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Also, MRC decoders are not compatible with JMRI. In case you don't know, JMRI is a free program that makes working with sound decoders a breeze. Once again, MRC dances to a different drummer. I'm 4 for 4 on MRC decoders crapping out. No more for me. The best part of MRC decoders is their flashy...

The one year of overlap referred to was between the baby (4500hp) turbines and the U50’s. The overlap between the 8500 hp turbines and the U50’s was 6 or 7 years. (The U50’s as you recall we're riding on the undercarriage of the 4500hp turbines.):)

Wow, till I read this thread I thought I was the only one who thought MR was going downhill. I've got over 55 yrs. of MR in the cupboard. I now blow through an issue in about 15 minutes and I'm done with it. Doesn't take long to go through 82 pages, probably a 1/4 of which is ads. I'm trying to...

Uh, I think I'd rather pay $7.95 at Traintek rather than $175 (you've got to be kidding) on Amazon. Most sellers in the $300 range and then the killer $532. According to these prices I must have at least a half mil in my cupboard. Aah, capitalism at its finest.

Very slim. I don't recall seeing them M.U.'d with many diesels. I'd have to check my reference books for pictures. The Big Blows pretty much ran alone, occasionally with SD24’s, GP9 etc. The 8500 hp turbines didn't mind the high altitude crossing the divide. The U50's were not finding the high...

Well, there's brass and then there's brass. I guess what I'm trying to say is that all brass is not created equal. I've been into brass for over 50 years and I custom painted for about 12 years. Between what I've collected and painted, I've seen a lot of brass. ALCO was one of the pioneers in...

The Tsunami install is very easy. All in the tender, no resistors needed, just plug sound board in and install (and baffle) speaker. Can't help you on the whistles. Here's a howto from Litchfield Station. This is where I bought the parts for the install...

The baby turbines, as they were called, would probably not be found running with the U50's. The 4500hp turbines, both slab side & veranda, were in service from 52-64. The U50 service life was from 63-77. While there is one year of overlap in the service lives of the two classes, it's not too...

More likely that the flywheels are out of round. Not much in the motor could cause vibration. If you can remove the flywheels ( one at a time) then run and try to isolate the guilty party. If the motor still vibrates after removing the flywheels, then there is no fix other than to replace the...

Here's a candidate: http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page142.htm Check their site.

I didn't think JMRI & MRC were compatible no matter what cable you have. You might want to do a little more checking. MRC guards their DCC like the Colonel guards his chicken recipe.

Might also point out that communications now are light years ahead of where we were in the 60's. Cell phones were not in everbody's pocket. So a S&W or a Colt made sense back then. Nowdays you can be in contact with authorities almost immediately and a chopper can be in the air. Jesse wouldn't...

I never had the pleasure of seeing the Trix version. I understand they were very fine models both detail and running wise. I did see a Trix USRA 2-8-2 and it was very impressive. Only downside with the Trix versions was it was about double the price of other makers, almost brass prices.

When I saw this picture, "Little Joe" came to mind. Can't remember if this was Varney, Tyco or ??? Seems one of these even appeared on John Allen's G & D? Maybe I'm just hallucinating on cookies. My wife is baking Christmas cookies and its my duty to sample each batch- kind of a quality control...

I know that many people, upon finding some vintage trains, (Lionel in particular), think they have struck the mother lode. I'm guessing that 99.9% have little to no value and probably have trouble disposing of the stuff. As the other posters have mentioned don't quit your day job based on what...

I guess your choice partly depends on whether you are interested in prototype fidelity and/or will be operating using DC or DCC. I wouldn't even consider the Bowser. While they may be great pullers, they are 60-70's technology and crude by today's standards. They are difficult to add details to...

There is a big Santa Fe Northern fully restored and roaming around in the CA NM area but I don't recall that the railroad had anything to do with the restoration. I'll see if I can find a link. I think it was a private/volunteer group that did the restore. The Illinois Railway Museum has a...

AllenB, this may help you with getting JMRI installed. http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/the-245/LocoBuffer-USB--dsh--USB/Detail I know nothing about Digitrax, but this happened to catch my eye. Ulrich provides a lot of good stuff especially for lighting Athearn Locos. Lots of good info on...

Railfan, you have just discovered one of the knocks against MRC, DCC. It doesn't play nice with all conventional systems like Digitrax or NCE does. Earlier versions of their decoders would not allow you to read back cv's when programming. I don't know if this is still true on later versions, but...

Well, Athearn thinks that celcon is a better material for handrails. I guess the good news is that the celcon is more flexible and less prone to snapping/warping. I don't know enough about this material, which is also referred to as an engineering plastic (whatever that means). The downside is...