I just bought a Dewitt Clinton set from an estate sale and when I opened the set, voila, brass track.  Is that a hint on how old this set really is ?

i pulled the MARKLIN track apart slightly to get the clickety-clack sound ....it worked good.

he is having too much fun reading this stuff he forgot the original posting....................

yeah, I remember the conversation about having a " loo in the back of a carriage ". Must add " tethered ' to the dictionary. 

good luck on the " cheap and good " scenario. there are a lot of guys looking for that specification and your competition is very active. You could have a beauty on 22" R. but turns into a nightmare at 18 " R.  I have a 4-8-2 that absolutely will not run well on 18 inch r curves. Has trouble big time on turn outs that are 18 ". As far as cheap goes, there are two types of modelers. those who play with trains and those that work the trains ( timetables and all ). I took my just bought 180 dollar decapod to the club run and the first thing I heard was a cadre of men tell me the air pomps were wrong and in the wrong place. Serious bunch.

one quick google and this came up. Hope this helps

http://cgi.ebay.com/HO-Scaloe-Mountaineer-Electric-Train-Set---BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ390001993565QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081018?IMSfp=TL081018108007r33670

You may want to spend an afternoon reading this stuff

http://modeltrains.about.com/od/electronicsdcc/Electronics_DCC.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF-obp2tjr8&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ7RnSwb1HM

thank you.

I clean track at least as often asi oil the rolling stock, including the locomotive. Radio Shack contact cleaner works to a degree. I had just bought the eraser like piece for the more grungy looking rail tops. Running DCC in my experience requires absolutely cleal rail tops. and tight rail joiners

If i may add my two cents worth. I had a MARKLIN 4-6-4 do exactly that and i removed the wheel and squeezed yhe axle with with my father's big old vise while still on the locomotive. it is on the brute force side of fixing things but it worked. After carefull afterthought ( my father who is an aircraft engineer filled my ears with advice, suggested I use a centering punch and punch the bore of the driving wheel ). Suddenly that idea of upsetting the bore made more sense.

I saw a documentary of the beast being moved to a museum some time ago. that is a big bad boy  . I have a n scale version of the beast that i bought after finding it tucked away in the store shelf ( I think it was forgotten and pushed back on the shelf )

I just thought it had exotic metals in it like gold dust maybe ? I am also retired and enjoying running my train when i want for as long as i want and by golly, i am the engineer of this train and i can blast my horn anytime I want........................

but it costs over 5 bucks to acquire. what is it that makes it $ 5.59 ?