Model Forum / General / Railroads / November 2003

Lubrication of engines. My son and I have complete a N scale layout.
I've noticed that the "hand me down" engines he received from one set
of grandparents, operate very "jumpy" and sometimes not at all, unless
we take the engine of the track and work the wheels (they are old

Hi all, this may be a bit of a longshot, but I thought this group is
probably the best in which to ask this question. Some years ago (I think at
least ten) I picked up a book in a northern California bookstore about the
Southern Pacific and its operations over the Sierra Nevadas. It ...

Here's a thought.  Would the noise or vibration of trains running be
dampened if, say I placed a chunk of rubber between the layout legs and
the floor and between the layout and where it's attached to the wall?
May layout is going to be in the attic and I just had this thought while

Did the Weekend Chief Publishing Company
http://www.weekendchief.com/
...go out of business?
I always used to get a PRR Calendar there (in addition to

Our information package is still free (even after all of these years). 30 years
of designing model railroads for others, over 1,000 in all scales has given us
a pretty good idea of what can, or cannot be done in a given space and scale.
How may we be of service?

OK I need some help, I know that my Mamod live steam engine is O gauge
(or at least the track is). But I've heard people talk about O
standard and O narrow, can some one enlighten me? Which is the Mamod
engine?

Got a bit of a problem.
I decided to model my very own road name and route in N scale.  I plane
on setting it in the Ozarks.  I don't have the exact name yet, but it
will be "The Route of the Pouncing Fox"

Does anyone know if the Bachmann Spectrum 4-6-0 Baldwin locomotive has
an electronic filter system located at the motor brushes? The reason
for asking is I have to program a DH123 decoder to very high number
(~30) speed step one for this loco to start.The circuit board in the

Does anybody know when ECM Compspeed controllers were introduced?
There is a thread on rec.models.railroad where Mikes Train House (MTH) are
sueing the DCC suppliers for using back EMF control in their modules. They
claim they patented back-EMF control in 1980.

The Hymeks arrived about ten minutes ago - here are some pictures of one of
the green ones.
http://www.53a-pix.co.uk/temp/Hymek1.jpg
http://www.53a-pix.co.uk/temp/Hymek2.jpg

Does anyone know if its possible to get replacement couplings for Bachmann
locos but with a wider bar?
I am finding with my 56xx tank that the long wheel base on sharp curves
causes the wagons to be pushed off the rails as there is insufficient

At Liverpool, I purchased a Hanovale Capacitor Discharge Unit.  They
promised that it would fire 5 sets of Peco points simultaneously.  I
finished wiring it up today, but it won't even fire 3 sets of points.
I am using 1N4004 diodes in series with the motors.  It will fire 2

If you'll forgive the somewhat off topic post, I have a problem with
which I was hoping model railroaders might be able to help me.
For a purpose other than models (speakers), I need 4 knife switches
that I'd like to be either nice and retro looking, or at least

Thank you everyone for bearing with me as I move this brass inventory.  I
have 4 more engines for sale on Ebay.  Thanks for looking.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3158665473
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3158666825

Does Punchbowl hobbies still open Sunday's and if so what times?
Thanks,
Jack Russell