Hello folks,
Newbie and new forum member here. My kid's (2,4) aren't quite old enough for their own proper train layout yet (my son does love his Plarail setup though) , but I've been steadily acquiring 0-27/31 compatible items from resale shops and such for the future and for use on the loop we setup each year which is based around a Lionel Scout set from around 2011 or so.
Anyway, I just picked up the Railking Songebob 0-4-0 Dockside RTR set
http://mthtrains.com/30-4118-0
at my local Goodwill. Probably my best resale find ever!
Haven't been able to try it out yet, but it looks virtually unused, though it is missing the remote control. My questions are numerous, so thanks ahead of time for bearing with me.
1) From what I've been able to determine, the remote control system wasn't known to be incredibly reliable, and I don't have any way of finding out if the IR lockout even works. Should I bother to hunt down a replacement remote (probably this one http://mthtrains.com/50-1011 ) or just forget the IR system entirely?
2)I assume the transformer (a Z500) works, but I don't know for sure. I do have a digital Multimeter, but am clueless as to what setting I should use and what reading I should be looking for.
3) The Track is of course MTH Realtrax, of the solid rail variety. Right now we have Fastrax for the Christmas set and my Dad has the old Lionel tubular track for his trains. Is there any point in holding on to the Realtrax or should I sell/trade it off for a different variety. Is it likely that my local train store would trade it in (an a discount of course) for one of the other two varieties?
4) If I get rid of the Realtrax, is there any point in holding on to the z500?
5) Despite the garish paint scheme, the 0-4-0 Docksider seems to be a really well built and solid little engine and the cars are nice too. Will all the functionality of the engine and the musical caboose be accessible through the Lionel "Scout" setup? I'm pretty sure it is this one:
https://www.lionel.com/product...027E&PageID=2003
