thanks, for the info. I wanted to open her up and see what room and measurement there is for the speaker before i buy such thing. There is always the option of running two engines , the lead just being an empty shell with lights and circuitry.

I have broken so many tabs in the past, this time I want to do it right. I have a brand new BACHMANN 8-40CW Diesel loco, BACHMANN # 83-502. How do I remove the shell to install a sound system ?  the picture diagram is not clear.

You might want to contact -

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/sooo-much-stuff__W0QQ_armrsZ1

in real life, has there ever been a case where a coal load on a tender has caught fire ?

in my years i have bought at least a cord of balsa wood locally. I personally like to hang around hobby stores. Where else can you get a guy to start up a SuperTigre 61 in the store at 8 pm ? All the stuff you need is right there. Where else can you get a guy to happily set up your new DCC locomotive that you just bought from his business ? Where else can you get a helicopter flown expertly in the store before you take it home / I buy stuff online also but i find there are secrets and you still need to go to the hobby store and get stuff you forgot to buy. i am sure online sellers also have families to feed and sometimes it comes down to paying local taxes on your purchase.

I bought screws from

http://www.trainaidsa.com/

works great and require small phillips driver ( a plus in my book )

Wow,that is neat, great work. 

time to go visit my favorite radioShack and clean out their 1K resistor bin. Just 5 blocks from my house. Their LED bin is wiped out so I must not be the only one that is converting to LED's.

i am totally sold on LED lighting. I use 150 ohm resistor and only burned out one light on the breadboard when i exceeded 18 v ac. I also have a lot of MARKLIN locomotives to convert.

I am also into 1/32 scale slot cars and they also have the same 2 pin connectors in their boards ( 2 pin male and female ) I have not seen any 4 pin type yet )  The board indicates connections to LED lights.

Anyone know a retail source for small connectors as used by Bachmann DCC ready equioment ?

Not enough info to diagnose the problem correctly but for starters, it is very possible you have ( they have ? ) istalled the decoder backwards. It is absolutely essential pin 1 is correct. You are in luck for it is a 50% chance it is correct.

full stall releases factory smoke, adding to realism 

After reading your first sentence again, after the " because ", first question to mind is are you mixing DCC with DC operations ?

I have no fear of going off in a tangent here so ...........how about running a helper engine for that section, just like the real railroads do.I see trains with engines on both ends coming thru here before speeding off to cross the cascades.    smartiness not intened, for real.