Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation

[Warflight]

*Whew*

Okay, so, I just got the Spectrum Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation (Southern Green of course, #722) off of eBay... it had never been opened, still factory sealed...

So I opened it, it had Mark I couplers, so I replaced those with the Mark II (because I have a lot of them left over) but they were separate (upon opening, I saw the couplers in a small plastic bag... I saved them for maybe some rolling stock at some point) anyway, putting the front one on was NOT easy...

So, I get it all put together, and decide to test it out...

It's on the track... I throttle up to "20"... nothing. I check the track, I move it a bit, throttle up to "30"... I hear the unmistakable whine of a free flying motor.

DAMN!

So I check again, and the wheels jerk, then free motor.

DOUBLE DAMN!

Okay... so, I panic just a bit... I check the paperwork... the "catalogue card" is for the 1998 catalogue... great... in the almost 20 years it's been on a shelf, sealed, and never opened, Ill bet the belt rotted away!

So... I can send it in, but, I'll never get the same engine back, and I kinda like that there are two Chinese women driving it... so I carefully look at the exploded view... okay, I can at LEAST check the belt. So I take it apart.

Belt is fine. Gears are metal... and they too are fine... then I notice the problem.

It is dryer than Beggar's Canyon on Tatooine! (I'm a nerd)

So, I gave it a drop of Bug Juice (gun oil) on the drive gear... kept the worm gear clean (it will get it's oil from the drive gear) put it all back together, and POOF! Runs like a champ! I haven't tested it since the "fix" on track yet, but, I went ahead and did the "break-in" on it's back on the cradle... that gave me a chance to clean the wheels (lots of factory schmutz on the drive wheels)

Now, and FYI on this engine... I had this question before I bought it, and neither the seller, nor the local train shop had an answer... IS THIS DCC READY!?!

Although the box does NOT say, I can attest to the fact that YES, it IS DCC ready... it is equipped with a dummy plug on the board in the tender, and plenty of room inside for a DCC Decoder. As for DCC sound... Although there is no seat for a speaker, and the board is attached to the weighted plate that is on the floor of the tender, there *IS* a small slit in the front of the tender, where the gates would open to release the coal for the foreman (I forget what that part is called) and from what I can see, if you used the oval speakers (that you see on a lot of Diesels, and "N" scale) it should be quite satisfying, as it will direct the sound straight to the cab, which, acoustically should be a pretty decent effect.

So... for you fans of older Spectrums, just in case you were looking at one at your hobby shop, or online, or whatever... the Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation (Item No 11413) in Southern Crescent Green, *IS* DCC ready, and you CAN put sound, if you get a decent, smaller speaker, and don't mind it coming out at the cab, instead of the roadbed. (Oh, and don't panic if it doesn't run at first, as all it needs is a drop of oil... if you can fit the damned coupler on the front, you can do that... I mean, hell, I almost said screw a front coupler! It was that frustrating)

[Hunt]

Suggest you use the Bug Juice on guns not model locomotives containing metal and plastic components.

In future, apply plastic compatible lubricates formulated for model railroad use.  If that were my locomotive I would remove the Bug Juice and replace it with appropriate lubricant.

Click Here for segment of a Bachmann video.

[Warflight]

Suggest you use the Bug Juice on guns not model locomotives containing metal and plastic components.

In future, apply plastic compatible lubricates formulated for model railroad use.  If that were my locomotive I would remove the Bug Juice and replace it with appropriate lubricant.

Ah... okay, will do. I figured because it was just straight silicon oil, that it would be okay. (It's Hoppe's #9) It said on the bottle that it's for "Firearms, Fishing reels, and all mechanisms metal or plastic" and the worm gear is metal, and the drive gear is plastic... but, I think I'll go ahead and clean it out... I'd rather not damage the engine.

[Warflight]

Okay, tested on track... no go.

On the cradle, it runs GREAT, but on track, the motor just spins. So, after close inspection, I have found it is not the drive gear... it's not the worm gear, and the belt is in perfect condition all the way around. The issue seems to be the motor assembly. The motor spins, but any load at all (including the weight of the engine on track) and the motor keeps spinning, however, the weight, and gear that drives the belt slips, and doesn't spin with the motor.

Has anyone had this issue before? Is this common in this engine from the 90s?

Man... I was all smarmy, and full of myself, thinking I fixed this with a drop of oil, and here I am, just being a schmendrick.

Ideas anyone?

[Warflight]

Okay, did some research, and found out what the problem is, thanks to some older posts from here, and Model Railroader...

The gear on the motor is cracked, and, of course you have to replace the entire motor, which, of course is not in stock.

Since it will be a "replace the whole assembly" situation, I think what I'm going to do, is see if I can find an alternate solution until they have the parts in stock... I'm contemplating, since the crack in the gear is so minor, it only slips under a load, and the flywheel is tight, and the gear is flush with the flywheel, if maybe I can use a small amount of epoxy, or lock-tight to seal the gear to the flywheel, so it has no choice but to spin.

