Quote from: Yardmaster on August 01, 2014, 09:28:10 AM
Just an FYI. The GP40 is being released in the Sound Value line later this year.

Will this GP40 have an interchangeable shell with the existing GP40 line in the event you don't start making the Roadnames we already have and would like to upgrade to sound?

Where do you plan to install the speaker.  The GP40 has practically no extra room unless you do some milling of the frame.  Normally it would go in the fuel tank, but the metal frame occupies the entire fuel tank area.  Make sure you remove the trucks and motor before you do any milling or filing to prevent the metal from getting into the motor and/or gears.  It doesn't take but a microb of that metal to destroy a good running piece of equipment.

I would agree that there is probably not one single item causing the engines to pull differently, maybe one motor has better torque, maybe 2 poles or 4 poles, maybe different gears in the trucks themselves, don't know.

I do know each of the 4 Bachmanns pull the same load as each other and both Bowsers pull the same load as each other.  I was lucky this week and found another Bowser Alaska F7A with sound on Ebay and it will arrive today.  Now I have a 3rd engine to compare with.

Still have the same plans, The McKinley Explorer with the Bowsers and the Princess Cruise Line cars with the Bachmanns.

You are correct, they are a bit heavier.

HO DCC Bowser F7a:  18.15 oz.

HO DCC Bachmann GP40:  14.40 oz.

Bowser is sound equipped, Bachmann is not.  All have 2 axle trucks.

OK, testing is complete and problems are solved.

I set up 8 feet of Woodland Scenic 4% slope foam, put 8 feet of Bachmann track on it, one Bachmann GP40 and it went up the grade fine with no problems. 

I attached one of the McKinley Explorer passenger cars, and it went up and down fine. 

Then two of the passenger cars, and it went up and down fine. 

The third car went up, but the wheels on the GP40 were slipping slightly.

Adding a second GP40, they all went up and down fine.  Added another passenger car and they went fine, but the 5th car made the locos slip again.

Added the third loco and another car and it went fine.

Then I removed the GP40's and inserted one of the Bowser F7a units, and it pulled the five cars fine.  The Bowser started slipping with the 6th car, and when I added the second Bowser, it pulled fine. 

I added 8 more feet of track (level) and the two Bowsers pulled all 9 cars without difficulty up the 4% slope.

Conclusions:  I can use the 2 Bowser F7a's to pull the 9 McKinley Explorer cars and the 4 Bachmann GP40's to pull the 5 Princess Cruise Line cars up the 4% grade.

Moving forward again!

Thank you Jeff.  I would really like to now before building the grade and finding I can't negotiate it.  I haven't had the best of luck with these locomotive's pulling power.  Of course, my alternate option is replacing the locomotives, but they are really hard to find in the Alaska line.

Not really, the bridge is the actual high point connecting two mountains over a very steep valley and mountain lake.  The bridge is 44" long and 8" high in itself, so I need to climb 8" just to get to the bridge.  Right now it is laid out to use a 2% grade, but needs 16' of run to do it, and that is starting 4" above the base grade.  Using 3% will cut the run down to 12' of run, but at a steeper grade.

The railroad I am designing (Alaska), no matter how I look at things, will work best if one section of track is on a 3% grade for 12 feet of incline (12 ft up, straight over a 4' long bridge, then back down 12').  The train on this rail will be 9 McKinnley Explorer passenger cars with 4 Bachmann GP40 diesels.

The Model Railroad Club I belong to has an incredibly long 2% grade to test this with, but nothing on 3%.

Is there a method of creating the drag this train will have on a 3% slope using weights in hopper cars to simulate the extra 1% slope?  If so, how would you determing how much weight to add to the 7 passenger cars to do this?

For example, if the car weighs 3 oz on a 2% slope would it be the same as a car weighing 4.5 oz on a 2% slope to simulate a car weighing 3 oz on a 3% slope?

My EM-1 would always derail and I found the cause in my case to be the two wiring harnesses were interfering with the draw bar and causing it to derail. 

The wires were too long coming out of the tender and hung down too far. 

It was only a problem in one direction, as when turning in the other direction, the draw bar just moved away from the wires. 

I was able to shove the wires into the tender farther and made a sharp bend in the harness so the wires would ride above the draw bar, and that resolved my problem.

Discussed this with my local train store (H&R Trains, PInellas Park, FL) and Dave the train expert said the frames are not compatable even with a lot of work as they are different widths.  I bought a very thin speaker and will try to mill out some of the metal frame under the fuel tank to hold the speaker.  The speaker I got is about 1/16" of an inch thick and probably will not require much metal removal.  Dave has a new sound board that will work also.  Hopefully, this will convert the Bachman GP40 to sound.

