Glacierbill, my mainline curve min radius is 69" (Aristo 11.5 foot diameter).  I have 1 curve (part of a wye) which is 48" radius (8 foot diameter), but I didn't try running the double-header through that.  Main consideration is that the new pilot coupler will NOT swivel side-to-side as much as a rear coupler (especially if truck mounted); on the lead engine in the video, the "Centennial" Mogul, I had BODY-mounted the rear Kadee to the tender frame; at least on my curves, there wasn't any issue.   If the curve diameter is too tight, you risk having the tender of the lead engine, or the pilot of the trailing engine, derail (or maybe BOTH).  

                                                                                                              Tom

I should be arriving at the show @ noontime Saturday (working 2nd shift makes VERY early morning starts difficult! ).  GG, I'll be wearing a white T-shirt with B & M Pacific 3713 on it (at least on Saturday)- might help you spot me!   We've got a hotel room nearby, so should be there pretty much when the show opens on Sunday.                                                              Tom

I've installed the Kadee conversion on one of my "Annies" (haven't gotten around to doing the second one yet - it's one of the Christmas versions & still needs conversion to DCC first ).  It's not a difficult conversion to do, the install information is available on the Kadee website:
http://www.kadee.com/conv/b460bh.htm

I have 2 videos on "YouTube" showing Kadee operation in Large scale; "Part 2 in particular shows the converted "Annie" double-heading (as the trailing engine, using the pilot coupler) with a Bachmann "Centennial" Mogul on a passenger train.  (Either loco was capable of hauling the short passenger train alone, the double-header was just run for fun! ).

Here's the links to the two "YouTube" videos:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j4JCtZ_XM8

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYgHRMKdBU

Hope those help!                                        Tom

Mr. Bach-man, can I look forward to see you at the Amhearst Railway Society's train show in Springfield, MA on Jan. 26 & 27?  Like to have a look at some of the new products!

Also, it's looking at the moment that I may not  be able to make the ECLSTS this year due to work commitments; will Bachmann be displaying at the York TCA spring meet?   (Might be able to make the TCA meet, just re-joined last year! ).

                                                                                              Tom

Thanks for your kind comments, Matthew ; I definetely take your minor criticism of the Tsunami sound as "constructive"!   I'm aware of the difference in the exhaust sound of the "2-cylinder" Tsunami & the the 3-cylinder ones on the Phoenix boards; just the price differential was attractive enough that I considered living with that limitation acceptable.  ($100 more than the non-sound-& _DCC version of the 3 trucker; but it would have cost me an absolute minimum of $210 (the combined price of a Phoenix P5 sound board & a Digitrax DG-583S decoder) to "do it myself" (counting my time to do the install as "free"!). - And the other sounds of the Tsuanmi are comparable in quality to the Phoenix (if not in volume!).

In additions to the "2-cylinder" chuff, I will admit to a couple other drawbacks on Tsunami - - probably my biggest gripe being that it is impossible to do some programming without buying a specialized $60 programming booster.   (All my other decoders - Digitrax & NCC - programmed just fine on the (low-level) programming track output of my NCE "PowerHouse Pro" system).   The biggest annoyance was not being able to easily change the decoder address - which is why the 3-trucker became "Watuppa Railway #3" on the roster!  (Vinyl lettering costs @ $2, vs. $60 for the programming booster!).

Also, I acquired the 3-trucker just as the Phoenix P5 was starting to become available;  I already had Phoenix's PC programming interface for my older 2K2 boards.  Upgrading the Phoenix software to do the P5 boards was just a matter of downloading a free software patch from the Phoenix website.  I have an "ancient" (120 MHz. Pentium - P1!, running Windows 95! ) Gateway laptop, (pretty much useless for anything else these days!), has found a useful new life as a sound programming PC, which can be taken outside to do sound "tweaking" on the garden railroad directly!

I also know that the Tsunami was NOT well received by the non-DCC crowd; I get the impression that it was an experiment Bachmann will NOT be repeating (as least in the form it came in); knowing what I do now, if I were to acquire another 3-trucker, I would probably opt for a Phoenix P5 sound card & separate decoder, even IF more expensive!

                                                                                                             Tom

Shay, maybe this video will help you decide - it's a demo of the Tsunami system in the 3-Truck Shay, shot within a few days of when I acquired the locomotive last January!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz9m0LUCJ0g

The locomotive IS running on DCC (NCE PowerHouse Pro 10-Amp system), I was activating many of the sound functions manually   (Bell, whistle, steam blowdown).  It does have an EXCELLENT brake squeal sound as well;  I found if you slowed the Shay slightly going into a curve, it gives a fantastic impression of "flange squeal"!

I also have both Phoenix 2K2 & P5 sound boards, highly recommend them as well; I will give them an edge over the Tsunami in volume.  (The Tsunami's only 1 watt, the Phoenix 2K2 is 2 watts, the P5 as much as 6 watts!  I have only one of the P5 boards at present, installed in a Bachmann "Centennial" Mogul; if I crank up the volume high enough on it, I can hear the engine's exhaust echoing off neighboring houses!   Since I'm on good terms with neighbors - (& want to stay that way!) , I rarely run the volume that high;  the 1-watt level of the Tsunami is more typical of the volume I run at.  Cost was another consideration; even doing the sound & DCC decoder installs myself, the factory Tsunami system cost me at least $100 less than doing it myself!  Figuring JUST the costs of a DCC decoder - Digitrax DG583S, @ $55, & another $160 for a Phoenix P5, & figuring my own labor as "free"!                               Tom

Jack, would you be able to post a link to that article?  (Tried a Google search & couldn't find it).

