What is not working?  I am not real familiar with this product, but doesn't it have the contact strips in the plastic that contact the bottoms of the rails?  If so, plastic rail joiners aren't going to isolate anything.

Let me add a testimonial.  This stuff rates one.  I think Microscale Liquid Decal Film is fantastic stuff.  If a decal is all together, albeit 50 years old, it will go on just like a new one with this stuff.

Field Artillery !?  Very cool.
ex B / 2 / 111th here.  And the caissons go rolling.... 

Bob, I am not questioning your word.  It is just so strange that they would have changed the flanges on some of them, and not all of them.  I wonder what in the world their reasoning is, assuming of course it has even been done consciously.

I am in the design stage for a new layout right now, myself.  Pretty much settled on a total footprint of approximately 22' x 11', one level, hollow square, double track main, a peninsula, scene depth 15" to 24", some hidden staging, reversing loop, probably a small yard.  This will be the second biggest one ever as things stand now.
The plan is DC, but I may yet parallel wire for NCE PowerCab DCC for sound effects (playable whistle).  I will run a lot of two trains continuous loop, but switch off trains, directions, and loops.  I may play in a yard a little, but I found I designed for it before and then didn't do it.
Still working on trying to have one 'diorama' of a section of the New River with N&W on one bank and VGN on the other.
Although I follow the prototypes to a large extent, I do not try to model any specific segment of the actual mainlines, rather I try for the flavor of the rural Tidewater area, and the rural mountains, other than my desire for the one river scene noted above.

Yep, if you want sound anyway, the BLI is the way to go all right.
I do not know about all IHC engines, but I think they have all gone to the RP25 wheel contours.  At least, I know the little 0-8-0 I got a while back had small flanges.  Nice little engine.

If it runs well, it probably is not one of those with the afflicted gear, as it has been out a pretty good while now.  The Athearn Mikes do need some weight added to pull well, but the mechanism is really good, and I don't know about you, but it's a long way from $50 to $135 from where I am looking.
Don't get me wrong, I like the BLI Mikes okay too, and I have one, and I really like the sound.  I have 5 non-sound Genesis Mikes and I like them too.

Boxcab II is what crossed my mind when I saw the first one.  I have not changed my opinion.  Almost all the trains are totally utilitarian, and almost all the cars are designed by computer and look like they descended from the same stepped on jelly bean.  We definitely need the Italians to design a good looking locomotive.

My opinion is that no one's connectors, not BLI, Proto, PCM, or B'mann, were made with the idea that they were going to be constantly plugged and/or unplugged.  Therefore I have tried to unplug mine a minimum of times since the first time I ever plugged one in, and I have as a result had zero issues.  A cloth draped over the engine will keep dust off.
If you need boxed storage, you need to get some big boxes (free from big box stores) and learn how to make small boxes out of big boxes.  And no, I am not joking.  It is very easily done.

You are absolutely correct about the rods Nigel.  I must have had another one of those senior moments.  Andy, I sincerely apologise for dispersing bad information.

Seven scale inches of course, Gene !
If someone is contemplating this "bash", I would think the wheels would be the easy part.  The J's boiler is a lot bigger one than the Canadian's.  Might want to try the body off an old Bachmann Plus series J.  I have never seen whitewalled drivers for sale.  If you want them that way, you may have to paint them.  You do realize you are going to have to fabricate all the rods to mate 77" drivers (or 80s or 79s) on the J chassis unless you luck out and find drivers with the same crank radius as well, I hope.

I am not a DCC expert by any means, but it is my understanding that a decoder may operate differently under load (actually running on the track, vs on a test stand) versus no load, unlike DC. 

Ever think it might be the decoder? 

Glad you fixed it. 
For future reference, taking apart a steam engine and judging by eyeball and adjusting the quartering by twisting the drivers is about as sure a prescription for trouble as I have ever seen.  Some engines are not quartered exactly 90 degrees from the factory, and anytime you go messing with quarter without a wheel puller and a jig you are inviting trouble.

If it does not do it on DC, and does do it on DCC, why in the world do you think it's the trucks pick ups?  AC (okay, not classical AC sine wave but close enough) flows exactly the same way as DC, and it has more EMF to push it in this case as well.