Hi All.

First:

Getting ready to order some wheelsets to replace ALL plastic wheels on the rolling stock I have on hand, and would like to have a good mix of ribbed vs smooth back wheels.

I will be modeling the early-to-mid 1960s. Approximate percentage of ribs to smooth?

Next:

Has anyone ever taken apart a Bachmann John Bull tender? (the tender has the motor in it)

I'm wondering if there is room inside for a Digitrax N scale sound decoder... I figure the speaker could be mounted on the back of the tender, if the decoder can be hidden inside.

Maybe, if that isn't an option, there's a way to mount the decoder on top, and disguise it, but disguise it as what? Maybe something covered with a tarp? (medical tape, painted, makes the perfect HO scale burlap tarp... "Long May the Burlap Wave", and all that)

I told the story earlier of how I got this kit free from my LHS. What it needs is some new parts that are closer to today"s quality. The issue is that San Juan Model Co is not up and running yet. (new owners of Grandt Line) And Precision Scale also has new owners and they aren't up and running yet either. So who has HOn3 car parts, passenger and freight?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I'm going to be doing my first DCC sound decoder install on an older blue box DCC ready Proto2000 GP9. I'd like to either install an 8 pin PNP ESU Loksound Select or V4.0 decoder. I'll utilize a sugar cube speaker chamber in the car roof.