does anyone know what the gear ratio in an AHM challenger is? also any idea of how much rpm the AHM motor will put out on wide open throttle. it's a 1978 year model i believe. it's a grey 3975 or something like that.

what is the difference between the 50905 & 50906 bachmann berkshires?

how do i do a constant voltage headlight? i'm wanting to do all my engines, but i have no idea on how it is done or where to start. can anyone help me? thanks, Jerry

i found the Instructions for Wiring Relay Reverse Board to Start in Neutral. my question is, have any of you done this? do you have a picture of the board after it's done? i think i know how it is said to be done, but i just want to make sure before i screw my board up.


cut 1 & 2 from side "a", nothing goes back into side "a" for either 1 or 2 correct? then 1 to 7 & 2 to 2. are they long enough, or is a jumper wire needed? thanks & sorry if this is confusing.

http://www.williamstrains.com/HTML/Instruct-Neutral.htm

i'm wanting another steamer. i'm not sure if i should go with a berkshire or a northern. i have a niagara & like it, plus i sold my ahm/rivarrosi berkshire so i could use one of those as well. are the bachmann bershires small like the ahm berkshires? how do they compair in pulling power to a 4-8-4? i'm wanting a NPR 759 or a santa fe 4-8-4.

i need a light bulb for an older bachmann Spectrum 4-8-4 niagara. i looked on the parts section & didn't see anything for any 4-8-4. this engine has the two piece frame that is split down the middle & uses the headlight bulb with some kind of locater. does anyone have any of these, or does bachmann still have them & just not have them listed?

i also need a smoke unit for it too.

i have a Williams 2-6-4 pink girls train set. it looks awesome & runs great but i have a couple issues with the engine. first off is the flywheel action. you would think with the big flywheel on the motor, it would have some flywheel action, but it doesn't. when the power is cut off, the engine stops. it's bad enough that it will derail cars.

the second issue is the smoke unit. i mean why even bother putting those smoke units in them? they don't produce any smoke. I've got an old tyco that will out smoke it. is there any upgrade smoke unit that will work?

i use an old Lionel zw275 R transformer. it runs great with this transformer, but it starts pulling just as soon as it gets power. the transformer doesn't start out at a low enough voltage & the engine will take off. the same about stopping it. the voltage is to high for it to make a nice stop. it acts like it slamming on the breaks because of the lack of flywheel action. is there anything i could do about this like maybe adding a resister on the motor to take some of the power?

it might sound like I'm not happy with it, but believe  me i love this little engine. it just has a couple issues.

I'm thinking of buying a couple Hudson's, but I can't find any pictures other than the drawing type picture. I'm wanting to see what the 2056 (40299), & 40199 looks like. if anyone has any pictures of their Hudson's please post them. I love Hudson's, but I don't buy anything I can't see. I learned my lesson with that on the mth railking blue comet set. the catalog showed a lice looking engine, but what I got was a little stumpy looking dwarf.

i bought a pink Williams girls set & it showed up here at home today. it looks great & runs pretty good too. the whistle in the tender is sweet. when i first started running the engine, it had a loud squeak in the drive rods that drove me crazy. i had to take them all appart, clean, & adjust them. one of the main rods was rubbing the wheel as it turned. after i got done with that it runs real quite.

theres a couple things i don't like.

I'm not a big fan of only the back axle being geared to the motor. i would have figured they were geared together, but their not. are all Williams steam engines like that?

the motor seems to run pretty warm. almost hot enough to burn you by touching the flywheel. also, the flywheel action sucks. kill the power & it slides to a stop. it's nothing like my railking steamers.

all in all i do like it, i just expected more.

can you run an automatic reversing module on a reverse loop with just dc power? I've not went to dcc & i dought i will, & i don't like the idea of throwing switches all the time. i would like to go with a double reverse loop on a dogbone type layout, but if a automatic revering unit can't be used on just dc, i'll have to change my plans.

thanks

I'm getting ready to start on my first layout & i need some help. i have a space of 5' 6" by 7' 4". i thought about doing a double level with two tracks on bottom & three on top & the center cut out in case i ever need to reach the back side. i would do this with no turnouts at all, just five ovals of track. i would be able to run five trains at once this way, but I'm not sure how it would look.

what would you guys recommend? does anyone know of any sites that have track plane on them i could look at? i want at least two or three train operation at once.

i could go about 3'-4' longer, but i would have to be able to break it in half & pull it apart so i can reach a window (in case it ever needs cleaned or some type of maintenance. how is that done, & be able to align the tracks back together?

i bought a brand new blue box athearn sd40-2 powered engine a few days back. i put it on the track today just to check it out & it runs faster forward that it does in reverse. what would cause this? i've never had an athearn do that. are there any fix's?

hi everyone, first post.

i have a few questions about a bachmann sd40-2 dcc equipped engine. first of all i don't use dcc, i use standard dc. the problem I'm having is it is slow. even at wide open throttle it might do 30-35 scale mph. on top of that it's not a good puller at all.

is this commen with these engines? or does it have to do with the fact I'm using it with standard dc? if i took the factory dcc board out, would it run more like i want? i have a feeling the board is sucking up the power, but i don't know. this is the only dcc engine i have & i don't know much about them.

thanks, nitro