Durability of On30

It sounds like you have a good start.  Don't worry about the track and the Bachmann engines are very durable.

Al

Excellent.  Just what I was hoping to hear.  I have a few Bachmann locomotives in other scales, but haven't made any On30 purchases yet.  I'm going to keep an eye out at some upcoming train shows for some deals.

Having been into On30 for quite a while I can honestly say that the Bachmann rod locomotives are solid runners (, porters, davenports, 4-4-0, 4-6-0, Forney etc), however I have to be fair and mention that some of the Shays and Climaxes had gear problems which anyone into On30 at this point is (or should be aware of). Not all, but many of the shays had bad gears and required replacement.

I have 4 shays bought from 4 sources at 4 different times and all but one had the gear problems. Ironically, that one had electrical problems which I have since fixed. I did fix all the gears with Bachmann warranty replacement line shafts. 

I have since  installed Tsunami sound decoders in the above mentioned shays and while I was at it, rewired them and installed additional pick up pads on the wheels and they now run decent. I know that is going far, but I wanted them to run nice.

Now this post isn't meant to scare you from buying or knock Bachmann in any way, but those getting into it should be made aware. I am lucky that I have been modeling for 35+ years and have the ability to fix such things, but some don't have the ability or time. 

What Jey said: Stick with the Bachmann rod engines.

For a 4 hour per day demo layout I would go with the rod engines for continuous running and a have shay or climax on a back and forth with a timer section.  Maybe once every few minutes go from one end to the other and stop and then recycle.  The climax and shays have very delicate running gear.  Don't get me wrong they run great just don't think I would run one for 4 hours every day.  My 2cents worth!   Russ

I think you guys are right on sticking to the rod engines.  I have a bachmann G scale shay and it can be a pain to keep running correctly sometimes (of course I could always break down and buy the replacement die cast trucks to replace the plastic originals which are well known for self destructing).

The longest they'd be running in one shot is an hour before the show.  Then they have a rest between that and the half hour of intermission.  3 shows/weekend with that operating cycle.  But still, the rod engine is probably the way to go.  I'll keep my eyes open in a couple weeks for a deal on one at one of the local shows.

Thanks again