I'm working in N-scale, but this question could apply to all scales.

I'm making a simple, small oval with 1 turnout to a passenger station.

I've heard that long-term, it's not exactly great to run DC locos on DCC track, but I was wondering if you can damage a DCC loco by running it on DC track.

Should I double-isolate the track off the turnout and use it double-duty as a programming track, or just keep the whole loop as a single and run it DC?
The loco I would use has DCC but no sound. There is also no room at all to make this loop a part of a bigger system later.

A store in my town is selling a Big Hauler Christmas 2-train set, no. 90054. At first glance it seems to be mostly there, except for the white controller. There may be some track missing if I look closer.
Point is, it's $60. Should I get it? I'll see if I can plug it in and test it first, of course.
I feel like even for a pair of passenger cars and a bunch of track, $60 is still a decent price. Am I incorrect?
Anybody have this set and can tell me a bit about it? Do you enjoy it? Is it more work than it's worth?

I have decided to start my first N-scale layout in my closet on top of my desk.

The desk is 20x40 with a little cubby deep enough for a keyboard.

I'm going to put a thin (maybe .5 inch) 21x41 foam board on top of it, cut out holes for the four legs of the computer stand, and lay a grass mat on top, cut to size.

I have a Bachmann DCC Alco Mogul from 2013 I recently got at a swap meet for $35, some train cars and cork roadbed I got from the local hobby shop from MicroScale, Woodland Scenics Fine Ballast (gray), a 33x35 grass mat and some trees from Michael's, a terminal joiners from Atlas, and a MRC Railpower 1300 I got for $5 at the same swap meet.

I have enough curved and straight track from Atlas. I still need the rerailers and the right-hand turnout (remote) to start running my train.

Then I'll get about 2 feet of N-scale roadway, a ballast spreader, a bumper and some glue and start to scenic.

I will have pictures soon, and hopefully an update!

This is my plan, made in AnyRail v.7.

Recently got this engine at a swap meet for $35. Didn't realize until getting it home it has DCC. Does it have sound, or am I still stuck with imagining sounds?

I just picked up the 2024 Bachmann catalog.  Looking through the N-scale section, I've noticed that it's starting to look bigger than it has, bravo!  Good job!  I'm also very glad to see you're finally producing the Old-Time 4-6-0 in a few paint schemes to go with the Old Time Boxcars, Gondolas, and Water Tank Cars. Woohoo!

Buuuut...

Why is the smallest engine a 0-6-0?  What happened to the magnificent 4-4-0 engines that you used to sell in N scale?  For that matter, where did the John Brown, DeWitt Clinton, and the other truly old-time engines in HO go? For those of us wanting to model the earliest start of railroading in America we're left high and dry for the most part...

I recently bought the Durango & Silverton N-scale set and am sorely disappointed in the spare cars offering that you have.  Just the Bobber caboose?  What about a freight train for the D&S? Can't do much with a Bobber if there's no freight for it to watch over...

Hey Bachmann, any chance of this one coming back in stock as a DC version?  It would be nice to add it to the Sparrows Point layout next Christmas... along with some of those 70.5' drop-end gondolas for Patapsco & Back River RR.

Last year, I became part of the Dundalk Patapsco-Neck Historical Society Train Garden "builders and hostlers", which means I help put together the train garden and run the trains occasionally.

Almost immediately, I became head of the HO division on what is mostly an O-gauge pike.  The division basically operates a loop of track around a few buildings that represent some of the Bethlehem Steel plant in Sparrows Point (plenty of Google-feed here...).  This year I was given permission to enlarge it a bit more, to a full 4x8 spread.  So I did some track planning on AnyRail 6...

Last weekend at the train show in Timonium I was miraculously able to purchase all the pieces of track I needed.

This weekend, we're going to be disassembling some of the exhibits in the museum to make way for the garden.

Once I figure out images on this thing, I'll post some of the track plan.

Thanks to Roundhouse, the cars of the GD Line (John Allen's Gory and Defeated [or as I think he sometimes meant the gosh darn line]) live on.  I did not know this until the model train show I went to last weekend, where I came across some of the cars.  They are beautifully done.  In HO.

Mr. Bachmann,
     Have you thought about doing a Doctor Who train set?  Or has someone else already claimed that lucrative cash cow?

I know that Bachmann has gotten into the super-large-scale (G) models, but will it ever go into the super-small-scale models?

Being a guy in a one-bedroom apartment, space is at a premium.

