I cant afford to send it back, Bachmann Charges $20.00 and then there shipping so It would cost me about $30 t0 $40 I just dont have that kind of money

Just a update on those switches
I spent about just about the entire day working on them and think I have them working better, Actually ran a fifteen car consit for about an hour over them and not one derailment

! filed all the switch points
2 sanded down the frogs
3 installed an additional sping to hold the switches tighter up againts the rails Now the switch is a little slugish but its stays tight at the rail points in either direction

 Yampa Bob
Well maybe you dont have several hundred dollars that has to be just thrown on a shelf to gather dust
I would of gladly paid $10.00/$20.00 more for a product that works correctly and then if fileing  the switch points and installing a spring with more tension is the solution then this should be taken care of at the factory or maybe there should be a warning on the package that if you buy this product you will have to modify it to get it to work, And then the steam engine that cant make one loop around the track by far wasnt a $15.00 item Try more in the nieborhood of $300.00,
I am on a very low fixed income and cant afford to throw money out the window This is one of the problems with todays society, nobody is willing to stand up for whats right, I remember the day you could take a Bachmann Engine throw down a set of stairs then put it on the track and it would run like the day it was bought,I dare you to try it today youll wind up sweeping it up in a dust pan, What happened to the days when companies showed pride in a product they but there name on ?

Tom

My Lord Switches Switches
I have not seen one comment from Bachmann about these switches either
I got the same My first Railroad track pack and my trains cant make it twice over a single switch, I have checked to make sure there flat and straight and still the same thing with all 4 switches
More than likely will wind up to be another thing to put up on the shelf along with the 3 crossovers I got that dont work either
I think its a shame that a company can send out products that are just plain junk. A couple of years ago I built a MTH O gauge Layout and never had 1/10 the problems as I do with the HO Stuff
I now have about $300 to $400 worth of Ho stuff sitting on the shelf that will never see my layout including a Spectrum USRA Mountain 4-8-2 with dcc and sound thats doomed to sit in a yard because it can't make twice around a simple loop with out the tender or front trucks derailing
And then every one tells you that you have to try this or that to see if it will work!!!
I Would think after you spend Over $300.00 for an engine it should work and not need to be played with trying to figure out whats wrong, The other day a few friends stopped  ovet to see the trains and I was imbarest
to tell them They couldnt see or hear the steam loco because it wont make it around the track

I am sorry I needed to vent I just left the train room and I get upset with the poor performance of the products made today  

I like the trains But would of liked to see more of the actual layout
Tom

I dont thing there an inch plus it says ataptors  But maybe you can use a combination of tracks to pick up that inch Like two 5 inch pcs. instead of on standard 9 inch straight track

Hi
If I am understanding you correctly You would like the inside loop and the outside loop to be completly even all the way thru out the curve and according to a track planning section in a atlas plan book I have this is accomplished by The outside loop using all 22 inch radius tracks then the inside loop starting at the center of the loop working out by using 2-  22 inch radius then 1- 1/2 18 inch radius then a full 18 inch radius then repeat on the other half of the radius,

There is a diagram in the Atlas book HO layouts for every space level 2 book 11  you should be able to purchase this book at your local hobby shop  if I didnt explain it clear enough

Tom

Yes they are in the dim mode Just Press Function then press 1 that should turn them to the brighter mode, Note you will have to repeat this step for both engines

This was taken off the atlas web site explaining code track

What's the difference between Atlas HO Code 83 and Code 100 track?

Literally, the code of a piece of track is the height of the rail in thousandths of an inch (meaning code 83 rail is .083" high; code 100 rail is .100" high). The significant difference lies in the physical appearance of the two types of track. Atlas Code 83 track has fine, brown ties whereas Code 100 has slightly thicker black ties. Because of its accuracy (and the color of the ties), Code 83 is more prototypical, and therefore more realistic than Code 100. Code 83 is known as a finer-scale track, and is the choice of discerning modelers.

I to use ez track switches and have found that if you file the switches at the point where they contact the main rail if cures alot of problems the link below shows the process

http://trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=911

Hope this helps it sure cured my problems

Tom

 Very nice layout I was considering doing a multi scale layout but I have space restrictions and my mth stuff would like monster stuffed in the middle of it,
Altho my mth stuff never derails never uncouples and always runs flawlessly and I don't think many can say that about there Ho stuff
I just got a digital camera for christmas and as soon as I learn how to work it I will put some more photos of the way my layout is comeing along

Tom

I have a question I noticed both 3 rail track and Ho track, Do you have both scales on one layout???

Ok
I just read a entire artical on this subject and the ways to correct the problems follow the link below to read it

http://trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=911

Tom

 Yes I just got a 4-8-2 nw and I am haveing the same problems I have crossovers on my line and it just cant get thru them, If the front trucks don;t come of the track then the tender derails and just like you said all my deisels work fine I removed the front truck on my engine and that helped alot

I read some where on this forum you have to file the frogs down and I have no idea about the weak spring Maybe someone will tell us how to correct it

That was nice But I was waiting for a train to come along and run down santa

And  Very Merry Christmas from Cleveland and maybe Santa Will bring me some train goodies