Will someone at Bachmann please look into making a Spectrum quality 'Prarrie' 2-6-2 for those of us in the 4x8 layout crowd?

All that's really available these days is that outdated, "Toys-R-Us" quality, "smoking & lighted" travesty on wheels in a Backmann box that calls itself a 2-6-2.

Len

Will Bachmann honor the original Williams life time warranties, or will this be another situation like Lionel and K-Line?

In that case Lionel declared original K-Line warranties void, and stated warranty support would only be provided for "K-Line by Lionel" products when they came out.

Len

Any idea when parts, e.g., reversing units, motors, power upgrade trucks to convert dummies to powered units, etc., will be available?

Len

Now that Bachmann's purchase of Williams Electric Trains is official, when can we expect to see an O-Gauge forum?

Len

The contacts run completely through the rerailrer. So the contact on one side connects directly to the opposite contact, there is no crossed wiring inside the rerailer. If you pulled the plug off one side and plugged it into the opposite side, without flipping it over, you'd reverse the polarity of the track power.

On a straight rerailer laid on the workbench with the rails perpendiculr to the edge of the bench, and the molded "Bachmann" on the bottom farthest away from the bench edge:

Contacts furtherst from bench edge = left rail
Contacts nearest the bench edge = right rail


I don't have a loose curved rerailer handy, but I suspect it's similar.

And I think you'll find an inexpensive multimeter can be a very handy thing to have around when model railroading.

Len

If you do much work with flex-track a pair of Xuron rail nippers saves a lot of time, and mess, compared to a Dremel tool.

Len

Gene,

At the train store where my repair shop is located some newer Model Power/Mantua has body mounted knuckle couplers. All of the MP cars with horn-hooks have them truck mounted.

Len

Quote from: SteamGene on August 26, 2007, 05:54:11 PM
This is only true if he has talgo trucks and he keeps them.  So - are the couplers attached to the bottom of the car directly, or are they a part of the truck?
Gene

Gene,

All of the Model Power cars, and most of the locomotives, I've seen that came with horn-hook couplers had them truck mounted. Which is why I said, "...if you're going to use the original coupler pocket..."

Len

Whichever knuckle coupler you choose, if you're going to use the original coupler pocket you'll need some Kadee #212 Talgo adapters.

The fill in the space between the small pin in the original coupler pocket and the large hole in the knuckle coupler.

Len

The fastest way to convert the cars is a pack of Kadee #212 Talgo adapters and some EZ-Mate MK-II couplers. The talgo adapters fill in the difference between the small pin in the coupler box and the large hole in the EZ-Mate couplers.

Len

Stephen,

With the Atlas #4's or the Peco Medium turnouts you should be able to get 6 yard tracks on your board. There will be about 1-1/2" from the board edges to the front and rear tracks.

If you can ever make the change, your 2-10-2's will be happier on the Peco mediums because of the curved diverging rails. And they don't take any more space than the #4's.

Take care,
Len

From the picture it appears you're using Cd100 rail track. In that case I would suggest using Peco SL-95 (RH) and SL-96 (LH) Medium switches. They are curved through the diverging track, similar to an Atlas "Snap-Switch", but with roughly a 36" radius (914mm) rather than 18". This should handle any of the locos you mentioned.

Using RR-Track to lay out a 10 track yard gives a switch ladder about 18" wide by 7' long vs Atlas Super #6 switches that take a space 20" wide by 9' long. The 2' difference in length translates into space for slightly longer yard tracks, giving more yard capacity, using the Peco Medium switches.

If you have locos you think even the 36" radius of the SL-95/96 Peco switches might not be large enough for, the SL-88/89 Peco switches have a 60" radius (1524mm) curve through the switch.

Using them gives a 10 track switch ladder that's 22" wide by 8-1/2' long, which is still a bit better than the Atlas Super #6 switches.

Len

Which goes back to something I asked about a looonnnnnnggggg time ago.

Why not a "Thomas" hook & Look coupler designed to fit a "standard" (e.g., Bachmann, Athearn, etc.) coupler box? You wouldn't think it would be all that hard to do.

Then, instead of all the cutting and fitting involved with mounting a coupler box to the Thomas cars, it would just be a drop in to put a "Thomas" coupler on the regular HO car.

Len

Use a dummy coupler on the front of the IHC. It doesn't need as big a hole in the pilot as a Kadee, and will mate with a Kadee or clone and look better when running the 'Mike' on it's own.

Len

Many of Tyco car bodies are no worse than the old Athean 'blue box' kits, so why waste them?

Get a pack of Kadee #212 Talgo Adapters and a pack of IHC "Magic-Mate" couplers. Use them to do make a few quick-and-dirty transition cars using the existing Tyco trucks. By putting a "Magic-Mate" on both ends you don't have to worry about which way the car is facing when coupling to knuckles or horn-hooks.

This will give you some breathing room while you convert your cars to better trucks and body mounted couplers.

To change the trucks just pop the Tyco trucks out. The hole in the body is too large for a small screw, so there are three options:

1. Fill the hole with '4-minute' epoxy, and when it sets up drill and tap it for a 2-56 screw.

2. Glue a piece of styrene plastic rod of the same diameter into the hole, cut it flush, and drill and tap for a 2-56 screw.

3. Easiest - glue some 5/32" OD styrene tubing into the truck hole, cut it flush, and tap for a 2-56 screw. No drilling required. I use Evergreen #225 styrene tubing, which has an inside diameter about half way between a close and loose fit for a 2-56 screw.

If you want to use a smaller screw for some reason, just glue a 3/32" OD tube inside the 5/32" tube.

Len