Are the Bachmann Heavyweights discontinued?

I didn't plan on sharing this but sense a few guys down at the CV&WS got a kick out of it, i figured some others on the bachmann board would too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmbn_UCOkBw

My dad said that my grandpa had tools for soldiering. The reason he said this was because I told him I was going to ship the little blue puff ball (thomas the tank engine) to michigan, mainly because a friend had a friend that has experience with decoders. $6 to ship it one way and risk damage and wait about a week and a half is not somthing i'd like to try. When talking to another friend, he said that a member at the CV&WS could do it in a few minutes. But I figured my grandpa would have some fun doing it. My 3 questions are how hard is it: like connect the wires? Also, what do you do with the extra wires if any? Lastly, do I need to isolate the decoder in any way?

I plan on railfanning in the winter again this year, hopefully will be out 4-5 hours like I've been doing instead of 2-3. Anyone plan on railfanning this winter? Can't beat snow shots. 

Is there gonna be any model train sites like modeltrainstuff.com or hobbylinc.com that are gonna have special sales for cyber monday? I got the money for the 22 radius curves plus a little more but am saving up for a train show in medina next Sunday. Any info would be great!!!

Well, I'm planning on buying some engines that might be a little too big for 18 radius curves (2-6-6-2 mantua, bachmann 4-8-4, etc.). Would these survive on 18?

If not, I was wondering how many 22 radius curves would it take to make a circle, better yet, i have 12  18 radius curves along the main, how many 22 radius curves (estimated) would i probably need? Last question, how much more distance should i suspect with these curves?

Like I've said in the past, i wanted to have a Day Out With Thomas event on my layout, but it hasn't been feasible or i just don't know the right guy. When i brought it up to a friend of mine, he said he knew a guy in ohio (good thing, that saves me $$$ on shipping) that could do it for free. When i asked someone else what kind of decoder to use, he said any 1 amp would do the job. After doing some looking around, i thought the bachmann decoder would probably do the best sense i didn't want sound. http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/product-p/bac-44913.htm

Would this work? if not, can someone tell me what would?

Its been quite a while of trying to catch NS 955 and finally did it! Got a heads up from a friend and another gave me the current location, which happened to be at rockport. I met up with another railfanner that i met from the local model railroad club (i hope to join it one of these days) and after giving him bad info... it originally my guess 6ish but it turned out to be half past noon. So, we railfanned, got some nice catches including a Canadian national. At around noonish, all the railfanners came, Most had seen the F7s along the highway so news spread fast. When it passed, everyone left because they thought it was going one way, it was just making a round trip so got that too, along with 2 others that got the news. After that, i headed down to Triskett figuring one last shot wouldn't hurt, and was surprised to see the train going backwards! So from 6 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon, the railfanning was great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bxprW0Hs4E

Out of all the trips, the news didn't spread like wild fire like the other runs. (BTW, the rockport clips were taken Friday)

Well... by the name, you'd think their would be more "Action" with trains... i might drop by triskett to see how things go there.   

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2291885

How come sense the 1980s, their has been no piggybacks (auto racks are debatable, rare occasion) haven't been on mixed freights? im talking major shippers like NS, CSX, BNSF, UP ETC. Here's a pic to explain.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=339395&

Any pictures of the new RS-3s yet Mr. Bachmann? Its almost shipping time so I'd figure I'd ask sense their is none on the home page yet. Thanks for any info!

I know a few people witnessed this, including a group of 4 railfanners also where i was but it seems like im the only one with footage. Just a warning to be careful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4skQvQkALY

Its been 2 years (back in late august/early septemeber) sense i saw the illinois coach. Now, i see this close to the 2 year Ann.?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHBPyIZdeFo

this was filmed on the Sunday of labor day weekend for the curious.

This is clip of me and my sis riding the RTA when some NS light power comes flying at about 50 M.P.H! So i got my camera and filmed it! the finish line was rockport yard's entrance and the two were neck and neck, but only one could win... find out in the video and let me know what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vVtTW-Tp4Y

well, it seems to be an every other year event. Don't recall how many Ohioans we got on the board but i do know we got some neighboring state residents. If you don't know yet, Steam is coming back to the CVSR. more info provided by the link

http://www.cvsr.com/steam-in-the-valley.aspx

i plan on going 2 days (it was a bloody mess chasing ohio central 1218 in 2008 and now we got 2?)

Hope to see some of you there! Look for the 2  crazy guys foamers in a red mustang. 

So...anybody got plans?

for me, Alice cooper,trains and planes.

GTW4918, a friend from youtube that i ran into twice and yet never get a bloody chance to talk to him. He's a big fan of NS, Conrail and PRR (i think...could be wrong about the PRR). Well, he texted me saying that a custom painted 2373 was for sale on Ebay! Favorite diesel, 2373, no doubt! I have seen it for at least 11 years! (remember, im 14 ) Now, he gots the $$$, im flat out broke half the time. So i figured this is my big break! i ask where is it and he says 0 bids and sends me the item number, 2 minutes later i see it and it looked perfect! price...$75... how much do i got... $25. Now i text him back that i wish i had $50 extra dollars and i don't know if he knew i was sad or what but he offered if i get a NS MP15, he'd love to renumber it and weather it. So again, i got excited! Looked everywhere (except eBay) i could think of with no hope. So does anyone know where i could find an ho scale DCC MP15DC that looks like 2373? Really don't want this... http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/943/IMG_4868.JPG

Really don't wanna send a undercoated one and say can you work with this? Sure i'd pay a extra $20 for paint (i know its not that much) and even if he did enjoy it, he's quite busy already with his own models. here's a list of pics of 2373
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPicture.aspx?id=33372

Odd question but i get odd ideas. This one was when watching a video of a On30, as some people know (if your from the thomas board you might know a bit better), i was planning on doing a train series but for now, just script writing (1-10 fully done. this was for the beginning of the second season...good time for a crazy idea). Anyway, the idea was Giants. Original but interesting. A ATSF geep (Ernie) was loaned for cleaning up a yard and finds a giant steamer (On30)and brings it home with some coaches. so thats the idea and the engine would be DCC.

Now im sure i know the answer but just wanted to double check, can you run ho scale trains and On30 on the same controller at the same time?

thanks for any info!                         

look closely at the couplers... is it just me or are those knuckles?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSx10-oYd0w&feature=channel

So far, 4 hours of action with a train averaged at about 1 every 20 minutes. The first was a mixed freight that highballed up the bridge that goes over the chicago line. Its a single track and runs through town. The hill for the bridge is quite steep! After that, intermodel after intermodel...then a geep came with a yellow crane parked it on a siding. we went to a bussiness to film it in action and was great! Even got a rare oppurtunity to catch a freight highball up the slope and get the crane too!. After it left, the most surprising leader came with the only freight to far go under and not over, a ATSF dash 9! Excellent shot of that after a stop for a flurry, came back and the 2 ex. Rio grande tunnel motors owned by wheeling and lake erie passed over the bridge! Excellent day so far and hope to see more! (Hopeing for a CN, leaving at 7 and its only 3:16!)


here are the clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmmzB-nf4T8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xfzI5nUQVY&