Measuring grades in 1/8's of an inch per foot is close enough to percent for most practical purposes.  So a 1% grade would be 1/8" per foot of run, a 2% grade would be 2/8" or 1/4" per foot, a 3% grade would be 3/8" per foot and so on.

I tried to enter a consist address into CV19 of the decoder in a DCC On Board GP-40, but was unsuccessful.  Yet the List of Supported CV's at http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/ez/1_Amp_Decoder_Instr.pdf seems to indicate that CV19 is supported.  Has anyone else tried decoder assisted consisting (otherwise known as Advanced Consisting) with Bachmann decoders, either pre installed of installed after sales?  What was the result?

Jake, I believe all the Spectrum 2-8-0's used wipers on the backs of the locomotive wheels and axle pickkups under the tender.

The old Plus series 2-8-0 used axle pickup in the locomotive.

While you are at it, check the pickkups under the tender.  With the locomotive and tender wired together, lift the locomotive off the rails but leave the tender on the track.  The locomotive should run this way when power is applied to the track, picking up on tender pickups alone.

If all your wheels, including the tender wheels are clean, and you track is clean, and all your pickups are clean and touching their wheels, your locomotive should work like a charm. 

Ah the slippery slope from model railroader to locomotive collector.  Sooner or later we all take the slide.  The downward spiral starts off with "just one more" and it's all down hill from there.  But man, what a ride!

I bought a string of 70 Warm White chritmas tree LED's after Christmas for about 20 cents per LED.  What is fascinating about these LED's (apart from their great colour) is that the end of each LED is coned inward instead of domed outward.  The cone works to reflect the light in all directions, very much like an incandescent lamp.  They are also very easy on current - 10 milliamps is plenty.  Two of them in series with a 9 volt rectangular alkaline battery and a 330 ohm resistor will light a small building upstairs and down for around 100 hours.  This is the same circuit Jesse shows above but with a higher resistance to reduce the current.  I bought one string of these to try out - now I wish I had bought more.

Ken, I think he is referring to this post:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,282.0.html although what this present "string" (I think he means "thread") has to do with the ownership history of that method I do not know.  In my opinion, trying to assign sigificance to two unrelated numbers having approximately the same value seems more in the realm of numerology.  Perhaps Stewart will take a few moments to explain the significance of these two numbers being almost equal.  I suspect it has something to do with chains, but there seems to be a few missing links (one link = 201.168 millimeters or almost 8 inches.)

Quote from: SteamGene on February 14, 2007, 05:39:24 PM
... this one has the wires to the two prong plug joined about half way between plug and board ...

Gene, the picture I am getting is of the wiring inside the tender, not between the tender and the locomotive.  If this is the case, I wonder if there was an error in manufacture, such as accidentally reversing the two wires between locomotive and tender. I further wonder if the fault was repaired by cutting the two wires, interchanging them, and splicing them back together.   Twisting bare wires together and insulating them works, for a while at least.  But as you said, not the best way to insure solid electrical conductivity.

If I am seeing this wrong, my apologies.

And Brad!  Shame on you for expecting what's his name to use a Canadian Spell Checker on his posting!  Although I must admit I suspect that there are others of our friends from south of the border that do it too.  You just can't trust anybody any more.  I mean rereading posts to check spelling and grammar is strictly a Canadian thing, isn't it?  Isn't that why they call it a Canadian Spell Checker?     

Stewart, I have read and reread your response (2 posts up) and do not know what you are unhappy about.  Are you possibly confusing "thread" as in a bunch of posts that are somehow related, with "string" as in "string theory?"  Bill Baker was basically saying he liked the simplicity of counting box cars and seconds approach to estimating speeds.  He also mentioned string theory as something that would really confusion if we discussed it here.  (Maybe Bill and I could collaborate on a "String Theory of Model Railroading" thread sometime on a slow day. )

For a simple explanation of string theory, click on this link:
http://superstringtheory.com/basics/basic4.html

For those stuck with Internet Explorer, you can right click and copy the image, then paste it into clickboard viewer and see it full size.  Later versions of Windows have no clipboard viewer?  Then use Paint instead.  It is an old program that does not support right-click-and-paste but you can still left click on edit, then on paste.  It just might be easier to upgrade to Foxfire ...

Incidentally, you can use the same tricks to view the image at the left and the signature image below. 

To post a .jpg or a .gif, just click on the picture icon (second row, second button where it says Add BBC tags:.  Then insert the URL for the .jpg or .gif between the ] and the [, that is, where the cursor automatically appears.  If it is your own photograph, then you have to have it uploaded to a website somewhere for it to have a URL.  If you do not own the copyright to the photograph, then you must obtain permission of the copyright holder.  And if it is uploaded onto someone else's website, then you have to have the website owner's permission as well. 

Kyle, I agree, somewhere around 15 or 20 mph.  And looking good doing it.  Our tastes in music are a little different, but not our taste in trains.

For those with aching heads, there are speedometers available.  For example, see:  http://members.shaw.ca/dispatcher/misc.html#speedometer

Stephen, you mentioned that this is not your first installation.  Would it be possible to temporarily install your new decoder in a different locomotive?  One that you know works with a decoder would be perfect.  If you get the same odd behaviour with that locomotive, then you know you have a decoder problem (sometimes bad ones do get shipped.)  If your new decoder works fine in the alternate locomotive, then you know there is some problem with your new locomotive.

I think most of us realize that the code is the height of the rail in thousandths of an inch.  But Nigel was talking about the height of the track.  Setting the rail heads the same height above the roadbed sounds like a great idea.  I wish I had thought of that on my large scale layout where I hand lay my track.  Most of it is code 250 but I have some code 332 where it gets walked on.  Life would have been simpler if I had used ties .083 thicker for the code 250.  Oh well, live and learn.