I recently bought a Spectrum Diesel (GN 400 - SD45) and while waiting for it to be delivered I was starting to wonder what the difference was between Bachmann's Spectrum and standard line diesels.

After a long busy summer (new baby boy, new job, and woodworking* as a second hobby) I finally got around to doing something with my layout... tearing it up.

A while ago CNE Runner got me intrigued about switching layouts and since I'm likely to be moving and won't have much room for my 4x8 I decided to take some of my DM&IR ore cars (since they are short) and build an Inglebrook Sidings layout (http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/Inglenook/inglenook-rules.html). For those interested in how you operate such a layout see this: http://www.precisionlabels.com/shunt/jpage330.html

Right now I have left over track from my 4x8 roughing it out but I plan to lay reduce down my 4x8 table and hand lay the track.

* Turns out woodworking is a great hobby that can be used to acquire tools if the project you are building is something your wife wants

I've got a pair of DCC equiped Bachmann GP40's that I'm trying to consist. I'm using CV19 to define the consist address and direction (which works) but the lights on both of them won't turn on. CV's 21 and 22 are both set to 255 (which should equate to all functions working) for both locomotives. Am I missing something?

I was looking at prices for E-Z Mate couplers on this site and something seems a bit off.  A single pair of Medium Center Shanks is $14.00 (http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=246) but 25 pairs is only $24.00 (http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=462).

That's kind of a big per pair price difference, is that a mistake?

Yesterday I made it up to a hobby store with the intent of getting some metal wheels to upgrade some of my plastic wheeled stock, I had intened on getting one of the bachmann 12-packs of wheels (like this: http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=2209 or this http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=2210). My problem was i didn't know which size to get 33" or 36". Which size do they use on Silver series rolling stock (like the boxcars, flatcars, etc). I'm intending to to replace the wheels on some older pre-metal Bachmann,  Athearn kits, some older Walther's RTR, and Accurail kits. Would those be 33" or 36"?

I couldn't tell which was right  so I ended up getting an Athearn Truck with metal wheels 2-pack (because I knew that it would at least work with my athearn kits) and two Accurail kits which brings me to couplers, the accurail couplers you have to assemble are quite possibly the most frustrating thing to put together but unfortunately I didn't have any extra Kadees laying around. Which brings me to my next question, what is the number of the #5 equipvilant in the metal whisker type? Kadee's conversion chart doesn't seem to make it clear, to me at least, what the wisker equivilant would be.

Thanks, Matt

I was moving my 2-8-4 yesterday and the two wires in the small plug pulled out of the plug (the larger plug is fine). While it is less than a year old I have lost my receipt and I'm hesitant to send it in for repair. Since its DCC equiped it'll cost me $20 to have it fixed plus shipping.

I'm having a hard time accepting spending $25-30 for fixing something as simple as two wires. Has anyone else fixed this themselves?

My Christmas present to myself was a GP60 in demonstrator paint via an Athearn blue box kit. Being an older kit it did not come with knuckle couplers. I figured I'd have to figure out which couplers would fit and order them but just on a whim I checked my box of parts and I had just one pair left and they just happened to be the right height (#42's).

Now I just have to figure what decoder to get and finish putting on the detail parts (why are the holes never the right size?).

My mother-in-law got a christmas tree train, while it bothers me because its such cheap plastic and sound is so annoying (its almost constantly blowing the whistle or ringing a bell) I've kind of got the bug now.

Today my son and I set up our HO Hogwarts express under our tree but I'm thinking I need to go large scale as soon as I can afford it.

I've done this: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=306521&nseq=14 a few times on my layout accidentally. Now I know its prototypical!

A while back I found an old Athearn rotary kit that turned the rotary blade by running rubber bands from the front wheels. It sort of worked but wasn't spectacular.

This evening I had an idea though, I had the motor out of an older Bachmann F9 that I had given up on and thought to myself... wouldn't it be neat if I powered the the rotary blade with a motor. I set out and ended up with this: http://cid-811d1df10b2b3e61.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Train/IMG^_1475.jpg

Right now I have it connected to a DC power pack and the mounting scheme is a bit crude (yes thats electrical tape) but my eventual goal is to operate it a bit like the electrified rotarys currently in use. The motor is in the rotary and an old locomotive with a generator but no traction motors is directly following it. The power for the rotary motor is fed from the locomotive (I believe its called a snail if it has a generator but no traction motors) and a powered consist pushes them.

I plan to to do the same but control the blade with a decoder to start and stop it (and use v-max to limit it to a reasonable speed).

When I saw that headline I thought maybe the Pere Marquette and Nickel Plate berkshires were teaming up to buy BN, turns out it was just Warren Buffet: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/transportation/buffetts-berkshire-buying-burlington-northern/?test=latestnews

I've been working with HO scale a while but got some free N-scale track this weekend and am planning on using this track for bookshelf switching layout.

Since I've only worked with HO so far I have a few questions.

I know this track is Atlas but I don't know what code it is. I need some switches (I only got a bunch of straights, curves, and bumpers) but I don't know what code track I have so far. How would I determine what code it is?

