LifeLike used to make one about 10 years ago..

http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/bl2.html

(EMD made the prototype..)

Builder Supply companies would not carry foam board in the South (At least not here in GA). they could probably special order it for you, but that might be a bit expensive. Have you considered using Woodland Scenic's foam system? It is worth looking into..
Here is a link:
http://www.woodlandscenics.com/items.cfm/SubTerrainSystem

Does anyone know when the new 44 Ton Diesel is supposed to come out???

Simply splice the wires together- keeping track of polarity, of course. What is normally done on a larger layout is that you run a pair of feeder wires from the powerpack underneath the board and tap into them every 5-8 ft along the track...

EZ track switches are power routing. i.e. they only send power to the leg that is selected (either curved or straight) but not both. This can be cured by having additional feeder to the track. Make sure all your connections between track pieces are good and put power feeds on BOTH ovals, making sure you maintain the correct polarity....

The switches on EZ Track are very iffy,and the quality of the track itself is not the greatest..The track is ok if you want to put up a circle of track under the x-mas tree, but for any sort of layout........
Yes, a power feeder is another piece of powered ,track, as you have guseed. The important thing is to maintain the correct polarity among all feeders, otherwise you end up with a short circuit.
You are more than welcome to join us over at www.nscale.org you will find all sorts of advice and helpful people over there...

The power pack included is sufficient to power one train, no matter hoe large the loop. Best practice is to add a feeder every 5-10 ft of track due to issues with connections at the track joints. Loss of power due to distance is not really a problem at low voltages. But I definitely would NOT invest in any more E-Z Track.  Best thing to do is to purchase a quality track such as Kato UniTrack if you prefer the built-in roadbed or Atlas Flextrack if you do not...

In the past, Bachmann was notorious for poor quality and worse quality control. To be sure, LifeLike (now Walthers) wasn't much better. An improvement of great magnitude took place about 10-15 years ago; around the time Atlas had Kato make their diesels for them. Current production Bachmann Spectrum is right up there in quality. The Standard line is slowly catching up. Since you are new, please keep in mind that most locomotives made 15-20 years ago can be described in two words: mostly junk. So avoid ebay with their "Rare" "Vintage" stuff. To learn about N-scale engines, try this website: http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/locos.html
HTH
Franz T

Really nice looking and nice running locomotive. Only drawback is they don't pull all that good. But for 100 bucks you cannot pass it up...

It will go around a 9 3/4" curve, however it will look rather silly doing it...

I assume you are talking about trucks with couplers when you say "magnetic"
The couplers are called Micro-Train couplers or MT's for short. They are available in truck mounted or just separate coupler units. Check Micro-Trains' website http://www.micro-trains.com for details.

HTH

Franz T

When E-R went bankrupt, Bachmann picked them up and DID carry them in their Spectrum Line for a while, although all the boxes still said "E-R Models".
FWIW, Standard Hobby Supply has a few left (only Monon, though) for $29.97 for an A/B set..

What works best for me  after I have spread out and dressed the ballast is to take a spray bottle (an old manual hairspray pump bottle works graet-or you can buy an empty spray bottle at WalylWorld for 97 cents) and fill it with water and just a bit of 93% isopropyl alcohol. Then, carefully STARTING AT A GOOD DISTANCE, begin to wet the ballast. As the ballast gets moist, you can get closer with the spray, but if you start too close you will blow loose ballast all over the place (which will now want to clump together as you frantically try to re-arrange it - don't ask me how I know this ) After the ballast is thoroughly wetted, I take an old small Elmer's Glue bottle and fill it with a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water and I add a little bit of alcohol. (the is no need to be precise with this mixture, BTW) The I flow the mixture on the ballast, starting between the rails. BE VERY CAREFUL AROUND SWITCH POINTS, but otherwise, the more the better. I usually end up with a glue/water mixture almost to the top of the rails (don't worry, it will soak in.) Also soak the shoulders. You can fix  misplaced or disturbed ballast by replacing it wth DRY ballast and than spraying the area with the water/alcohol mix. Wait about 12 hours for the whole thing to dry.
In regard to Scenic Cement: You can get the same thing by going to any artist supply place and asking for "Matte Medium", which is an acrylic paint thinner. A whole lot cheaper, BTW, especially if you buy online. (just google "matte medium"..) Dilute 50/50 and you have "Scenic Cement"; which I use primarily for fastening down scenery..

HTH,

Franz T

Ahh, that might be a problem.. Your best bet is to call Bachmann directly (1-800-356-3918 ext18) and get their input. I have only sent one loco to them, an old (20+yrs) 2-8-0 about 3 years ago. They replaced it with a new Spectrum since the model I sent in was long out of production. I really don't know if that is automatic or if they try to repair something if the fix is not too difficult. FWIW, I sent a Baldwin VO 1000 back to Atlas a few years ago and they returned the same one I sent in...
But that was Atlas. Go ahead, call the service dept, explain your problem and see what they say...

Franz T

Gustav,

Charles is right, don't be discouraged. I have a bunch of steamers (5 Spectrum 2-8-0's, 2 Spectrum  4-8-2's, 2 Spectrum 2-6-6-2's, 2 LikeLike 2-8-4's 1 LL 2-8-8-2, 3 Model Power 4-6-2's,  1 MP 2-8-2, 1 MP 4-4-0, 1 MP 2-6-0 and 1 MRC 2-8-0, plus a few older models). Out of all of those, the only one that I have had a problem with out of the box has been one of the 2-6-6-2's and that was a minor fix. So yes, you can run steam without being mechanically inclined. Furthermore, ALL manufacturers are more than happy to fix any problem for you. (I did have to send one of the MP 4-6-2's back, but that was due to a problem with the first production run and nothing that could have been fixed by me. MP sent me a new locomotive as soon as the improved models arrived..)
If you return your locomotives to Bachman you can be sure they will either fix or replace them for you. If you bought them in the last year and include your receipt, there should be no charge, IIRC..

Franz T