Good.  I like the idea of being to change power sources .  I don't have that but I have a few DC engines from back in the Jurassic that I'd like to run sometimes.  I'm sure that some electrical engineer here can tell you how to set up toggle switches to go back and forth.

DO NOT connect DC powered track to DCC powered track.  You will terminally damage everything.  You need to choose one or the other on connected trackage.  I understand why people want to try to keep partial DC, to keep locomotives they've already invested in. But really, it's like graduating from elementary school to high school.  It's a different game and you don't keep stuff from the earlier grades. Leave the training wheels behind and get the big boy toys.

Whoever told you that too many track switches would short out things doesn't know what they're talking about.  There are gigantic layouts with hundreds upon hundreds of track switches that cause no short circuit problems by their numbers. It's a non-issue unrelated to mixing DC and DCC power in the same trackage.

Yes, EZ command is specifically designed to make the world of DCC largely available to train set level users.  And it does a good job with that. But that's what it is and all it is, an accessory to a train set with limited features to keep the cost of the complexity down.  Some people never get past it. Others want to move on and get the rest of the features available in Advanced systems.  It took me about a year to do that, but I never looked back.

With doubleheading steam engines, the fun is each engine having its own engineer!  Just like the prototype in the old days!  You need DCC to do this of course.


Talk about intense.  I've done it many times.  It's hard enough to do on a model, so on the prototype it was easy to jerk out a knuckle or a drawbar. Those hoggers on doubleheaded engines had to be experienced old heads.  I don't remember them anymore, but in those pre-radio days there were specific whistle calls by the lead engine to tell the trailing engine what they were doing, like applying brakes in particular..  you can do that on a model railroad also.

Now THIS is fun!

The advent of the diesel made MU operation possible and got rid of all this multiple crew business, which was costly and efficient in many ways.

I have always maintained that diesels were better than steam engines in every aspect, except one..... the "COOL" factor! 😎😎

I cannot run engines without sound.  It's like pushing a corpse around the layout.

Cv 209 and 210 matter a lot with this.  Cv2 should always be 0.

You need to work momentum cv's 3 and 4 too.

Read the default settings on these and record so you can go back if you have to. 

This is a 4 way balancing act so be patient as you go, it will probably take a lot of trial and error.

A long time ago I had to redo a yard to allow for a short straight section between the yard throat switch and where the curve started on the main line. I lost two cars of capacity in the yard but operation became so much better.

Research on the net, there are countless plans showing how many pieces of sectional track are needed for various layouts.

You drill out the broken off part and find some plastic rod of the same diameter to make a new one.  If you build plastic structure kits, the sprues that hold the kit parts before assembly are usually pretty good for that role. I've done that a couple of times And they haven't broken yet even with 35 and 40 car trains behind the engine.

Contact micro trains

This sounds like the lubrication in the gears is gummed up.  How long have you had that engine in storage?  Also, long-term storage allows all the electrical contact points to oxidize, and basically shut your engine down.  Enough power is getting through to run the lights and sound, but not enough to turn the motor.

1.  Thoroughly clean all the wheels and electrical contact points you can get to.
2.  Take your engine shell off and painstakingly, tooth by gear tooth, dig all of the old lubricant out of all the gears.  Apply fresh lubrication.  I bet you will find that the old stuff has turned into kryptonite.

I have a feeling that your engine will run like a champ after all of this.  if not, refer to the post above and check for loose wires under the engine shell.

I don't believe that this engine is in any way ready for a smoke unit installation.

However, allow me to tell you about smoke units in models, opinions coming not only from myself, but many other experienced modelers on this forum.

The smoke itself does not in anyway look realistic, the physics of smoke cannot be scaled down to HO scale. The smoke resembles more an output from a cigarette inside the engine rather than a real locomotive. 

The smoke generated carries a fair amount of oil along with it as it drifts through the air. It will settle on everything in the room over time, leaving a film that has to be cleaned. Of course, with a train that is rarely operated that won't matter much, but you need to know.

And lastly, it's just something else that can break and not work right.

The front end looks like a New York central engine, but I wonder if that is just a different façade put on the Santa Fe engine.  I'm not familiar enough with either one of them to state for certain, but that's a common practice among manufacturers, to slightly doctor one engine to sort of look like another prototype without much retooling if any.  Bachmann's Berkshire are a great example of this.

Search eBay "ho steam locomotive tender only."  Right now, I don't see the tender that goes with that locomotive, but there are dozens of tenders there which means that the one you want is certainly going to eventually appear there, just keep a lookout for it. The locomotive is called the New York Central Niagara, maybe that will help the search.

eBay has tenders available all the time

Safety film on the Missouri Pacific on the late 1940s.

My favorite Railroad, my favorite time period.  The railroads were perfect art form in those days.

Watch, and comment.  Several very interesting interesting things are seen that I'll discuss later.

https://youtu.be/8ZgoSfD0TVM?si=QkhBPpOeQkSP0Por