I love Oliver!!! I will defiantly be getting him when he comes out. I don't mind that he is CGI, i just hope that he is at least in scale with Duck. I remember when Duck's prototype picture came out and he had the black running board but when he came out he had a white one. I do hope this is the case with Oliver, but it may not look good with the CGI look.

I recently got a Hogwarts set with 1 engine and 6 passenger cars, 2 brake and 4 coach cars. The wheels are plastic and roll freely but the club I work at doesn't allow freight or passenger cars with plastic wheels. Are there any metal wheels that are the correct size that will work?

On a side note, some of the hooks are missing on the passenger cars, they are smaller than the Thomas and Friends hooks so I don't think those will work. Is there a name for these couplings so I can get some replacements?

I will try that! I got the christmas set for my birthday 2 April's ago and like running Thomas without the plow 95% of the year, and I normally keep the piece in my parts box so who knows where it went.

While moving I seemed to have lost the connection piece from Thomas to his snowplow, so I looked on the parts store and see that it is sold out. Will this be restocked in time for the holiday's? I would like to use it under my tree along with running on a modular layout for a Christmas show. If it cant be restocked, is there a way I can attach the plow without it being permanent or damage any of the paint? I was thinking of using blue tack but i don't think it will hold that well. Thanks in advance!

I know that James was confirmed to be remade with the right colors but I have a few ideas on what will happen other than with just a color match.

1. I was able to get a brand new Thomas, Annie and Clarabel set for 70% off on a closing sale and noticed right away that the Thomas has a new motor as they have moved the screw from under the back box to the outside and made that box shorter, it also feels like it can pull more than my Christmas Thomas. It runs way smoother as well so I think the same will be done with James.

2. I also think that they will change the face to make it closer to the CGI series. On that note, all other companies that are making Thomas products have updated their engines with CGI faces. I feel like the same will happen with the main 7 over time. First being Thomas, Percy and James. Possibly the same with the TT's and A&C.

3. I was talking with a friend about this but if there was a complete redesign on Thomas, Percy and James, it would be sweet if they could fit in a DCC ready upgrade instead of the moving eyes or if they would come with DCC fitted. I have seen some people put DCC in theirs and they fit just fine.

Let me know what you think!

Here are the pictures of the handrails and the logo. I never have touched the handrails for the paint to even come off. Same with the side of the engine.

I will post pictures tomorrow. Thank you for your help!

Also, what happened to BrokenRail's post?

Very strange, looks like I will be investing in a few cans of clear coat. I will give them a call tomorrow. I did take some pictures of the issue to post but no mater what the size of the picture is they wont upload. Hopefully this isnt an issue with the latest run of ES44's as I was planning on getting the NSR and Conrail. Thank you for your help.

Hi guys, I am very upset today more than ever, but I have been upset before with this. I got this engine for Christmas last year and loved it. I noticed about a month later yellow paint on my track and didnt know what it was for. Upon closer inspection, it was the paint on the handrails chipping off on its own and there is now alot of it missing. I wasnt to worried about that but what I saw yesterday frankly ******* me off. Now the lettering is coming off of the left side of the engine and is all messed up. It is a $319 engine and this is pretty serious... Can I call the Service Department tomorrow and see if I can send it in and get a new one? I was at a loss for words when I saw it. I handle my engines by holding the fuel tanks, I do not touch the front or back hand rails and i dont touch the lettering or the stripes, so how could this happen? It has sat on my layout since I took it out of the box, could this be the reason for it? I have other Bachmann diesels that Ive had for years without having this problem. Let me know!

You can not have a DC engine sit on DCC track for very long or it will burn up the motor. You can have a DCC engine sit however without burning up.

Does this include the new run of ES44's?

I got the couplers to work! Thank you so much! I found that the tab to hold the coupler and screw was one of the reasons the coupler wasn't the right hight. The screw head is wide enough where the coupler wont fall out without the tab and works much better.

Any word on adding sound to a unit?

I was able to do it with #148's, but the only thing is now they are to high. I did have a low shank coupler available so I did the same and now it wont move freely. It seems that the hole on the coupler isn't big enough to fit around the screw hole. I do not know how to make the hole bigger. Any ideas?

Btw, The whiskers do not reach the sides of the box so I bent them out and now they work great.

I can try that tonight!

Just thought of this a few minutes ago, I wanna add some more detail to the W&LE like a snowplough, ditchlights and safety stripping, but I cant seem to find anything to make the stripping. Has anyone done this to enhance their engines or rolling stock?

Hi guys. Over the past few months I have been slowly been converting all of my engines and rolling stock to Kadee #5 and #148 metal couplers as well and metal wheels so they will be up to standard with the modular group I am in. Everything has been converted now except my CSX SD40-2 because of the couplers not being able to move freely in the coupler pocket. Is there a way to get around this so I can change them? My other Bachmann diesels have a different pocket that can be slightly unscrewed to let the coupler move, but when I try that with this its a no go. I soon will be buying a Wheeling & Lake Erie DCC ready SD40 to go with an older dummy SD40T-2 and will have to make the same changes.

Also I was wondering how easy it is to put sound inside of one, I have taken the shell off and it looks like there isnt enough room for it. I would like to add DCC and sound to the W&LE engine when I get it. If that doesnt work, I was looking and saw that Bachmann will be coming out with a SoundValue model but sadly there is no W&LE. Would I be able to just switch the shells of the SoundValue and the regular DCC ready unit?

Thanks in advance!