Yes, but it will run better on DCC than it will on DC, but it will still run pretty good, it will just require more power to start moving because of the extra current draw from the DCC decoder. Unless you are planning on running 3 or more locos simultaneously there is no need to upgrade to DCC.

Yes, you can certainly do that, ow use a wall-wort power supply. As long as you are not trying to throw 4 or 5 switches simultaneously it should be sufficient. Also you can get an old used power source which will work just as well.

If the power source is shutting itself off there is likely either a short or an overload. The short can be caused by any metallic/conductive materials on the track or wheels that are not insulated or facing the wrong way. The overload could be caused by a wide variety of things.

If he splits the set up he can get a lot more, but the cars are not worth $3-$4 by any means they are mostly $1 cars, except for the Golden spike car which is worth $7 or so. The loco is likely afflicted by pot-metal fatigue like you said making it not worth too much around $3-$4, but if not $8. The way I figure the $1 cars are negligible, the transformer and track and negligible, you basically have the golden spike car and maybe a loco. I saw this set at a train show the other day for $20, but the loco did not run anymore. When people buy things on ebay they consider s&h part of the cost. So if you consider that Bachmann's locos back then were not very good and for $40 you can get a brand new set, the only reason one would want to buy that set would be for one car. That is why I gave it the value I did, but ultimately the only way to find out for sure is put it on ebay and see what they pay.

Quote from: lvrr325 on January 06, 2011, 06:03:37 AM
Those streamline cars date back to Penn Line, who left the train business in 1964 and a portion of their tooling and products were purchased by Varney, who produced some of the items just before being sold to become Life-Like.  There are baggage and RPO cars that match the other cars, I have at least one of them here, but it appears they haven't been made in a long time and you may be on your own with regard to painting them to match. 

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No kidding, I checked a few of the Walthers catalogs and I checked the oldest one we had and they were not listed, it has been at least 30 years since they were made. I do not think it is worth the trouble to find them, paint them and possibly "refurbish" them.

Insulate both rails at the point where the reversing loop/section begins and attach an automatic reversing module right after that point.

WWI to WWII era and some still were around for about 10 to 15 years after WWII. The loco was used for switching and not for mainline service, so accordingly, since you are going for realism, you may want to buy some turnouts so you can do some switching.

I agree with skipgear. You could mu another loco or 2, that is what real RRs do when they have trouble making the grade, but I'm not sure how a pusher would work out unless you had working knuckle couplers.

Actually they did make a combine but not for Amtrak and it wasn't a streamline car, but rather a heavyweight car. They also made a Pullman, Diner, coach, & observation for the heavyweights. They came in PRR (Tuscan red) or Unlettered (Pullman green). The 60' streamline cars came in B&O, AT&SF & AMTRAK. They made a full dome, observation, vista dome, dome diner & coach. Incidentally it is a moot point, because they have all been discontinued and probably won't be made anymore, but some hobby-shops, flea-markets or train-shows probably have some yet.

The second one is smaller than the first.

They are more or less equal in quality, just whichever one looks better to you or is cheaper.

Quote from: Jim Banner on January 04, 2011, 10:22:07 PM
It looks to me like you researched the question and provided tigerthelion with the right answers.  In my books, looking foolish in one thread and being corrected is much better than being seen as an idiot in every future thread because nobody bothered to correct you the first time.  Don't feel bad that someone did not appreciate your advice.  It happens to all of us from time to time.  I got the same treatment a couple of days ago.  It seems I got the fellow so upset that he removed the entire thread.

I guess people don't like bold letters. I just was pointing it out so in the future if somebody were to reference this by chance, there would not be any confusion between degrees and radius/diameter. I saw your situation. I think the trouble is that when you post on the internet; you cannot tell if someone is yelling, people just assume you are being unkind towards them. People on other forums never have a problem with me.

You have to upload your images to photobucket or flickr first then link them or copy image location. Anyways the set is worth $20-$30 including shipping.

Good to hear you got through quickly!

No it will not work with DCC and it also requires the reversing module inside the terminal that comes with the trolley set Bachmann sells.