I've been following the 1361 restoration process on line for some time, & sorry to hear about some of the recent funding "snags".   With the amount of work that's already gone into restoring it (it looks like they have basically rebuilt almost the entire back end of the boiler! ), it'd be a shame to see it screech to a halt at this point.

Look forward to the day when we can see pictures of 1361 charging up Horseshoe Curve past the GP-9 on her old display track!

                                                                                                         Tom

QuoteLots of ships still operate off a boiler and nobody tears them apart once a year. 

Most ship boilers are water-tube, vs. the fire tube boilers used in locomotives, stresses are somewhat different.  You're also talking boilers which may be a century (or more!) old in a lot of cases, & probably not maintained too well in their final years. 

Pick up a copy of the book "Train Wrecks" & check out the chapter on "Boiler Explosions" - what happens when a crown sheet lets go was NOT pretty!

Modern electronics can certainly help monitor a boiler's safe operation (there's a system available for G-gauge live-steamers, for example, which shows a green LED when the water level is safe, a red one for low water; it can also be used to start an electric boiler feed pump when low water is detected).  The Federal boiler rules were tightened substancially a few years back after the explosion of not a locomotive, but a vintage steam "traction" engine (farm tractor) which used a (poorly maintained!) locomotive-style boiler.  The owner was killed & the tractor (which weighed several TONS!) was flung several hundred feet from the point of explosion.  Remember that a boiler is primarily a pressure vessel, and if a sudden break in it occurs, all the water in it flashes to steam instantly, expanding 1600 TIMES it's original volume!   Many crown sheet failures would rocket the boiler right off the loco frame!             Tom

QuoteI have heard on more than one occasion that the "W" in SW stood for "welded," a reference to the construction of the frame. Not being a diesel person, I filed it away as mere trivia, not relevant historical fact.  Grin Perhaps someone will chime in to clarify.

I won't dispute you on that, Kevin; I'm not a "diesel guy" either!   Would be interesting to find if that's true.

                                                                                                             Tom

A "road engine" , in railroad lexicon, usually refers to a locomotive used mainly for mainline service - getting a complete train from point "A" to  point "B", with little or no switching operations performed enroute.   A "yard engine" by contrast, is used entirely for switching operations.     Examples of road engines would be larger locomotives like U.P.'s Challenger 4-6-6-4's & 4-8-8-4 Big Boys, N.Y.C.'s 4-6-4 Hudsons & 4-8-4 Niagras, PRR's K4s 4-6-2 Pacifics & 4-8-2 Mountain types in steam; EMD E-units, Alco PA's, most 6-axle high-horsepower hood diesels.  Steam yard engines were typically 0-4-0's, 0-6-0's or 0-8-0's.  In diesels, EMD units carrying the "SW designation (SWitcher) were designed primarily as yard units.                               Tom 

The track Bachmann furnishes with their starter sets is steel & will quickly rust anyway to uselessness  outdoors.  Running the trains outdoors is fine as long as you use either brass (LGB or Aristo-Craft) or stainless-steel (Aristo only) track.  I wouldn't advise leaving the locomotives out permanently in the weather, although their's no problem running them in damp conditions or even snow.  Power packs should be plugged into a ground-fault protected outlet; you may eventually want to get something a bit heftier in power output than the starter set pack, which is usually just barely adequate to run the train.

                                                                                                                 Tom

Quote(possibly a victim of the recent California wildfires)

...Either that, or someone's really been doing some "kit-bashing!"                                                                  

                                                                                                             Tom

Perhaps a demo of Kadee operation might help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j4JCtZ_XM8

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

...and note I ALSO use Kevin Strong's method for manual uncoupling! 

- The working cut levers on the newer Bachmann cars (& Accucraft's as well), are a nice feature, but they DON'T make up for the fact that (A) you virtually have to CRASH the cars to couple, & they have an annoying tendency to uncouple unexpectedly!  (I've had several runaways resulting!  - Although I think the Accucrafts are bigger offenders then Bachmann on that!).   The Accucrafts are the closest to scale appearance  (I'll second Kevin's comments on the Bachmann coupler's appearance), but their both still way over-scale (even the G-gauge Kadees I use are as well, but less so).

- And besides, what's so prototypical about a 1:1 hand "descending from the heavens" to lift a 1:20.3 cut lever?  (If you can come up with a robotic 1:20.3 brakeman figure to pull the cut lever, then OK!).

                                                                                                                 Tom

                                                                                                     

I'll second the Bach-man's comments about the Accucraft plastic shorty caboose.   It's very nicely detailed,  & has working marker lights   (although the lights are comparatively fragile, I've already had to re-glue one of mine, came loose just from normal handling).    They do look very nice running after dark, though!   You can see mine in operation here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijXcQr9MFlc

                                                                                                Tom

Tim, thanks for posting that link - LOTS of interesting-looking stuff there!                                                                                             Tom