Theo, a lot of times I use the 1:50 figures available on Amazon and Ebay. I have tried the 1:43 figures but in most cases they are too large for my needs. Since On30 is a "diminutive" O-scale, the 1:50 figures seem to fit in better than the 1:43 versions. Hope this helps.

John, I have the same trolley set with the car barn. Yes, there is a special end-track as you surmised. The trolley will run just fine on regular track using DC power but if you want to use the auto-reverse feature, you will need the special track that's normally part of the set. The special track is marked on the bottom with A and B ends and they have to be matched up, otherwise the trolley won't run. Bachmann used to sell an extension track set for the auto-reverse feature but I have no idea whether or not it contains the special end-track that triggers the auto-reverse. Hope this helps.

Sorry to hear about Al Judy, Terry. I have seen some of Al's work and it was impressive. He will be missed.

BIG Four, DCC in itself is not proprietary. It was actually created as a standard by the NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) and is on their website in all its gory details. That being said, the implementation of DCC by the various manufacturers is proprietary. I did not have a train layout for about 30 years (no room), so when I finally had a little space for my hobbies, I decided to go with an N-scale layout about 15 years ago. I had been keeping up with the hobby by reading Model Railroader and N-Scale magazines so I was aware of the possibilities DCC had to offer. I decided to take the plunge and purchased a Digitrax Zephyr starter system (I think it is model DCS 51). Now, I worked as a computer engineer for most of my life but getting into DCC was like starting all over. It took probably about 3-4 months of trial and error to become comfortable with it. When I say trial and error, I mean mainly in programming my locomotives to do what I wanted. However, after that learning curve, I really began to enjoy using DCC and would not go back to DC.

As an aside, I have since switched scales and now model in On30 because my arms became too short and I had trouble seeing the N-scale details (I'm the same age as you). Also, I like On30 because I like to work with my hands and the 1/48 scale lends itself well to building all kinds of models, which I really enjoy. However, I still use the same DCC system I originally purchased and it works just fine.

Anyway, start with DC but don't give up on DCC.

Hope this helps.

 

BIG Four, what jward means is that, since you need a DCC system capable of programming CVs (Configuration Variables) to turn the "Run on DC" feature off or on, if you purchased a used locomotive in which this feature was turned off by the previous owner, you would not be able to turn this feature on without having a DCC system available, at least one time, in order to re-program the engine. Hope this helps.

I agree with what trainman said. The way DCC works, as long as the polarity is correct (i.e. no shorts) and it can communicate with each decoder, it doesn't care where on the layout the decoder (i.e. locomotive) is.

You're welcome.

Willis, go to the Bachmann home page. At the top of the page are several links. One of them is to this forum. Right next to it is one that says Parts & Service. In the drop down menu, click on Parts Store. One of the icons states All Scale Kitbashing. Click on that and then click on the On30 icon. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the heads-up. I subscribe to Trains.com which includes using the Earth-Cam on top of the train viewing pavillion. Now I just have to hope that they park it where it can be viewed with the camera. Thanks again.

Dusten, one of my favorite places to shop for modeling "stuff" is the Dollar Tree store. I have found a lot of useful items just browsing their shelves. Some that come to mind are Isopropyl Alcohol (70%) - this one goes fast so if you find it buy it, window cleaner with ammonia - great for cleaning acrylic paint from brushes, CA glue - look in the tool section and Aileen's Tacky Glue in the Craft section. Also, look in the craft section for unpainted wooden signs and wall decor - a lot of these are made from very thin plywood and are great to cut up and use for scratchbuilding structures. Hope this helps.

David, I've never had that happen on my 4-4-0. The wood load and overspill have always stayed in place, however, if you think this might become a problem, I would put a small piece of double-stick tape on the overspill which should secure it in place. As far as the main load is concerned, I've never had it move due to its weight. Hope this helps.

Well, if its out of warranty and its not working, seems to me the only thing left to do is to get a replacement. Hope this helps.

Changing couplers on your locomotives is no different than creating a coupler conversion car.

Bachman, is it possible that the little clips don't have anything to do with the wood load but rather are the jumpers that are used to convert the locomotive to straight DC? I have several Bachmann locomotives that included these "jumper clips" in the package. On my outside-framed 4-4-0, the wood load nestles very nicely into the tender and doesn't require any retainers at all. Just a thought.

Basically, from a mechanical and electrical standpoint, there is no difference between a DC and DCC turnout, since both use the same solenoid and linkage to move the points. The difference is that the DCC turnout also contains a basic DCC decoder (known as a stationary decoder) that will translate commands from the DCC control station (throttle) that allow the points to be moved, whereas in a pure DC turnout, voltage from the power pack's accessory terminal is used to move the points. However, somewhere along the line, a switch must be inserted into the circuit to reverse the polarity so that the points can be moved back and forth. In a DCC system, this switch is not necessary because any polarity reversal is handled by the decoder depending on the command from the throttle.

Installing a DCC turnout on a DC system without also adding a DCC controller would be an exercise in frustration because there would be no way to move the points via remote control. Thus, as has been suggested, this would require converting the layout to DCC, which, depending on the size and complexity of the layout could be an expensive proposition.

If the layout is performing well on DC, why not just install a DC turnout. It would be much simpler. Hope this helps.