What’s New for February 2010 - February 23, 2010

As you know Winter has been rough here on the East Coast. Weathermen are reporting that this is the worst winter ever recorded in Washington. Snow, snow and more snow. As a result of the constant, and ever deeper snow, people only go out for the necessities. A trip to the train shop is NOT a priority. Wel...We here at Peach Creek Shops feel your pain, and to make your life easier we are going to help you solve the problem of obtaining the "necessities" and STILL go to the train shop!

On any day that it is snowing we will be offering a FREE roll of toilet paper with every order over $10.00! This offer is limited to one roll per walk-in customer. Selection of toilet paper brand and quality is at the discretion of Peach Creek Shops, it's agents and affiliates and other ner-do-wells. Current item being offered is the Chinese made "Heavy Duty" version, commonly known in the US as "John Wayne" toilet tissue. Void where prohibited. Promotional products are not returnable.

Atlas Stuff
The Atlas MP-15s are here! We have the DCC w/sound versions and the DCC only versions. Union RR, all the different numbers and colors. Check the listing for details.

Bachmann
As I mentioned last month, Bachmann shuts down for the month of January to take inventory and they do not fill orders. I do know that the C&O H-4s (HO scale versions, N scale Versions) are on the water and should arrive late February. These will definitely be worth the wait. I had a chance to see one of the production modes at the World's Greatest Hobby Show in Chantilly, Va. A few models were flown info display and advertising purposes.

Unfortunately, other products that had been advertised in the 2009 catalog are still lagging far behind. Most notably the HO gas-electrics with trailer, and the HO 0-6-0T saddle tank locos. The gas-electric will have an all new clerestory coach, not a rework of the old HO heavyweight coaches Bachmann hsa made for years. These old coaches are gone and will not return. The dies have finally worn out. So if you are trying to find some of these cars, you better buy them now. We have a few left in a variety of roads. Call for details.

This 0-6-0T is the perfect engine for early steel mills. They lasted in mill service until the 40's and maybe even later. This is a good reliable short wheelbase DCC equipped loco that will negotiate the tight curves typically found in steel mills. If all goes well we may have a new version with a steel mill name on it. We are taking orders for these. See the listing.

We still have a good supply of the C&O 12VC tenders that Bachmann made for us. This is the same tender they will have behind the new C&O H-4 but it was used behind several different classes of C&O locos. 2-8-0s, 4-6-2s, 4-8-2s, 2-8-8-2s, etc. and of course, in later years as water tenders for steam trains. It sure will look nice behind the new Bachmann steam work crane that is due this month. One very neat thing about this tender is the ease with which you can get to the decoder socket. Traditionally, Vanderbilt tenders have been a pain for decoder and sound installation. You couldn't just lift the superstructure off the frame as you could with a rectangular tender. On a Vanderbilt tender the frame and the bottom third of the water tank are the same piece. Well Bachmann solved the problem. The front coal sheet is easily removable. Gently pull forward on the top of the front coal sheet and it pops out. Then slide out the coal load. Voila! Instant access to the decoder jumper plug and plenty of room to fiddle in a speaker. Clever.

Notice: We have just completed updating the Bachmann product listing with the NEW prices. Price increases are modest, in the range of 5%. But here is the good news. If we have it in stock, and it was purchased by us from Bachmann BEFORE the price increases, we will sell it at the old price. Several "NEW" products appear on this listing but the availability dates are not yet available.

NOTICE ON TRACK PURCHASES.
Due to an unfortunate abuse of our return policy we will no longer accept returns or exchanges of track. This includes Walthers, Atlas, Bachmann, Peco and all the other brands of track we carry. Why the change? Two reasons. There have been instances where an individual has "returned" track that wasn't purchased from us, and there have been instances where an individual purchased a lot of track before Christmas and then returned it all after Christmas. For most of you, this is a non issue.

Walthers Steel Mill Stuff.
If you have seen the February Walthers flyer you have probably noticed that they are having a sale on all of the HO steel mill stuff. Most of the time our prices are even lower than their sale prices but if you see it advertised in their flyer for less than our discount price, we will honor the lower price. Why the sale? Walthers sales did not meet their expectations and they feel that the desire for steel mill models may be ending. Yeah, right. Regardless of whether you believe this, there is every reason to believe that the decision makers at Walther are losing their enthusiasm for the steel mill project. Translation. Buy it now, you may not get another opportunity.

We are carrying a new line of DCC Systems
A few years ago DCC systems were evolving so rapidly that it was difficult for a shop choose a particular system to support for fear of being left with an inventory that had fallen out of favor due to advances in some other DCC system. This left the shop owner (me) with the problem of what to stock and how much. My solution was to pick the Bachmann E-Z command as the beginners choice, and the Lenz Digital-Plus system for the higher end. Why? The Bachmann was really inexpensive and reliable and the Lenz was a top of the line system that met ALL of the NMRA standards.

But times have changed and a new player has come onto the scene with a really great product. MRC. MRC? Yep. MRC. You may remember them making some of the worst, hardest to use and generally poor DCC systems in the early days. We had one of these in the shop and you had to be concert Zither player to run more than one train. Just terrible. But they learned from their mistakes and their new systems are the most user friendly I have ever seen. Go to the DCC section for more details.

Model Rectifier DCC Comes of Age
DCC has entered the age where it is no longer a tinkerer's system, but one that can easily be used without requiring knowledge of CV's and other esoteric control functions. Today's systems are user friendly and robust. One of the leaders in this movement to friendlier systems is MRC. MRC offers three DCC systems that can accommodated the needs, and budget of the beginner as well as the sophisticated operator. The Prodigy Express is a sophisticated throttle that will fill the needs of all but the most advanced operator. The Prodigy Advance2 and the Prodigy Wireless offer the highest level of functionality.

MRC has developed a hand control that is intuitive and user friendly. Want to change speed steps? It's a one-button function. Want to change loco address? Press loco, enter four-digit address and press enter. You are now controlling a different engine. I've always liked running a train with a knob throttle with a positive zero position. It just seems more comfortable to me. MRC has it (click here for features). This is the most user-friendly hand controller I've ever used.

By the way, if you want an insight to how difficult the decision can be for someone to decide to convert to DCC, I urge you to go to YOUTUBE.COM and search for "Hitler goes DCC". The anguish, the pain, the confusion......The humor....

I'll have more new stuff to report on next month. I just returned from the Nurnberg Toy Show and I think I'll be able to show you some new items for the steel mill modeler.

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Can't Find It?

If you don't see it on our web site, just ask. We probably have it, and if we don't we can get it and sell it to you at a discount!

voice: 301-498-9071
fax: 301-498-9302
email: peachcreek@aol.com