Coast Large Scale Train Show. There were quite a few of the the new, big and beautiful K-27s out and running. A couple of the K's were equipped with the new RCS plug-n-play RC system that ran flawlessly. It was nice to meet the "Bach Man" in person. We chatted about the new Dogfish Head IPA reefer that is tan and brown to compliment the green one. I know I'll be out looking for one soon.

-Brian

This is my first endeavor into 7/8's scale (1:13.7) large scale trains. 7/8n2 trains run on "G gauge" 45 mm track with it representing two foot narrow gauge. My first project is rail work truck. The rear power truck and much modified front hood are from a 45 tonner. Big Mike and Max make up the track maintenance crew for the two foot narrow gauge line of the C&A Railway.

A few pics -








and a size comparison pic with a 1:24 scale flatbed truck




construction details are on my blog - http://www.grblogs.com/index.php?blog=25&title=my-7-8-s-rail-work-truck&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

-Brian

Brennan (Bones) and Booth are investigating the death of Kris Kringle tonight. As they enter the dead man's apartment and flip on the lights, it activates a Bachmann big hauler train running around a chest high suspended layout.

-Brian

     Oh the horror!!!!!!!!



something from eBay (possibly a victim of the recent California wildfires)

-Brian

For some reason there is no reply button in David's original posting

David's question -
What is the minimum recommended center-to-center track spacing for 1:20.3 scale both for straight runs and curves? I will be using both 5 and 8 foot radius curves.

I use a 7 inch center to center spacing (it might even be on 6 in spots  ) on the straight aways and a bit more on curves. I'm only running 1:22.5-29 scale stuff. You probably want to have a 8 inches for 1:20 and more on the curves (maybe a lot more if you're getting one of those new K's)

-Brian

In this recent thread - http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,2097.0.html  my online buddy, Dave Goodson (Curmudgeon  ) posted this -

Quote from: Curmudgeon on August 08, 2007, 12:28:17 AM
Advantages of stainless outdoors.
Funny.
Those who complained that aluminum was too silvery, suddenly accept the chrome glare of stainless.

Tractive effort alone would cause me to NOT use stainless.

If I can haul 28-34 loads consistently up 150' of 4% with ONE Bachmann Shay, I sure would like to hear what folks with Stainless are able to do.

I guarantee I will out-pull you.

Wire.
Clamps.
Power districts.

Oh, well, now Piko has Brass, and KGB is bringng back the ex-LGB track line, so brass won't be a supply issue....just bring lots of cash.

Well, I thought to myself,  this is a bit of no brainer. You really could not compare any track that has not been cleaned in 20 years, having the texture of sandpaper, to any track that is cleaned on a regular basis. Being a former scientist, I could not resist the challenge. I normally do not run trains longer than 10 cars, so I set out to the backyard (where its 96 degrees in the shade  )) to do a bit of experimenting.
I do run Aristo stainless but my steepest grade is only about 3%. I do not have a Shay but my Dunkirk uses the diecast Shay trucks. So I got out all my scale appropriate rolling stock (we know Dave has a thing about scale) and loaded up the Dunkirk with an additional 3 pounds of lead fishing weights. It has a pound in a half in it but not nearly the weight of a Shay equipped with batteries.




This is the maximum train I was able to pull up my 3% grade with the weighted Dunkirk before wheel slippage -






It consists of 20 cars with 9 box and reefers including the first equipped with battery/RC set up, 1 Bachmann tanker, 2 Aristo 20' cars, 2 flat cars with real, heavy logs, 5 AristoClassic hoppers and a logging caboose. All are equipped with standard metal wheels (mostly SanVal).








So here is my challenge - If you have a Shay (or similar), stainless track and some decent grades let's see what you can do. Go out and do your own experiment and post some pics or video here. The winner (by my judging) will receive one of my Cub.., er, Canadian "pieces of artwork" (at least that's what the shipping box said) recently procured for upcoming vacation.

-Brian

The crew of the Dunkirk (kitbashed from Bachmann products) with engineer Cliff had a video crew along to videotape a tour of the C&A Ry.  Cliff is one of Jack Hewitt's (Rastun) figures designed for the Bachmann Ten Wheeler cab. The vid is a quick 3 minutes long and was done with my Canon A70 camera. The loco has no sound but the sound the camera picked up is interesting.


-Brian

I finally finished up my dunkirk kitbash. I had posted it on the old forum. Its made from a cut down Bachmann gondola, Ten wheeler cab and diecast shay trucks. The boiler was scratchbuilt  from PVC pipe, styrene, brass stock, and detail parts from Ozark Miniatures and Trackside Details. I just added wood pilots front and rear with pocket couplers, push pole pockets, steps and a bit more piping. I also shortened the coupler shanks and added a bit of weathering.






Here it is with my bashed Bachmann bobber and a just finished scratch built water tank -



-Brian