If that works, I'll save myself from having to buy a whole new motor assembly... and if it doesn't? Well, I would be replacing the whole assembly anyway.

[Warflight]

GOOD NEWS! I have it fixed! NOW it's running like a champ, and now I see why so many folks love the 2-8-0 "Connie"! I just had it pull seven heavy cars on the test track, and it's beautiful!

So, my solution was to use some lock-tite on the loose gear, sealing it to the fly wheel (they touch anyway, so why not?) I figured if I was replacing the motor unit anyway, worse case, I ruin a already broken motor unit!

At first, I didn't think it worked... it was still slipping an hour after the repair, but today, I attempted to check it again, and it was sealed tight! (the gear, that is) Seems it just needed to cure over night. Plus, it's quite possible that last night, when I did the repair, I may not have lined everything up proper, as it was rather louder than before, but today, after getting it all put back together, it ran... on the cradle. So I applied some finger pressure to the wheels, and it still ran! So, I got out some q-tips, and some alcohol to clean the drive wheels (it was a bit greasy work, after all, and wanted to make sure they were clean) and oiled the spots that needed lubing (I have some machine oil specifically for plastic... no more "bug juice" for my trains, thanks to the suggestion from Hunt... I'll be buying the specific Bachmann oils this week) Set up the test track along my desk (I run about six feet of test track along the desktop with two 18" curves, a bunch of straights, and a slight incline towards the end) and it ran BEAUTIFULLY!

Then, to test fate, I hooked up six cars... it pulled them... then seven... then realized I didn't have a lot of room left for movement, and cars... but it still pulled them!

I am quite happy with the results.

[Trainman203]

I have 6 "spectrum with sound " 2-8-0's and one "standard " one .  They are my go- to engines out of the 50 or so I have. My SR one, an earlier spectrum one in freight black, would regularly walk 14 or 15 freight cars up a curved 2 percent at the old club layout.  All of them, with cv fine tuning, can be made to crawl like an ant.

The only thing about them is visual.  The prototype was a VERY heavy Harriman I.C. engine, very similar to giant SP engines. They tower over supposedly larger USRA engines which I have several of.    They don't look right on my branchline layout because of their size but they run so beautifully, so what.

Also , the only Bachmann SR engine that I've seen that  got the green color right was the modern Baldwin 4-4-0, a subtle dark pea green.  The green connie and green Richmond 4-4-0 are much too dayglo and electrifying.  Green was applied only to SR passenger engines from the mid 20's on, so the green Connie and 2-8-2 are correct really only for the excursion era.  The green 4-4-0's survived very late running in Alabama between Mobile and Selma over several light weight restrictive bridges.

[Warflight]

I LOVE my Richmond 4-4-0 (that was actually my first ever Spectrum, and so far, my only DCC engine, although the Connie, and the Heavy Mountain "George Washington" are both DCC ready, and I have a decoder on it's way) When I got it, it had a strong motor, but just no traction... it could barely pull two cars. Bit of "Bullfrog Snot" on the drivers (after so many people advised against it) and it runs, and pulls BEAUTIFULLY!

I'm really enjoying both of these though. I didn't even notice the colour difference until you said something... it's so very slight! When they are in use, I have them displayed on the bookshelf on my desk, facing each other, with a wee brakeman in between them to denote size (to the casual visitor)

I know it probably seems a bit silly, seeing how I plan to model the Wild West and all, but I just really love the green. The first engine I ever bough, back when I was 18, was a Tyco "Royal Blue"... it didn't really run well (tender pushed a long engine) but it was pretty, and put me in the mind of something elegant (and how was I to know it wouldn't run well... or it was pushed by it's tender?) Getting back into model railroading, after all these years, and I still find myself attracted to a brightly coloured steam engine, and passenger set. When I saw that Richmond, in that beautiful green, I knew I had to have it. Now, I just want to grab every Southern in green that I can (provided it's steam, of course)

[Trainman203]

A lot of engines in the pioneer west were very brightly painted with lots of brass trim.  In modern times the great northern painted their engines very nicely.  Look up the Bachmann great northern Baldwin 4-4-0 with the olive green boiler and red cab roof.

https://www.walthers.com/modern-baldwin-4-4-0-w-dcc-spectrum-r-great-northern-121-green-black-graphite

The Iron Mountain, a Missouri Pacific predecessor , painted their engines almost identically   

[Warflight]

Those are BEAUTIFUL! I'd love to find a more brightly painted "Jupiter" than the one from the 90s that I have... preferably with a wood load that doesn't look plastic. I understand the wood loads in the old Bachmanns because of the pancake motor, but one can hope for something better now, maybe?

