Hi all, I've got a Athearn RTR SW1500 that I'm struggling to set up. I won it on e-bay and it came with an NCE decoder build in. This decoder was very basic however (it was an N scale decoder to boot), and I couldn't coax any low speed performance out of it. In fact, I needed to increase the throttle when it would suddenly start to move, but not good enough for switching.  I still had a TCS T4X decoder sitting around, which I had used previously in another loco before that one was converted to a sound equiped decoder. 

I'm seriously considering purchasing a Bachmann On30 4-6-0 w/ DCC/Sound. Anyone here have any experience with this engine? How does it run? How does it sound? Etc. It'll likely be running on ME On30 c/83 flextrak with #5 turnouts and 24" to 30" curves, no grades. Any input will be appreciated!

Every now and then, I get a train of Sergent-coupler equipped cars out to do some switching on my shelf layout.  Everytime, I'm fascinated with how they work. 

During this past iteration of fascination, I took some video.  The first is a short, very close view illustrating how the locking mechanism works - this was taken with my iPhone with an Olloclip macro lens attached (trying the lens was actually one of the reasons for taking the video).  I haven't found another video showing the mechanism so closely, so I thought it worth sharing.

  I am looking for a good acrylic paint that provides a close match to the color BNSF is using on their freight cars.  If it matches Athearn/Atlas/Accurail - Even better.  I see Floquil has ATSF 'Mineral Brown' available in their solvent line of paint.

  While I am at it, who has the best BNSF orange/green paints(again, in acrylic)? I have a couple of undec Kato engines that need to meet the air brush...

Jim Bernier