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Thanks!

Trainman, you have fallen into the trap so many have regarding operation. You only think of "operation from the point of view of the shifter crew or a shortline. Those trains are only a small part of the railroad, and that is only one job on the railroad.

I was once part of a club where we had a huge layout in two classrooms of an old schoolhouse. When we ran the railroad we used a dispatcher/tower operator perspective that was far more conducive to heavy duty mainline operation. The line consisted of at least a half dozen "towns" each of which had some industries, and a set of crossovers between the two main tracks. Most had some sort of runner from which to service the industries.

On operating night, we all became the tower operator for our respective towns, and we'd pass trains along from tower to tower  under the direction of the train dispatcher. We were responsible for running any trains in our territory, including the shifters that worked the industries. When we got a train, we'd inform the next tower down the line, including train number, and track. The other tower would respond back whether they would accept the trains or if we had to hold it. When it was accepted we'd inform them of the throttle setting and pass it along. Main tracks were directional, and any reverse movements had to be cleared with both the train dispatcher and the other tower operator.

All in all, for me it was a much more satisfying method of running trains. I spent alot of time as a kid in towers on the B&O, and this reflected what I observed there to a T. About the only thing we didn't have to do was hoop up train orders. We could run two dozen or more trains over the line with only about 8 or 9 club members.

So I found out that some of parts for Salty in their parts store are sold off, so I don't know if this means if Bachmann would make more or not. I'm just hoping they'll bring him back.

You referred to a CV29 chipset. There is no such thing. CV29 is a configuration variable, a programmable slot in the decoder's memory. You can use it to turn on or off analog (DC) conversion among many other things. If somebody has disabled the analog conversion feature you won't be able to run your locomotive on DC. If it is enabled, you will find it takes about half throttle before the voltage overcomes the decoder's circuitry and the locomotive starts to move. All decoders that conform to NMRA standards support CV29.

After study, I can agree

Exactly. Welcome to 21st Century America, gentlemen.

I got back on the layout today, i need to get this refinery area completed, then i can tackle 3-4 adjacent areas next to it. This will include the lighting as well.

My impression of the Central Midland has always been that it was intended primarily for passenger terminal operations, hence the big double track wye coming into the yard. And the rest of the layout was just a place to watch passenger trains longer than a 4x8 could accommodate flow by.

Len

Very Newbie question here... probably.

I am getting back into trains after 20 years, and 20 years ago my budget was limited so I had a life-like set I ran on a small scale board.

Now I am building a 10' x 5' layout and started with my life-like n-scale set.  during my initial build I bought a DCC system (budget is better these days) and a Bachmann EMD SD45 DCC locomotive. 

2 things...
1) The coupler on the Locomotive is much higher than the coupler trucks on the old life-like rolling stock.  And advice on what trucks/couplers to get that will match up to the Bachmann loco?
2) I am actually printing my own rolling stock on my 3D printer.  Any suggestions on what trucks to buy that would be compatible (same height) with the loco?

I have already learned that changing out the coupler on the loco is a pain in the butt for someone like me with fat fingers.

DO NOT try to run a DC locomotive on DCC.  Executive summary- it will destroy the motor.

A little “train-splaining.” 😂😂😂. DC motors are controlled by variable DC voltage for speed and polarity for reversal.  DCC operates with continual full voltage AC applied to the track at all times.  IT WILL DESTROY THE MOTOR.

If you are already running several other engines on a DC layout, I’ll let others explain how to get this engine compatible with your collection.  It is probably a pretty simple deal.