[Terry Toenges]

Remove the wood load and whittle down some match sticks.

[Warflight]

Remove the wood load and whittle down some match sticks.

I have actually considered that! Maybe I'll do that with my 90s Jupiter just to experiment (I've done enough work on it already, after all... when folks say "it's junk, it isn't worth your time", I usually have to fix it out of spite)

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

GOOD NEWS! I have it fixed! NOW it's running like a champ, and now I see why so many folks love the 2-8-0 "Connie"! I just had it pull seven heavy cars on the test track, and it's beautiful!

So, my solution was to use some lock-tite on the loose gear, sealing it to the fly wheel (they touch anyway, so why not?) I figured if I was replacing the motor unit anyway, worse case, I ruin a already broken motor unit!

At first, I didn't think it worked... it was still slipping an hour after the repair, but today, I attempted to check it again, and it was sealed tight! (the gear, that is) Seems it just needed to cure over night. Plus, it's quite possible that last night, when I did the repair, I may not have lined everything up proper, as it was rather louder than before, but today, after getting it all put back together, it ran... on the cradle. So I applied some finger pressure to the wheels, and it still ran! So, I got out some q-tips, and some alcohol to clean the drive wheels (it was a bit greasy work, after all, and wanted to make sure they were clean) and oiled the spots that needed lubing (I have some machine oil specifically for plastic... no more "bug juice" for my trains, thanks to the suggestion from Hunt... I'll be buying the specific Bachmann oils this week) Set up the test track along my desk (I run about six feet of test track along the desktop with two 18" curves, a bunch of straights, and a slight incline towards the end) and it ran BEAUTIFULLY!

Then, to test fate, I hooked up six cars... it pulled them... then seven... then realized I didn't have a lot of room left for movement, and cars... but it still pulled them!

I am quite happy with the results.

I have a slightly later Spectrum Line Rock Island one that I got when I was 16 from my parents for my birthday and to this day it still runs great and it had been sitting on a shelf for I'm guessing a few years at that point since that road name/road number combo was made in 2005 but it is the same as the one you have otherwise. And I have had mine pulling trains up to about 30 cars in length. As for the sound install, what you can do is mount the speaker in the coal bunker facing up through the load with the sound coming through holes drilled in the coal load, or having the speaker mounted facing up to the underside of the water tank (rear half of the tender shell) which should provide plenty of room for a decoder and speaker. A Soundtraxx Tsunami2 TSU-2200 should fit no problem as I have one in a Standard line version 2-8-0 and have plenty of room left. Mounting the speaker facing up inside the tender shell is something I have tried with an Athearn Genesis SP MT-4 as there was specific place for mounting a speaker and I ended up mounting the speaker to the underside of the oil bunker facing up (so the speaker was facing the top of the tender) and the sound is great.

[Warflight]

Fantastic! I thought about doing that (the holes in the coal) but there is a hole at the front of the tender where the coal would be shoveled, so, once I do sound for it, I plan to experiment. Try a smaller speaker there, and see how that sounds before doing any drilling, or, like you suggested, under the water tank... I'm curious, because of that hole towards the front, and the hard plastic construction of the shell, if maybe the tender itself might act as a sort of baffle for the sound, and give a rich sound from that hole? But, that's going to be half the fun... experimenting, and seeing what I can get from it.

I recently had a bad experience with a cheap decoder, so I'm doing some research into DCC (and I do want to start doing sound on everything I can) so I'll be looking into that Tsunami decoder you mentioned.

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

Fantastic! I thought about doing that (the holes in the coal) but there is a hole at the front of the tender where the coal would be shoveled, so, once I do sound for it, I plan to experiment. Try a smaller speaker there, and see how that sounds before doing any drilling, or, like you suggested, under the water tank... I'm curious, because of that hole towards the front, and the hard plastic construction of the shell, if maybe the tender itself might act as a sort of baffle for the sound, and give a rich sound from that hole? But, that's going to be half the fun... experimenting, and seeing what I can get from it.

I recently had a bad experience with a cheap decoder, so I'm doing some research into DCC (and I do want to start doing sound on everything I can) so I'll be looking into that Tsunami decoder you mentioned.

Soundtraxx sound decoders are the only ones I use. You can find them for reasonable prices online like ModelTrainStuff.com or Trainworld.com. I suggested the TSU-2200 as like the old TSU-1000 the wire harness can be switched out for one from Soundtraxx that already has the 8 pin plug installed. And the Tsunami2 decoders have all steam sounds (three light, three medium, three large and one geared steam sounds) plus 63 whistle sounds and 12 bell sounds (with slow medium and fast ring rates), plus a lot of other sounds. The sounds can be found on the Soundtraxx website under products Tsunami2 and Sound Samples if you want to listen to them. I will admit that ESU makes good decoders from what I have heard as you can reprogram the sounds if you want but I haven't used one myself.