On30 Jackson & Sharp coaches to regauge to standard O gauge

[norman]

Dear Mr. Bachmann and others:

I bought a set of Bachmann ON30 Jackson & Sharp coaches which I wish to run on O gauge standard gauge track.

Any suggestions for replacement standard gauge passsenger car trucks?

Is there a Williams passenger or freight car truck which would fit? I would replace the 3 rail wheels with 2 rail wheels if the William wheels provide an electrical short between the two outside rails.

Thank you

Norman

[the Bach-man]

Dear Norman,
It's going to be a tight fit. I'm not sure the result will justify the effort.
Good luck!
the Bach-man

[BillD53A]

If you go to Don Hensley's TAPLINES website there is a photo of  3 foot gauge passenger cars riding on standard gauge trucks.  I think those cars were longer than the J&S cars.  The train ended its days as a logging camp in Florida.

[steamrusty]

Hey norman,
I tested it with an Athaern bogie - they are to broad. Bachmann build his stuff a little bit smaller than 0n3 I think. My Standard gauge bogies fit perfectly under the LaBelle 0n3 coach.
I don't know the measures of the Williams bogies.
Best wishes
steamrusty

[tac]

There are a whole couple of pages on this very subject over on mylargescale.com.

Quite frankly, it would look VERY odd - the 0n30 passenger cars are VERY small by comparison with a standard gauge model.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

[tac]

Hey norman,
I tested it with an Athaern bogie - they are to broad. Bachmann build his stuff a little bit smaller than 0n3 I think. My Standard gauge bogies fit perfectly under the LaBelle 0n3 coach.
I don't know the measures of the Williams bogies.
Best wishes
steamrusty

Steamrusty - I didn't know that Athearn made 0 gauge stuff.  Do tell.  Of course, 0n3 is going to be bigger than 0n30 - the rail 'gauges' of 0n3 is a scale foot wider, allowing larger vehicles to be used.

Look at the difference between a Durango and Silverton car [3ft gauge] and a Sandy River car [2ft gauge].

tac
www.ovgrs.org

[steamrusty]

Hey tac,
Yes, Athaern made  scale parts in the past. Ich only know the trucks: archbar, Bettendorf and Andrews. My dealer here in Germany told me, that they will no more produced. I got the last of his stock.  Don't know wether they made rolling stock.
The widness of Bachmann rolling stock is between 2' and 3'. I build these two gauges in large scale, so I know the difference.
Years ago someone regauged a Mogul loco from 0n30 to 0 scale. It was a nice little thing. I think the Bachmann coach is smaller than Williams or Lionel.  Regauging the rolling stock of Bachmann will be a little bit dificult but an interesting idea for opening next scratchbuilding season...
Best wishes
steamrusty

[mmiller]

Steamrusty - I didn't know that Athearn made 0 gauge stuff.  Do tell.  Of course, 0n3 is going to be bigger than 0n30 - the rail 'gauges' of 0n3 is a scale foot wider, allowing larger vehicles to be used.
tac
www.ovgrs.org

sorry tac, that is really wrong. The gauge difference between On3 and On30 is about 4 3/4 scale inches (about 3/32" of a real inch) nowhere near a foot wider, assuming one is using HO gauge track...

and while the size narrow gauge rolling stock can vary wildly (sometimes in the same train )On3 and On30 rolling stock is generally about the same size...in fact the Bachmann On30 combine is a dead ringer for a Southern Pacific 3 foot gauge combine

[tac]

You're right.

I'm wrong.

However, making a car that is meant to run on 16.5mm gauge, run on 32mm gauge is going to look, well, odd.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

[Royce Wilson]

Why not just purchase a O scale wood LaBelle passenger kit?  they are fun to build.

Royce

[lvrr325]

Athearn made O-scale trains until the mid-1950s, when they were discontinued.  They reappeared in 1970 when the tooling was purchased by Pacific HO and went through several hands into the 1980s.  The die cast trucks were not re-used, to reduce costs.  The kits were metal and wood and included only a 40' box car in three variants (wood sheathed with wood sides, aluminum sides, and metal sides), 50' DD box car, and an excellent 40' steel reefer.  I have a few of them on a strip of O standard gauge track on my layout.