Looks Like I'm About To Become A T Scaler!

[Cannonball]

My T gauge 103 set arrived today! After some tweaking with the trucks a bit and lining up the powered cars so they are running in tandem, it's running like a top. It runs noticeably better counter-clockwise than clockwise for some reason. I haven't quite sorted that out yet. I think it's probably because the faster of the two powered cars is in front going counter-clockwise and there is too much pushing and shoving going on when I reverse directions. (Yes, one is quite a bit faster than the other.) As it stands, I've had it running for about 20 minutes without a derailment so far. (Aside from my daughter getting overly excited and knocking the tail car off..... hock: )

Some Random Thoughts:

1) It's very odd having the powered cars in the middle instead of in the front. I wonder if this contributes to some of the derailment issues?
2) Dave K. got it right in his blog. No picture in relation to size and scale totally prepares you for how small these things really are.
3) I really love the fact that it can run on batteries or with the power adapter. I'm surprised this feature isn't talked about more. It makes it the perfect portable train set.
4) I wish they had American locos and rolling stock. I can't kitbash to save my life.
5) A rerailing track section would probably be far more effective than this big, yellow stick.
6) I think I will definitely upgrade to a 9000 series when I get ready to do a full blown layout.