Diesel locos

Alpine Railroad in NJ

I have been building an Alpine scene railroad in DCC and DC over the last few years in Z scale and have been inspired by other great blogs to start my own and record my progress/trials/tribulatons. I have learned so much from other member's comments in other blogs and I am hoping my story will help others and I may be lcky enough to have some of my questions answered my my hurtles overcome.

How to open the shell on an MTH GP35 HO

A friend of mine had a DCC-Ready MTH GP-35 (HO scale) for a while, and I offered to install a DCC decoder in it since after all it's just a trivial task of inserting a 8-pin decoder in there (no sound needed). I mean, how hard can it be?

MTH GP35 tabs location

New to model trains, wanting to set up for disabled child

I am wanting to get a set up for my disabled child. He has physical as well as cognitive issues. I don’t want to continue to purchase battery operated trains with cheap plastic track that he is unable to manipulate without breaking the tabs. He also has issues with getting the cars to sit on the tracks correctly so that they will run around without falling off. I just need to know a starting point as I have no clue with anything means or what’s available for disabled people in regards to model trains. I don’t understand the difference in gauge, dc, doc power, etc.

duckdogger's picture

When Older Locomotives Come Out of The Closet

Older Proto 2000 E-Units Coming Out of The Closet (in a manner of speaking)

These processes have a broad application for whatever older locomotives you might choose to upgrade.

SOO Line F Units

SOO LINE F Units

To All: Two SOO LINE F Units I detailed, painted, weathered and dull coated. They are the old Bachmann. I used rrpicturearchives.net for photos to do these units. Photo by Elvin Howland. Yours, Elvin Howland/E. St. Louis Rail Group Layout.

Montanan's picture

North Coast Limited

The North Coast Limited. Growing up in Montana, we took countless trips from Montana to Chicago on the North Coast Limited. I loved the Lowey paint scheme and wondered how I could have those colors show up on my freelance railroad as I do connect to the Northern Pacific. Years ago I picked up an Athearn Genisis F-7 and some Walthers passenger cars in the Lowey paint scheme and used it as a tourist train from Logan, Mt down to West Yellowstone, MT to take tourist to Yellowstone National park.

Looking to modify truck center on Athearn bluebox frame.

Hello, new to these forums and look forward to all the information in here. I have been tossing around the idea of an Amtrak GP40TC which use an SD38/40/45 frame but on 4 axle trucks. I was wondering if anyone has ever modified the frame length or changed the truck center on old athearn blue box frames? Seems like something that would be able to be cut and graphed together.

MTH - Adding DCC & Sound

I'm thinking of purchasing an MTH GP35 without DCC or sound.  I know the installation of the DCC board is easy.  My question is how hard would it be to install sound in these MTH locos specifically?  Mind you, this is the first time I will be installing sound in any loco.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

scribbelt's picture

Kato Ho Scale Worm Gear Tensioners

Hello, a while back, I had a DCC sound install done in a Ho scale Kato NW2 loco.

Just out of curiosity, I opened up the split frame loco to verify the gear assembly because it was quite noisy and sluggish.

What I noticed is that both worm gear tensioners were missing, I cannot get in touch with the person who installed the DCC.

I searched the web for these replacement parts and they are no where to be found, I even contacted Kato and they do not carry them anymore.

Are these parts essential or vital to the worm gear assembly?


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