Looks like the train museum in Campo, San Diego county. (it's about a 20 minute drive from me) The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum.

https://www.psrm.org/

NEW STUFF! w00t!

Quote from: jbrock27 on April 26, 2017, 07:06:15 AM

Maybe the Bachmann Overlords can tell you how many new folks in the hobby it takes for them to warrant an increase in production?  While they are at it, maybe they can tell us how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop...

If memory serves me... three. It takes three licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. (though, that commercial MIGHT have been a bit misleading)

Quote from: jbrock27 on April 25, 2017, 06:49:37 AM

Quote from: Warflight on April 17, 2017, 03:12:23 AM
HUZZAH! More people starting in the hobby! That means manufacturers will have to make more stuff!

Really?!?  How many more new hobbyists do you think it takes before a manufacturer can justify ramping up their production? 

Ah... no... you're right.

GO AWAY, NEWBIES!

Look, every little bit helps. New people in the hobby is a good thing. Sorry I said anything though. I didn't mean to offend.

FANTASTIC! I will be checking that out!

Fantastic! I thought about doing that (the holes in the coal) but there is a hole at the front of the tender where the coal would be shoveled, so, once I do sound for it, I plan to experiment. Try a smaller speaker there, and see how that sounds before doing any drilling, or, like you suggested, under the water tank... I'm curious, because of that hole towards the front, and the hard plastic construction of the shell, if maybe the tender itself might act as a sort of baffle for the sound, and give a rich sound from that hole? But, that's going to be half the fun... experimenting, and seeing what I can get from it.

I recently had a bad experience with a cheap decoder, so I'm doing some research into DCC (and I do want to start doing sound on everything I can) so I'll be looking into that Tsunami decoder you mentioned.

Thanks guys! All of this is VERY helpful!

So... here's to hoping my next dive into DCC is a better one!

Thanks! And yeah, from now on, I'll be getting Bachmann, or decoders that SPECIFICALLY say they are Dual mode. (I know if Bachmann uses the decoder, then I'm probably safe, and have been eyeing Tsunami ones as well as Lenz... I hear good things about Digitraxx as well) I will not be buying the brand I have now, however. I mean, it would be one thing if it was just the issues of the misleading and blatantly false advertising (which will ruin a hobby for any newbie) but when asking about the issue, I got condescension, and when asking about the sleeve issue, they not only did NOTHING to make it right (it's a freeking sleeve, after all!) but threw even more attitude, and bad information, well... I have better places to spend my cash.

DCC Decoders are a stepping stone for me to get into DCC and Sound. I have one DCC engine which I LOVE so far, and two DCC ready ones that just need the decoders, and next month, I plan to buy a Sound Value engine that I have been eyeballing. (it comes with the Bachmann DCC Controller, which looks like a good, easy, starting point for me for DCC control... I'm sure I'll upgrade eventually though, from what folks have been telling me)

Quote from: jlc41 on April 17, 2017, 04:10:54 PM
Does Bachmann sell traction wheels for a 2-6-0 and a 0-6-0???

I'm not sure if they do, but, I had GREAT luck with Bullfrog Snot on my Spectrum Richmond 4-4-0! I mean, it had ZERO traction, and no groove for a traction tire, but the snot did the trick, without any interruption to my connections. I did all four drive wheels with it (because there are amazing electrical pickups on the tender of that engine) but I think, in the future, I'll probably do only two, if I need to do it again (just to give the engine a bit more in the pickups department, even if the train shop said there were no pickups in the drivers... folks here have educated me otherwise)

I'm using a free (and easy to use) program called SCARM to figure out my track, and layout, and it already has all of the Bachmann EZ track in the program to use.

I think that might be your best bet, if you're committed to using EZ Track, and need to judge radius... it even has a thing that after you set up your dream layout, it will list each piece of EZ track, including the Bachmann part number, to make it easier to order the track you need. (Oh, and I'm with you on the EZ Track... that's all I plan to use on my first HO layout... it's easy, and it's what I have been using until I can build my layout, because I can lay it anywhere, and run my trains!)

My suggestion would be to look at the EZ Track sizes in the program that are bigger than the 11" radius, and see what they have.