Since all I got was track and I'm planning a switching layout (basing it on the ingelbrook) I need to know how long my longest rolling stock will be coupler to coupler. I'm thinking a 56' Center-flow would be the longest I'd use. Does anyone know how long something like this http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=853 would be from coupler to coupler?

My last question at this point is about power. I have a Bachmann power pack that came wtih an HO set. Can I use this to power an N-scale train or will I need to find something with a little bit lower power output?

Thanks,
Matt Newman

I've been reading the latest Model Railroader and I had an idea after reading the article on LEDs. If you can use a bridge rectifier to convert AC to DC for an LED would it work to do the same for a DC motor?

I've got a couple of project locomotives that don't have decoders yet as I want to finish other work first (and haven't decided on a decoder) and while I don't run them often when I do run them for testing the buzz gets kind of annoying. I'm taking a guess that the buzz is just the AC running through a DC motor. Would it work to have a bridge rectifier to cover the power to DC so we don't get the buzz but still be able to operate it on address 0?

I had an idea today for a way to disguise the resistor across the rails for a programming track. Up until now I have been using alligator clips but inevitably I leave it out whenever someone might be looking at my layout which results in a question of what it is and eventually some eyes glazed over.

Now obviously I could wire it under the track with an on off switch but I am already behind on my wiring projects (who would have thought I wouldn't want to spend the summer under my layout with a soldering iron? I have an old switcher that I've given up on and have decided to use it as a scrapped for parts heavily weathered object. If I remove the motor and put a resistor in its place I have a simple disguised solution that is easily moveable.

My dad and I have been looking for some HO Scale grain trucks for his ethanol layout and have surprisingly come up not much of anything. I found an athearn grain truck (http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=grain&CatID=THV) but nothing in the truck/trailer arrangment (though I have found a ton of general freight trailers).

Has anyone found anything along this line?

I've been breaking in a new locomotive (athearn SD40-2 Snoot) and discovered it will de-rail in a very specific situation on only one turnout. The turnout is a bachmann remote turnout.

The locomotive goes through all of my switches forward perfectly, and reverses through all of them perfectly except one. If I turn it around and run it forward through the turnout it runs fine. If I run it backwards and hold the relay switch down while it goes through the turnout it runs through it fine, however if I run it backwards through the turnout the rear truck takes the divergent route (incorrectly) but the front truck takes the non-divergent route (correctly). You can use your imagination as to the chaos that ensues, and this only ever happens on this locomotive. Even my older (20+ year old) rolling stock can navigate this turnout in either direction 99% of the time (and these are old cheap plastic wheelsets)

Suspecting the turnout was at fault I made a mess and ripped up some track and put a different turnout there to the same result. Then I tried changing the order of the wheels/axels on the rear trucks to see if maybe the first wheel set was out of gauge slightly or was picking the turnout (the truck has no problems going through the turnout facing the opposite direction).

This morning I decided to reverse and swap the trucks so at least it could operate facing the correct direction on my layout but I'm still concerned about this turnout. Has anyone else encountered this before? I've got it operational now but my concern is if it pops up again if/when I buy another locomotive.

I got my first locomotive kit (an Athearn SD40-2 Snoot) and it came with two handrail kits. Unpainted metal and plastic, I quickly broke the plastic trying to get that installed so now I need to switch to the metal railings. Since they are unpainted I need to figure out what paint to get to match the UP grey. Is there anything specific anyone would recommend for painting the metal athearn railings or specifically for matching UP grey?

Thanks,
Matt

I've mentioned in earlier posts my attempt at refurbishing an Athearn CNW SDP40 and finally given up. I'm at the point where i need to replace the wheels with some nickel/silver sets (as the original sintered steel ones don't stay clean enough to run reliably), when I can get it picking up power its horrifically slow and underpowered.

I figure if I'm replacing the wheels, motor, and adding a decoder I'm basically building a new locomotive and at a with the cost of a remotor I could probably find an SD of some variety for about as much* so I'm just going to take the gearing out and make it a dummy.

Since I'm also modeling an era after UP's purchase of CNW I can put it in a consist with a UP or any of their acquired roadnames and still be somewhat prototypical.**

*Bachmann's own non-DCC equiped SD40-2 is not much more than a repowering kit for an Athearn SDP40
** As prototypical you can be with an SDP40 in CNW paint.

I had some interesting behavior from one of my Bachmann locomotives the other day. My son was running it and all of a sudden it stopped responding to my Zephyr. I could start and stop other locomotives but the runaway kept going till I cut the power to the whole layout.

I thought it was conicidental until just now when my son was running it just now. He stopped it by moving the speed to zero (not using the Zephyr's brake) and it wouldn't start moving until I reset the power again.

This is a non-plug Bachmann decoder installed in an older Bachmann diesel, any thoughts on why it would be doing this?

Thanks,
Matt

I was a my LHS... well not really local, was an hour drive away but was the nearest one with a good selection of train gear. My intent was to pick up some kadee couplers for converting some of my old stock to knuckle couplers. I was browsing around and found a good selection of Athearn Blue Box kits.

Since my budget didn't allow me to clean them out I settled on a DMIR caboose. This is the first kit I've assembled and have to say it was pretty fun. It sure is nice to brin ghome a ready to run but there is just something satisfying about the challange of assembling everything.