Quote from: modelrailroadrookie on January 04, 2009, 11:42:02 PM
Please forgive my ignorance, but how do you guys know all of these? Is there a website or book that shows all engine/locomotive models ever produced? I'd love to learn more about this all.

Also, I'm creating my first layout and would love the engines and rolling stock to be as realistic as possible. How do I know if the engines and rolling stock I use are prototypes of the real thing?

Just reading every-thing that you can about railroading has done it for me. After a while you start to notice things(SD's have 6 wheel trucks as aposed to GP's having 4 wheel trucks).

Some people use railroad guidbooks Trains Magazine published a good one but it just went out of print(I'm sure that you can find it pretty easly).

As for your second question there are two ways. After a while you learn things such as when a railroad swiched a paint scheme on their locomotives. For other things it is usaly pretty easy to find what you are looking for. You can usaly find it on the internet(although I prefer books they can get $$$ really fast so only get ones for the roads that you like).

Quote from: anelson02 on January 04, 2009, 11:31:35 PM
3.  Can you tell what if there are any other brand names that would work with this ho scale set I have besides Bachmann?  I have ran across atlas, athean etc..but do not know if there items, such as tracks, trains, accessories etc would work with this ex track bachmann set.

All HO scale locomotives and cars (except Marklin)are compatible with your Bachmann set. Here are some of the main ones.

www.athearn.com

www.katousa.com

www.atlasrr.com

www.broadway-limited.com

www.walthers.com (Their refernce book would be a great place to find more).

www.modelpower.com

www.ihc-hobby.com

These are some places where you can find these companies stuff for sale

www.walthers.com

www.caboosehobbies.com

Your local hobby shop.

Ebay store The Favorite Spot

Places to find out more information about model trains.

www.modelrailroader.com

Books that you should read.

Anything from Model Railroader Magazine www.modelrailroader.com

Bachmann's EZ track book

Is it a SD something?

Is it a SD-45?

That locomotive will take 18" but just barly. It also needs the track to be in perfect condition.

The newer ones come in a blue box while the old ones came in a white box. Some of the ones in the white box are newer. If your hobby shop will test run it you should be able to tell.

I was VERRY disapointed  to not see any thing Colorado but it's probaly a good thing so that I can focus on getting more cars instead which I need more any way.

Quote from: pdlethbridge on December 31, 2008, 07:52:54 PM
As I look at the photo, I wonder why the 44 tonner is so much bigger than the 45 tonner? Are they both true to scale?

Yes they are both true to scale. The 44 tonner is so much bigger because it was made for branchline work where the 45 tonner was for switching.

It all depends on what you want. I would have gone with the EZ command but since it only has ten locomotive addresses I decided to go with Digitrax.

There are two decoders that are really good.

The Soundtraxx Tsunami is really great but it must be hard wired into the locomotive.

The ESU Loksound 3.5 has verry good sounds (although not as good as the Soundtraxx) and has the advantage of having a 8-pin plug so it is "plug in and play".

Quote from: Mike_AA9ZY on December 29, 2008, 06:50:41 PM
So, will the Porters be offered with dcc in 2009?

Bachmann never tells untill that year. They will make the announcements for 2009 in February.

Quote from: peterherron on December 29, 2008, 01:53:31 PM
I was quoted $40.00 for a Mogul tender which seems a bit steep for what is a pretty plain jane model.

The HO scale ones go for between $37 and $53. The don't have much more detail but do have the circut bords inside(although I can't imagen that these are worth much). Also the ON30 ones are larger so $40 dosen't seem verry far off.

All Bachmann DCC equiped locomotives can run on DC or DCC. You should send it back to Bachmann if you can't fix the problem. If you have the receite and it was purchesed less than 1 year ago you don't have to pay anything otherwise there is about a $20 charge.

Yes please do!

If you do though please consider doing them in Colorado & Southern again(I know that it's not proto-typical but they make good switchers).

And while your at it lets see some 2-6-0s!!!!!

They also got another one of the C&S 2-8-0's. I think it was #71 but I can't rember for sure right now.