Walt,
The 031 track will not work with your particular train with out modification, more than one person purchasing this set has had this problem, MTH should not have packaged the 031 track with this particular set. As you see everything works quite well with your 042, the 036 should work also. Walt you have to be one of the most unlucky runners I have ever seen, some of the things that happen to you are just amazing. Wish somebody lived closer to you, so they could give you a hand on some of these problems, that is for sure, I can understand why you are frustrated.
Bob,
This is one of the trains that has rolling stock that will not run on 031 track without modification, the MTH cars are not made exactly like the originals and they bind on 031 track, either you must use 036 and bigger track or rework the rolling stock. MTH never tested this train to see if it would actually run on 031 RealTrax.
PCRR/Dave
