After checking BLI's website delivery schedule, the PCM AC-12 locomotive has a delivery schedule leadtime of TBD (to be determined) (unless you have access to one from a previous run).  This usually means possibly a two year leadtime or project cancellation due to a potential lack of pre-orders.  With that in mind, the decision to buy the Blueline AC-5 may be made up for you. Either way the specifications and features iof each model type are listed in the website which may give you an insight to the price difference.
I have several locomotives of both the blueline and BLI's other series (Paragon and Precision Craft), and while there are differences, ie. the sound systems, etc., I am pleased with all of them.

Good luck with whatever decision you make.
Regards,

Tom

You should have to drill holes through the coal load only.  The floor area and the surrounding space will form a sound chamber for the speaker. Make sure the speaker has some air space as it needs movement to properly operate.

Tom

Rick,
Just an addendum to Bob's comments,  If you plan to install a sound decoder, your locomotive may need a speaker installed as well.  If the decopod tender does not have a factory installed speaker, you can pick one up where you purchase the sound decoder.  The soundtraxx Tsunami has 2 purple wires coming out of the decoder on the opposite end of the 9 pin JST plug (the plug that connects to the NMRA 8 pin plug into the decoder),  connect them to your speaker.  The tan wire is for using an optional sychonized chuff reed switch.  Based upon looking at your picture of the tender, you could mount the speaker below the coal load in the tender's shell.  Drill some small holes in the coal load for the sound to pass through.

Either way you decide to go, good luck with your install.

Tom

Allen,

Micromark sells flush mounted ammeters and voltmeters.
Here is the link/

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82146

Tom

Gene,

When I did mine, I soldered the feeders to the approach track between the roundhouse and the turntable. Its easier to repair a loose wire outside of the roundhouse than inside of it.  Too much plastic that can be damaged.  The feeders went to several Atlas 3 switch connectors so I could turn each track on and off individually. I have 12 tracks coming from the turntable and with a sound locomotive on each one it gets kind of noisy.

Tom

Hi John,

RR-Track layout design software has the Bachmann EZ track library available.  I bought it as a separate library to my original RR Track software, but I would guess that it's included when you buy their HO software.

www.rrtrack.com

Tom

Paul,
I've done a mixture of medium and fine as Gene had said.  However I found out the hard way that the medium ballast between the rails has a tendency to not pack as tightly as the fine ballast.  Consequently, I was getting derailed frequently because pieces of the medium ballast would get stuck where the rail touches the tie causing the wheel to derail.  After several scrapings on the inside of the rail, I removed the offending ballast granules.  The point is I would use strictly the fine ballast between the rails, and the mixture of medium and fine everywhere else. 
Just a thought.

Tom

Bob,

Thanks for the answer.  I'm going to order about 10 of them this week.

I'm an electrical design engineer by trade so I believe in "inputting" as much information as possible to a problem so a proper solution can be found.   Thank you again for your kind comments.

Tom

Hi to all.

I'm looking to gang all of my EZ track turnout controllers in one control area.  Consequently I am looking to buy some of those green EZ track 10' wiring extensions (part# 44598).  My question is; Do they come with connectors on both ends so I can just extend the 3 wires already wired to the turnout, or do I have to remove the short existing green wires and hard-wire the extender back at the switch?
Any info would be appreciated.

Tom

I have the Walthers 130' turntable.  It requires a footprint of about 21" diameter. It has an 18" bridge which will fit an HO scale BigBoy.  The indexing system is easy to wire and operate.  You can either program preset stops or align the track by eye.  I originally bought it to use on my On30 layout as I needed something big and strong enough to turn my MMI diecast K-28's (about 6lbs).  Its on my HO layout now and will be used to handle my Pennsy J1's and T1's.  Pricewise, I've seen it go for about $250.00.

Walthers makes a 3 stall roundhouse to complement the turntable.  They make a kit to add-on additional stalls.  The depth of each stall is about 17".
They include an extenstion kit for one of the stalls to increase the stall to about 20".

Hope this helps.

Tom

Gene,

I'm currently building the Walther's modular roundhouse myself.  I have both the roundhouse kit and the add-on kit.  The instructions for the add-on kit is the same as the main roundhouse kit except it doesn't have the sidewall assembly intructions as they are the only parts that don't come with the add-on kit. You can use your second roundhouse as the add-on by not using the the extra sidewalls. If you want, e-mail me offline and I'll scan the add-on kit instructions and send them to you.
Good luck with the kit.

Tom

Adari,

Attached is a link to an actual Pennsy consist table for circa 1939
If you go to page 6, it gives you the cars that were used to make up the 'Broadway Limited' at that time.  There is a key in the front if the document to decipher the abbreviations of the cars that were used.
As far as power,  A K4s (4-6-2 Pacific) would be the usual
locomotive pulling from Chicago to the Manhatten Transfer in New Jersey. An electricified locomotive (either a DD-1 or GG-1) would
be put on the head end to bring the train into Penn Station.  It's possible that a GG-1 could be put on in Harrisburg and run under the caternary into Penn Station
Putting a K-4s or a GG-1 (probably double headed)
would be prototypically correct.  The T-1 duplexes were used mainly west of Altoona so I don't think you would see one on the 'Broadway Limited' as standard motive power.
Hope this helps.

Tom

http://kc.pennsyrr.com/passops/downloads/3909_consists_west.pdf

Ken,

I'll try to upload a photo tonight.

Tom

Hi Bob,

I have one on my On30 layout.  Only modification I've done to it so far is remove the railing and house as not only are they are way out of scale, but the width on the On30 engines will hit the railing. The turntable scales out to about 72' in O scale which is larger than the 65' turntable at Durango I am modeling but it will be adequate for my needs. 

Most of my locomotives are from MMI and the turntable will rotate my K-28s without any problem and I assume that it will handle the K-36 and K-37 when they come out.  The indexing system works well but I have had to recalibrate a bit more than usual probably due to the heavier weight of the MMI locomotives.

Eventually, I'll detail it to look more like the Durango turntable, but for now it satisfies my current needs.

Tom