I'd say to pick up a cheap digital voltmeter (Harbor Freight has one that's usually on sale for under $5, and they had a coupon for it for FREE out a while back in the Sunday coupons) and use it to check the tops of the drivers, or anywhere else you can easily probe, to see if it's getting power.  I know these can be a bear to take apart, so I'd examime where the power goes from the wheels into the locomotive carefully.  Make sure it's not related to the drivng rod position or something.  (I sold mine quite a while ago, so I'm not 100% on how the power goes up into the motor). 

Given full throttle operation with any transformer is 14-16 VDC, model train bulbs have to be rated to take this voltage in the first place. 

That said, I've disconnected most of the bulbs in my passenger cars, as they don't look that realistic; and unless you paint the trains they tend to show through the plastic. 

Might be better off if you only want one can to try to convince a local shop to order some.  I think they still come dealer pack in threes.  The problem is USPS won't ship paint, so it has to go UPS or FedEx, which usually is not cost-effective to ship just one small item with - whereas if your hobby guy is placing an order with one of his distributors, he pays that shipping anyways when it comes with a bunch of other stuff.

A hot wire foam cutter runs about 415'F; I've stuck a hot soldering iron in it with no issues.  If your foam is burning, the train layout is probably going to be the last thing you're worried about. 

Quote from: Royce Wilson on December 08, 2010, 09:24:51 AM
Would it be possible to add one more driver to the IF 4-4-0 and make a smal mogul?
A baldwin like we are wanting, would this work?

Royce

If you can find one, put an IHC HO 2-6-0 chassis under it.  Should come out just like you want.  I have a similar-dimension plastic kit I'm planning to do the same with, as soon as I find a beater that's priced reasonably. 

Yes, it will run faster.  I had the Climax for a while and it was much slower, I presume the final gear ratio of the Shay is about the same.

That said there's a huge amount of variation in size of what's sold as 1/43rd scale today, I can put some of the newer releases next to a Dinky or Corgi and they look oversized.  I wish someone could put a bug into Round 2 LLC to reissue the AMT 1/43rd '36 Ford, '48 Ford, and '57 Chevy kits.  Theoretically they'd be a decent accurate car for a reasonable price.  (most of the rest of that series was late 60s muscle cars).  

Since Bachmann seems to prefer somewhat obscure Baldwin catalog locomotives, how about Catskill & Tannersville 2nd #1 and #2?  (some sources say there was only one #2).  These outside frame 3-foot gauge 2-6-0s were built in 1901, served until 1919 when the road was abandoned, then sold via a dealer to the Milwaukee Road's Bellevue & Cascade narrow gauge in 1926.  As delivered they had a wood cab, the C&T later added a fireman's shelter to the tender (a-la many camelbacks, just a metal canopy), then were rebuilt with a steel cab, new pilot and headlght among other changes for the Milwaukee.  Plenty of photos of these engines are available, and one of the existing tenders may be suitable to use with it. 

The C&T was a 5-mile connector built when the NYC's Ulster & Delware standard gauged a branch and left the Catskill Mountain Railway and Otis Elevating Railway with no connection to the resorts the latter was built to allow the CMR to connect to.  All were located along the west side of the Hudson River in New York state.   The Otis was a 7000 foot cable-powered line lifting cars some 1600 feet from the Hudson River valley.  The CMR was the valley connection between several small towns and the villiage of Catskill on the Hudson River. 

I already explained this once, but I see no one is thinking three-dimensionally.   I'm not saying this will be shake-the-box Athearn kit easy, but it's not too many steps up from it - using the HO plow as the basis for an On30 plow means altering it to the proper width, or merely using it as a template to make one from scratch.   You could also copy the Walthers HO wedge plow.  Where they are difficult is because of the curve of the blade, but using thin enough styrene sheet (even layering it twice to make it a little more durable) should get around that problem. 

Now that I picked up a batch of cars for wholesale prices I may start this project using a caboose body and extra freight car frame.  I see someone makes a laser cut wood body for the chassis, so it's still saleable sans the shell -

Found one of the newer engines for a good price but it's the red windows with painted trim version.  Is it worth the trouble to try to repaint the red trim, black, or can I get a replacement window set for it?  The rest of mine are all black and I prefer how they look. 

Doesn't Bachmann already have dies for some O-scale people from the Plasticville line?  I see a guy with a ton of older stuff at a train show over the weekend and he had some that look just like bigger versions of the HO ones.

What -would- be nice is some engineers and fireman made specifically to fit in the cabs of the various On30 steam engines.  I bought some Woodland Scenics engineers, but they're a tad big for the cabs and will need some "plastic" surgery to fit, particularly the inside frame 4-4-0, only the Forney has a big enough cab I don't think I'll have a problem using them.   

No, but usually the fastest way to generate a "new product announcement" for whatever it is you want.... is to finish bashing or scratchbuilding one yourself. 

That said I'm happy with my RPO and I think as I do more cars they will get easier to make and come out even better.  With all the pre-cut styrene, siding, and detail parts out there wood cars are certainly quite easy. 

I discovered the other day that the Lionel "Scout" double-door boxcar, which has a more or less S-scale body, would work for an On30 car if you wanted to redo the ladders and so forth - I didn't measure what the length is on it, but it might be a start for another steel car.  They're only worth about $5 in nice shape. 

Last caboose I bought I got at a show for $10... the plow was $4, and just what I happen to have sitting here, it might be the basis for something partially scratchbuilt to the correct width, or it might not be suitable for the conversion. 

I have a steel flat car that was a $1 train show junk bin buy... turned out to be an old Rex S gauge die cast.  Took a set of vulcan trucks and needed coupler boxes mounted to the bottom of the cover plates. 

Of course to buy one on eBay from someone who knows what it is, is more than the Bachmann one goes for... 

K-line and Lionel have "O" figures; the K-line ones are reasonably priced and don't appear to be out of scale, although I haven't measured. 

Cars are tough; some Matchbox Models Of Yesteryear may be useful, but they tended to be scaled to fit in the box.  Corgi had a line of 50's cars out, some were ok, some look terrible (the El Camino), that can still be found; AMT had a few older cars in their 1/43 snap line that were nice - a '36 Ford, a '48 Ford, a '57 Chevy.   It depends what era you need.  I've seen a reasonably priced 1/48 military kit for a Russian truck that is a clone of a '31 Ford AA, too.  That might be another source.