I'm not worthy!

-Brian

 Quite a few vendors were selling Indies at the 2006 ECLSTS in York for a nice price. I came close to buying one but I had not even laid a foot of track yet and that was a priority. Its a cute little loco but not known to be a great puller. I did see one on eBay recently that went for a reasonable price.



-Brian

The crew of the Dunkirk (kitbashed from Bachmann products) with engineer Cliff had a video crew along to videotape a tour of the C&A Ry.  Cliff is one of Jack Hewitt's (Rastun) figures designed for the Bachmann Ten Wheeler cab. The vid is a quick 3 minutes long and was done with my Canon A70 camera. The loco has no sound but the sound the camera picked up is interesting.


-Brian

Nothing tricky. I am not sure what the connectors are on your power pack but splicing them together can be done just about anyway. You can twist them together and tape them, solder them and put some heat shrink tubing on them, use a wire nut, etc. My transformer has the old fashioned screw terminals so I ran both feeds to a single spade lug and crimped them.



As you already know, just make sure you keep track which one is the inner rail and outer rail feeds.

-Brian

Small Scale Railway has a sound card perfect for the ten wheeler for under $100 with all the dodads (1 watt amp, etc.)- http://www.smallscalerailway.com/01-8.html. Also see this for an install - http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44135

-Brian

Hey Matthew,

I have always wanted to ask - what is "(OV)"?

-Brian

Like the other guys said - NO, to a second power supply. Yes, to a better power supply. and Yes to more power feeds (one or two more). 16 gauge wire is more than enough. I use primarily 16 gauge for my outdoor layout and only 14 gauge for the longer stretches (over 30 feet) running up to four locos on a loop with no troubles. Since you are indoors you can use 16 ga. lamp cord or even speaker wire. I use Bachmann track for indoor holiday trains. I soldered  the power feed wires to the inside of the hollow part of the rail. I run this track off an old 2 amp MRC pack meant for HO but works fine. Also, Bachmann track and loco wheels can get dirty so just clean them off with alcohol on a rag.

-Brian

I would first give TrainWorld a call and see what they say. Since you know what the problem is and its covered under warranty and its a lot cheaper to ship a tender to Bachmann then the whole loco back to TW, it will save TW the hassle of sending it back.

-Brian

Quote from: new G on July 19, 2007, 05:06:53 PM
however I have not actually built this yet!, however I am confident that it will work as well if not better than Aristo's TE, quite possibly as well or better than anything on the market today.

and I have a nice bridge to sell you in Brooklyn!



Seriously, Polk Hobbies/Aristo and RCS have been in the RC business for decades. I appreciate confidence but let's not make any wild claims until something has been built. Then let us know how much it costs and how many hours of work went in it.

-Brian

all-battery.com has all types, sizes of singles, packs and chargers.
http://www.all-battery.com/
I should add to get 14.4 volts most use two 7.2v packs in series.

-Brian

Quote from: Curmudgeon on July 19, 2007, 12:30:50 PM
Well, I hate trail cars.
I consider those to NOT be on-board, rather off-board.
How much run time you need?
2AH NiCads give about 3.5 to 4 hours on a 4-6-0.
I've done several BBT 2-8-0 Anniversary conversions with 4.5AH NiMH, and at 9 hours they are still going strong.

3.3-3.5 AH NiMH in sub "C" will also fit.
NiCads are cheaper and last longer.
The engineering manual states that NiMH have half the recharge cycles of NiCads, and I have definitely proven that in service!

Well, you don't like much, Dave  . I think he wants to stick it in his tender.

LR,

BBT is Barry's Big Trains. Barry manufactures 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 heavy duty drivetrain conversions for the ten wheeler body. Right now, the stock ten wheeler will pull maybe 4 cars with grades and 6 on flats. The BBT drives will pull many more.

-Brian

The Elite 3 is the system you want. I'm not sure what extra do-dads or  battery pack you'll need.

-Brian

Quote from: lrparks on July 17, 2007, 03:12:18 PM
I have had trouble locating a good source for aluminum track. Any sugestions? I have already purchase a large amount of USA brass track, but I eventually want to add to my line using cheaper aluminum rack since I will be converting to battery and remote control. If I expand using aluminum I will add a plastic coupler between the brass and aluminum to avoid the dissimilar metal coupling problems.

Llagas Creek - http://www.llagastrack.com/pricelist.html
Split Jaw makes special code 332 to 250 rail joiners - http://www.railclamp.com/displayCategory.jsp?categoryId=9&vId=20784

-Brian

If you go to Tony's site http://www.rcs-rc.com/ under the top menu heading of "Large Scale" click on "How To" and there is a list of many articles on installs. None specific for the ten wheeler but there is plenty of room in the tender.
I worked up a trailer car RC system from RCS for my Bachmann bashed Dunkirk. I have a 14.4v 3.6 Ah NiMH pack for it and get over 5 hours of run time with it.



-Brian

Welcome to the great outdoors! As said above Bachmann track does not last very long outdoors mostly because it will rust out since it is hollow tinplate. Also it is only 4 foot diameter which severely limits the locos you can run on it. I would recommend at least 8 foot diameter track.
Since you are considering building your own turnouts I might suggest joining Large Scale On Line (LSOL.com). They are currently running a member workshop on making your own switches. It is a pay site but email me on saving a few bucks on joining.
Aluminum track is fine if you are going to use battery/RC power but it will not work well for track power. I know on one club member layout with aluminum track that has been around for 25 years. I use mostly track power and I am using stainless.
I also enjoy kitbashing and scratchbuilding buildings and working outdoors has it challenges. I use a variety of media for my buildings like cedar and PT lumber, hardibacker board, and foam insulation board and plastic veneers.

Some of my scratch buildings -

(Second from right)












(middle one, the others were kitbashed)



-Brian