Oh, and here's a link to it, if you're interested: http://www.scarm.info/index.php

(I hope the link is okay to post here)

Who am I kidding? We all know I'll be asking questions the SECOND I buy a DCC controller, or my first sound decoder...

Is there a way to take a DCC decoder (MRC 1651) and make it dual mode?

Before I bought it, I researched it, and couldn't find any information on if it could run DCC and DC (and heaven knows MRC's web site wouldn't tell me) but the seller assured me it was good for DCC AND DC. So I asked previous customers (it was Amazon) and one of the customers said yes as well... so I bought it. Before it arrived in the mail, MRC (whom I e-mailed) said it did NOT do DC (and the guy was just a bit smarmy about it... apparently EVERYONE knows that if it doesn't specifically SAY in the instructions "Dual Mode", then it won't do DC?)

Also, when I got it, it looked nothing like the pictures on the sellers site, NOR on MRC's site (all of their images, plus the seller's images show it comes with a sleeve, but it does NOT... it's bare circuit board... the smarmy guy at MRC said to just tape it, which, apparently everyone also knows) however, I want to put it into a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 "Connie", so "just tape it" is NOT an option... so, where do I get a sleeve for a DCC decoder as well? (Oh, and neither the board on the tender, nor the plug on the decoder have any markings to indicate which way to plug it in, either)

So... any help? Please? (oh, and I will never EVER buy a damned thing from MRC again after that customer service... I should have just bought a Bachmann decoder!)

So, yeah... is there a way for it to work with DC as well as DCC, where do I get a sleeve for it, and which way do I plug it in? (though, checking these boards, I suppose if the engine doesn't move, flip it around? But then, MRC, so I don't know if doing it backwards will damage it or not)

I was hesitant to ask here, but, it *IS* going into a Bachmann engine after all, and figured someone here could help with at least one of my questions. (in fact, that's all I own so far, are Bachmann engines... ten of them now in the past two months... I swear I didn't mean to buy that many so fast!)

I really hate to just toss it into a junk drawer, but MRC was zero help, and the advice from folks here has been reliable so far...

Actually... I DID get the term from some older Roundhouse kits...

If I'm seeing correctly, it's running like the Space Shuttle gantry... with multiple sets of track. If you look carefully, you'll see that the drive wheels that are visible, are running dandum, which tells me it has at the very least, two sets... like two locos running side by side.

(I would TOTALLY build a layout for that beast!)

Quote from: Terry Toenges on April 18, 2017, 07:48:49 PM
In years past, I've given my EZ Track a wash of diluted black India ink to tone it down. I never got around to doing all the track and I don't have any pics of the track I did do. It doesn't stick very good so it takes a few washes. You have to be sure to wipe the rail heads after you do.

That's kind of an idea I was looking for! I wonder if a watered down acrylic would work better?

 I have actually decided that my first layout will be exclusively EZ track, simply because I want to see of I can... and I have seen a LOT of layouts that use EZ track that look GREAT! (I believe there is an older post by Johnathan I ran across last night, where he said the area was EZ track, that looked AMAZING, and I never would have known it was EZ track had he not said so)

I also read debates on "roadbed vs ballast" and how EZ track is roadbed, and not ballast (my research last night started because I wanted to see if anyone had weathered EZ track to a point where it didn't NEED ballast to look nice, but all of my searches led to ballasting)

My plan, for my layout, is to model the Wild West, of course, but I planned to do it in stages... build the layout, and then, over the next several months (or years) after the initial build, to add details, and realism as I go... so I was thinking, make the land right, and the track good, and the town, and scenery "new", but modular, so as time goes on, I can grow my town, add details like weathering, and natural growth, and that sort of thing. But for the basic, I wanted to maybe spend a couple of weekends, and have a layout... and let the finer details come later, and it seems to me, that a product like EZ track will work out well, especially if I make as many changes to the track plan as I go along as I expect I probably will. For instance, I don't plan on any turnouts on my initial setup, but, I will add spurs, and sidings at a later date.

The vision I had, all those years ago, the first time I got into model railroading, was to have a nice collection of trains that I could display, and a simple layout that I could run them on every so often. I see now that I'll be running them a LOT more often than "every so often" so something that can evolve over time is what I want to build.

(boy... did I ever get off the rails on this topic!)