Need Help

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I bought BACHMANN HO McKinley Explorer train set. I am not very happy with it . The couplers came out from the cars. I have EZ track and it doesn't fit well.

I am new to this hobbyy and trying to find out which one's are best. Not sure Bachmann is a top company . I want to stick to HO because of its size.

If someone can help me to decide which one to buy it will be of great help.

Thanks
Ken

[Anonymous]

Hi and welcome to the World's Greatest Hobby !!
You have actually posted your question to an "O" gauge train forum that is affiliated with Classic Toy Trains magazine. There is a magazine and a forum that caters more towards "HO" gauge than this one. That magazine (and forum) is for Model Railroader magazine. The link for their forum is:

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/default.asp?CAT_ID=8

I am sure that some of the members of that forum can help......BUT, while I have your attention... please do give some thought to "O" gauge. You can build a wonderful layout on as small as 4' x 8', and of course you can even go somewhat smaller than that. We have track that can have curves of 27 inch diameter, and that lets one pack a lot of action into a small space. That is called "O-27". You can also make layouts with curve diameters of 31 inches, 36 inches, 42 inches, 56 inches, etc. The "O" gauge trains are more durable and do not fall apart with handling as much as "HO" does. If you have kids or grnad kids who will want to see the trains and maybe even share the fun, "O" gauge tends to be better because of less risk that the kids can damage something just by looking at it.

Anyway, no matter what gauge you wind up with, welcome again and happy railroading!

[Roger Bielen]

Ken - welcome to the world of toy trains. This forum mostly deals with the O-gauge size trains, your question would best be answered over on the Model Railroader forum on this web site. I am sure will will get a number of different opinions for your quest since us hobbiest can be quite opinionated at times. Good luck.

[lionelsoni]

Ken's question would be answered better on the Model Railroader forum. But let's remember that "toy trains" comprises a variety of scales and gauges, not just O.

[cnw1995]

Hi Ken, welcome to a great hobby. Bachman makes a lot of affordable train sets. You'll also find additional pieces of EZ track to expand that oval or include switches at most hobby stores both in the brick-and-mortar versions and online. My experience with EZ track is it 'clicks' together so strongly I could actually hang the oval of track on the wall when not in use. So if it is not doing so, it may be worth a call to their customer service folks. You'll also find them online. As far as the couplers are concerned, there are several types - ones that look like 'horn-hooks' and others that look more like a real train. In my experience, the former are ones that used to be pretty standard across the offerings of the hobby, the latter are more 'after-market' add-ons. They are eminently affordable and generally 'plug in' to the coupler box. You may be well-served by taking a car into a local hobby store and asking for advice about what might best fit.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses. I will post in the HO forum.

Thanks again for all the help.