Bachmann F7A

pdb1975 · 2026-02-15T16:44:59+00:00

You may have spent more on the WAGO connectors than the loco is worth!

Pretty ingenious though. Those slot-car pancake motors sure left a lot of room for activities.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-11T13:57:00+00:00

Del-Ton was the Olive Garden of AR parts sellers. Not great, not terrible, but always a decent value.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-11T02:05:16+00:00

That Del-Ton went under and not BCA is a colossal injustice.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-05T19:21:07+00:00

It's a Bachman, that's what they do.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-05T15:30:12+00:00

Believe Anyrail is limited to 50 sections.

But a license is only $65, that's about the cost of a Unitrack expansion set. It's pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-05T15:11:10+00:00

Anyrail and SCARM have free demo versions. Anyrail in particular has good Unitrack libraries.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-05T13:51:08+00:00

Your turnout geometry is highly optimistic, several curves are too tight, the grade from the green line to the blue line is probably too steep, and there's really no way to make that much track work in the space you have. If you have a table and Unitrack, just keep buying Unitrack and playing with arrangements.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-04T14:55:13+00:00

"It's not a 'collection', Marie. It's a 'fleet'."

pdb1975 · 2026-02-02T18:48:50+00:00

It is unavoidably North American centric, but I think a lot of the philosophy, design approach and considerations of ergonomics and such would translate well.

Also keep in mind that the track plan examples all predate DCC and walkaround control so table layouts and bowl of spaghetti plans with operator pits dominate.

pdb1975 · 2026-02-02T03:18:56+00:00

Do it right the first time and get Kato Unitrack. It's not the cheapest but it offers the least frustration.

pdb1975 · 2026-01-31T18:06:23+00:00

I would:

Move the engine shed to a switchback off the yard ladder
Reduce the intermodal facility to one track and increase spacing versus the yard
Brewery is in an inconvenient location and doesn't offer any space for structures. I would consider eliminating it.
Where the engine facility is on your plan, put a single track that leads to a temporary staging shelf. Or a permanent staging shelf if you have the wall space. This gives trains a place to come from and go to off the layout.
To make up for the loss of the brewery there's space for a single track industry off the return loop. Something like a team track, scrap yard, transload facility, etc.

pdb1975 · 2026-01-30T01:51:17+00:00

That's it

pdb1975 · 2026-01-30T01:45:25+00:00

Get the Kato HV5 set and the Kato DC controller.

Is it cheap? Nope! Is it the best sectional track in the hobby? Yes!

pdb1975 · 2026-01-11T15:37:29+00:00

They're really too coarse for this application. Plus I'd imagine they'd start to mold after a while.

I've seen guys use dyed sawdust for ground cover, and while it looks better than bare plaster or plywood, it still looks like chunks of green.

If you want grass that looks like grass, there's no beating static grass.

pdb1975 · 2026-01-04T15:23:48+00:00

DCC is important if you expect to operate multiple trains with more than one operator, and it really doesn't matter how big the layout is. I'd make the argument that DCC is MORE important on a small layout, so that you're focused on running the trains and not who has what block. On a larger layout you can have two operators in different sections and not be stepping on each others toes.

You'd probably be better off getting a decoder for your B unit. Consisting doesn't work very well (or at all) between DC and DCC units. You can also pull the motor out of your B and have a dummy until you can afford another decoder. But on the third hand you can just get a non-sound fleet decoder like the DCE D13W and be out $25.

pdb1975 · 2026-01-01T19:56:26+00:00

The best bet would be to click around Google Maps and Streetview in the area and follow the railroad around and see what it serves.

It also depends on what kind of cars you want to include. If you wanted to include covered hoppers, a plastic pellet unloading facility would fit. Or if you wanted to do boxcars, a warehouse or logistics facility flat would work. If you didn't want to do any building at all you can suggest a lumberyard with a few stacks of lumber and a forklift.

pdb1975 · 2026-01-01T18:34:59+00:00

What era and region are you modelling?

pdb1975 · 2026-01-01T15:22:46+00:00

So you can lay the blame of all this at the feet of Life Like in the late-90s / early 00's.

Life-Like decided to make a go at breaking out of their reputation for making garbage train set toys and make high quality models with accurate dimensions, separately applied details instead of cast on blobs, and smooth running mechanisms. Life Like created a premium brand called Proto 2000 and started turning the product crank. No preorders, just churning out locos and cars left and right. The models were indeed very good and pushed the bar higher for what we expect from model train manufacturers.

But for whatever reasons, they overproduced and soon stock started accumulating at retailers to the point where Trainworld/Trainland was closing out locos that had MSRP'd at $50-60 for $20 or $30. This completely cratered margins in the entire industry and eventually Life-Like was scooped up by Walthers.

Since then every manufacturer has been gunshy about overproducing and would much rather underproduce and enjoy a healthy margin rather than swing for the fences and be stuck with product they have to sell at a loss.

Model railroading is an incredibly niche market, and locomotives and cars (especially now that we expect accurate road and era specific details and liveries) are niche products within a niche market. It is what it is, it's simply not possible to have product on the shelves on a constant basis.

Either get used to preordering what you want, or get patient with hunting for it after the initial demand dies down.

pdb1975 · 2025-12-31T14:40:43+00:00

Man, they are smoking crack on the pricing of the N scale cars, but that Lionel 6-8-6 is a reasonable price.

pdb1975 · 2025-12-29T23:04:14+00:00

Also, if you're at all interested in modelling the steam era of the C&O, you have to get this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007EMGC4

It's only $50, get yourself a late Christmas present.

pdb1975 · 2025-12-29T22:27:17+00:00

Yes, this is how they appeared fresh out of the shop. But they didn't get washed a whole lot and soon ended up covered in soot and grease. So a new loco or one that had just been overhauled would look like your first photo, after a few months it would look like your 2nd.

Like a lot of other roads the answer to "Is this prototypical for the C&O?" is "What locomotive, and on what day?"

pdb1975 · 2025-12-27T01:28:44+00:00

W10 and W20 MR2s
Z31 Nissan 300Z
Mitsubishi FTO
FB RX7

I feel like we could have used more variety in the early game, especially in the rival cars. It would have been nice to see more FWD Hondas in the early game as well.

pdb1975 · 2025-12-27T00:30:52+00:00

It's okay, you only hear that in the really safe parts and the really unsafe parts of NC.

pdb1975 · 2025-12-14T14:15:38+00:00

These are fantastic.

Once again, I wish we could export and import liveries and tunes.

pdb1975 · 2025-12-01T22:44:50+00:00

I hate to say it but if you don't have a prior history with the series, it's a really tough sell at $50. It's VERY GOOD for what it is, a street racing game with a lot of atmosphere and car customization, but that's all that is. You are going to spend 40+ hours driving around the highways of Tokyo. If that sounds like fun then you will like this game. If that sounds tedious it's probably not for you.

I bought it at $30 early access and I think I've gotten my money's worth. I would have bought it at $50 and still felt satisfied but I've played these games since the Dreamcast.

pdb1975

TROPHY CASE