I have some Bachmann GP-40's in the Alaska line but not with sound.  Since this is 50% Bachmann, I think it's OK to ask ... since Bachmann does not make a GP-40 with sound but does make a GP-40 in the Alaska line without sound, and I have found GP-40's with sound from Broadway Limited, but not in the Alaska line, has anyone tried to put a Bachmann GP-40  shell on a Broadway Limited DCC w/ Sound Chassis?  Hoping since they are both GP-40's and most mfg's are fairly similar, it may be easier to do this than to adapt the Bachmann GP-40 chassis to include sound.

Quote from: ACY on May 13, 2014, 02:20:21 PM
Why not just do it yourself? It seems like a pretty simple task, remove the existing and then just re-letter it yourself.

I've never done that, removing the existing lettering.  I assume it is painted on, not a decal.  If it is painted, how would you remove just the lettering without damaging the finish of the car itself?

If it is just a decal, it seems like it would be much easier for Bachmann to just put it on in the first place.

I see Bachmann just released another passenger car in this line called the Chulitna with lights.  There are only two cars left in the McKinley Explorer line that they don't have, the Kashwitna (1058) and the Teklanika (1059), both introduced in 2005 to the Holland America Line on the Alaska Railroad.

Since Bachmann already makes these cars (frame, lights, interior and shell), all they need to do is change the names and numbers on the coaches to complete the line.

Any chance of this happening soon?

Welcome to the hobby and the forum.

I agree with Jay regarding your track selection.  Steel track is usually sold with train sets to make the sets more affordable.  For a permanent layout and very few track maintenance problems, definitely go with the Nickle Silver (grey roadbed) track.  Make your main lines from NS track and use your steel track as sidings for now, and as time goes on, you can gradually replace bad sections of steel track with NS track until you have all NS track.

One other type of incompatibility you will run across with your rolling stock is wheels and couplers.  Wheels are not really a compatibility issue, but I recommend if at all possible to stay away from rolling stock with plastic wheels.  They are a large source of dirt contamination of your rails, as they build up static electricity which collects dirt and deposits this dirt on the track.  They are, however, easily replaced with steel wheels and the steel wheels are easily obtained.

Couplers are another thing.  There are at least three in use, Knuckle couplers, Hook Horn couplers couplers and (I don't know the proper name for them) European couplers.   The European  couplers are not found in the US very much, but are on EBay and a lot of on-line stores.

Hook Horn and Knuckle couplers are the more available ones.  Most go with Knuckle couplers, as they are the most realistic and functional.  Myself, I find the hook horn couplers look more like "toy trains" rather than a Model railroad, but some really like them.  The cars with hook horn couplers can be converted to knuckle couplers, but this is a real hassle and generally winds up being more trouble and cost than just getting the correct car.  

Well, I hope this helps if even just a little.  Again, welcome to the hobby!  Good luck.

I am fortunate enough to live within several blocks of H&R Trains in Pinellas park, Fl, which is an extremely valuable resource for model railroading, in supplies, locomotives, controls, rolling stock, structures, track and especially advice.  They carry a very large amount of every scale train, from G scale down to U Scale, track, trains, buildings, scenery, and all.  Their delima is on line sales.  They must sell at a fairly high price to cover the overhead of the building, pay their taxes and compensate their employees.  I try hard to buy from them when I can, but sometimes the difference of $200-$300 for a locomotive really takes it's toll on my decision.  They are not on the same playing field as an on-line retailer or even Ebay, but they offer hands on experience and excellent customer service.

They do have a web site, but I think they really need to expand it far beyond what it is now to compete in the on-line market, both in size and pricing.  If a customer does not need the help of the experienced store personnel, only the items, they could sell more on line for a lower cost.  If I need to see the item, or try it out or have an exchange possibility, I expect to pay more for the service they provide.  The problem is, I have seen people go to their store, tie up a salesman for over an hour trying out several locomotives, finally selecting a locomotive and then start to negotiate a lower price as they are looking on line at better prices right in front of the salesman.  That is really crap in my opinion, but is happening, and that is one of the reasons I fear the brick and mortar stores are having such a hard time.

There is an old comparison, that selling at a lower price and selling more is more profitable than selling less at a higher price.  100 items at $20.00 is much better than selling 10 items at $30.00.  But that assumes you will actually sell more at the lower price to cover the cost of the discount.  That does not always hold true any more in our hobby.

They sponsor 2 train shows each year, but do not participate in other local train shows, which I personally feel is a disadvantage on their part.  Local train shows do draw large crowds, where you can sell at a lower price and also do the needed volume.  I hope they can keep things going.  I really would hate to see them go away.