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Spectrum K4 LI Tom, I happen to have one of the earlier Spectrum K4s and paid about $70 for it on sale. It is a smooth runner, however I agree that it is rather light and one might want to add weight. But, lets think about it. I usually run 5 spectrum coaches with it and everything is fine...

Canada - USA First off, a belated happy Canada Day to our Canadian railroaders. And, a happy July 4th to our American railroaders. I must agree that I don't find much to buy at retail stores anymore. I model a specific period in time and that is the 1940s and 1950s. I was young then and...

Bachman FT Miles, I was hoping you wouldn't ask for a photo of my FT conversion. Its at my other house in Canada. However, I will be there by the end of the month and can do. My fear is that you will not be able to find a B unit. I have photos of the warbonnets in what was a typical A-B-A...

Bachman FT Dear Miles Western, It is the F7 shell that has the pilot way too short. I replaced the pilot with one taken from an Athearn shell and after a little filing and filler it looks good. I only have to mask and repaint the red areas with true SF red. I am pleased with the detailing...

Bachman FT Nice photo, RockIsland! The Bachman FT is not new. I bought a Bachman FT about 20 years ago and wasn't satisfied with the running gear, so I put the shell on an Athearn frame and motor. That was a long time ago. More recently, I bought Bachman F7 A-B-B-A units and was amazed...

How young is "too young?" Dear Lisa, I am a senior citizen and my mother recently gave back my very first train set. It was her bracelet! Apparently I used to drag her bracelet across the floor making train sounds before I was old enough to walk. I was 5 when my father gave me an American...

I am intrigued by the scale appearance, but I have to ask the question: how prone are they to uncoupling on uneven track. Everything has to be within some sort of tolerance - even when using big No.5 Kadees as I do - but tracklaying is not an exact science; particularly on modular layouts that...

Vista Dome Interiors There is a possible solution. Bachmann produces a full length vista dome car which they called the 85' passenger coach for the Auto Train, part number 1252. It comes complete with full up and down seating. The beauty of this car is that it comes with enough vista dome...

Freight Car Eras Sponge Mike, If you want to model the '60s era, you might look for rolling stock that you might remember having seen during that period. Also, it was about that time that roof walks began to disappear from most box cars, but you could still find a few left on. Further, most...

Correct Color for Trucks Not an easy task! What I would discourage is the use of a uniform color on each pair of trucks for each and every car in your consist. You need a little variety. The rust and weathering on each and every pair of trucks on the prototypes differs a bit because each...

Bowser K-4 Pulling Power Alright guys! You are talking about the amazing pulling power of the Bowser 4-6-2, well I have a Bowser 2-10-0 that should pull the pants off of the 4-6-2 except for the fact that only four drive wheels actually make contact with the rail. Since I don't own one, are...

Walthers Curved No. 8 Dear MopacNut, I was noticing your handiwork on the photo. I'm a bit curious on the inside curve rail modification. I can see that the turnout points are shown thrown for the inside curve and make flush contact on the outer rail. Perhaps it is lense distortion or do I...

IHC/Rivarossi on Code 83 This is a problem that I haven't been able to solve. I have quite a few Rossi/IHC locos and was planning on running Code 83. I agree with the comment that Code 83 flex track has spike heads that lay rather low allowing Rossi flanges the clearance that they need. Big...

Dear Glen, I am new to the west coast and live near Vancouver. I've attended train shows and swap meets in Nanaimo and Burnaby and found some excellent buys. Would you happen to have a schedule of train shows coming up in the lower mainland? It seems that this information is no longer...

What a great story! I often wonder if we lose kid's interest in trains by showing them a model of an old steamer that has never entered into their life experience. Sure, they recognize and identify with a VIA or Amtrak train, but its nice to know the even though kids have not experienced steam...

Canadian Superstores That is a nice looking loco. I regret that I did not stop at the Superstores this year to see it for myself. Is it built by IHC and does it have the oversize wheel flanges? How much did it sell for? Looking forward to seeing the completion of your modifications. -Ed

Drive-In Movie Theater I saw a drive-in movie theater that incorporated a small flat screen TV set built into the side of a mountain on an HO modular layout. The mountain absorbed the remainder of the TV set and the TV screen was framed to resemble the construction of the old movie screen. It...

Sw 1500 I just finished creating an SW1500 calf using Athearn parts. Some modification was necessary in order to eliminate the steps on one side and replace it with skirting, and also to add details like headlamps, radiator and such. Painting and decaling were a bit of a chore since I chose...

Listening to the conversation, I have to add that I have a Lionel SP GS-4 and the loco and tender were backdated to a GS-2 configuration. It is one beautifully detailed and accurate loco! Sure, its not worth much to a Lionel collector, but I couldn't be happier with the results. So go ahead...

Compatible KD Couplers Thanks for the reminder! I forgot that KD actually has a 'scale' coupler where the head is smaller than that of the previous line, including the popular No. 5. What I previously meant is that the coupler heads are designed to be either in line with the coupler shank...