I bought a Collector's Series Class J N&W 4-8-4 (DC).  The track I tried it on was 9 3/4" radius and it kept coming off.  So I tried squeezing the wheels together, thinking there was a small gap between the wheel stops and the axle (you know what I mean...).  It loosened the wheels.  I traded in all my curves for 11 1/4" radius and put a small dab of superglue on the axles.  It worked for a bit, but the wheels came loose again.

Anybody have a permanent fix for this?

Does it really matter?

Some people on this forum tend to pooh-pooh the circle choo-choo, on account of 'lack of real railroading'.  Maybe there's a poor individual who can't afford all the fancy craftsman kits, and makes due with already-completed models, gets them from yardsales, or just imagines they have buildings.  Are you going to shun them for lack of money?  Or maybe they live in an apartment and don't have the room for a big fancy layout that takes up a couple hundred square feet.  If they have a section 4'x8' to spare they may consider themselves lucky.  Will you shun them for lack of space?

If you run a 15" circle of track with a small train and one or two cars, you are still a model railroader.  It's not just 'playing with toys'.  These people (of which I was myself until a few years ago) are making due with what they have, and should be welcomed with open arms.  If they set up for Christmas and take it down on New Year's, THEY ARE INCLUDED.  Put up your nose and snob us off if you can sleep well at night, but we are legion (and I mean that in yesteryear's sense, that there are many of us, not that we have a hundred fb accounts and can troll you by ourselves).  We keep box sets on the shelves and in most cases keep trains alive in a store that would more than welcome getting rid of the stock and devoting shelf space to something else.

If you worked on a real train in a steel mill only, were you part of the Locomotive Brotherhood along with the cross-country engineer?  Yes.  Why should modelling be so "unprototypical", when everyone is hyping on how realistic model railroading is.  So whether you have a boxset and nothing else, or if you have an entire room devoted to your hobby, YOU ARE A MODEL RAILROADER.  Remember, if you can, the days of the passenger train, and take the words of the conductor to heart...

AAAAAAALL ABOOOOOOOARD!

Now let me just put away my soapbox....

I've heard this, that, and the other about how some people's nearest Local Hobby Shop (LHS), when they were children, was waaaaay off in the distance, and how sometimes that's still true.

Myself, there was always a 'permanent' stall in the back of the local indoor every-weekend flea market that catered to trains (mostly), cars, and trucks.  And French's Hobby Store was just down the street.  Having grown up, French's closed (after 50+ years), the local flea market guy is still there, and I've found two more stores within public transportation distance of me.  So I consider myself lucky.

But now I've been wondering, just how lucky am I?

And the question I put to you is this:  Where's your nearest hobby store at a physical location, either as a child, as an adult, or both?

Does anyone have this model?
I bought it in a baggy and it seems like all the pieces are here, but no instructions.  And it came with a small sheet of thin wood which I don't know where to put.

     I was rooting through a hobby shop and came across a used Bachmann Exploding Car (Old Time Combine car, Central Pacific), #1401, in box.

     First time I ever saw one or heard about one.  Did a little research after buying it and found that it started life in a set that was offered in 1976 through 1978, the Great Iron Horse Train Robbery.  Surprisingly, the stand-alone car I bought still included the little stack of dynamite, the safe, and a little money box (for the GOLD)!

     What it was lacking was, of course, the plunger to make it go boom.  On the non-esplody side, there is a bar on the bottom of the carriage that hen pressed releases the spring mechanism, 'blowing out' the side and roof.  Supposedly.

     When I took it out of the package and tried it out, I realized that the top pegs on both wall sections were broken and the spring on the section with the door was missing.

     Oh well.  It still looks cool and adds some action to the layout.

     (not my pictures or site)

http://tycotrain.tripod.com/bachmannhoscaletrainsets/id37.html

Are there any HO train clubs in Southeast Baltimore County (Essex through Bayview and Bayview through Turner's Station) or Southeast Baltimore City (Downtown through Bayview and Highlandtown through Canton)?

I'm putting my 2-6-0 Mogul & Tender (smokes, DC) away in storage for a while and I want to wipe down the smoke unit.  With my other, older Bachmann 2-6-0s, the shell lifts right off with the removal of the rear screw.  This one won't.  Should I just try to pry it off, or something else?

Before telling me to go check the product sheets online, I already have.

I was thinking of making a tumblr page about the models I build (and other model train things) and the steps/processes I use.

Would anybody here follow it?

I've noticed that the 'standard' (aka horn-hook, aka X2F) coupler tends to push the ends of the coupled cars to opposite rails instead of a straight line.  So I'm thinking of Kadee-ing them.  Which number should I use?

Timonium, MD (Maryland State Fairgrounds)
Feb.  3 + 4, 2018

Gonna be awesome.
Y'all should come.