Interchanging shell and running system

[bnsonger47]

Since I bought a battery/remote unit without the remote, I'm wondering how easy it is to take the shell (body/boiler/cab/etc) from one of these units and placing it on a track power unit of similar design? Or is this the wrong thing to consider? I don't have my stuff from eBay as yet and wondering if I should consider this. I'm thinking of taking my orphaned unit, repainting it, and putting it on a unit that has a scratched body with some missing parts, etc.

[nak56]

Hi I have several battery units that I sent to Bachmann and they changed out the chassis. Check with Bachmann if you go this route you will get one of the newest version chassis. I have done the change over and it is not to hard but I still recomend sending the unit in. Norm.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

I don't recommend it.  Best thing you can do is bid on a nice version 5, 4-6-0 on Ebay, they aren't that much, just don't go overboard.

Sell you battery unit on Ebay for parts might be suprised how much you will get.

OR Paint it up and set it on a siding or in an engine house and let it be scenery!!

Messing with the battery unit is in my mind way too much work for the value you end up with.

Even if Bachmann honors the warranty(they are not obligated to if you bought it used on Ebay) it will still cost the $50 fee and the shipping to Bachmann.  For that amount of money you come real close to the Ebay price for a highly detailed Bachmann Anniversary 4-6-0. 

Just my 2 cents worth!!

Merry Railroaading!

[glennk28]

Or don't even bother with eBay--just find one you like in the ads for St. Aubins" or Train World and order one direct. 

[Barry BBT]

I have converted many over the years.  As time has passed it became more practical to abandon the battery chassis and replace it with a later version.

Then I would replace the plastic hand rails with 1/16" brass or stainless wire.  I had to drill out the stanchions for the rods.  Replace the bell, whistle and relief valve for metal parts.  I put real glass windows in the cab using microscope slides either 1" X 3" or 2" X 3".  Of course metal wheels for the tender.  But most important is the replacement chassis you obtain, as suggested above the later version the better.

When you get real serious, try one of my drives.

Barry - BBT   

[Loco Bill Canelos]

If you have the bucks and don't want to mess with EBay the price for an Annie is $125 at TRainworld.  St Aubins doesn't have an Annie in their curent Ad.  I tried their website and found it to be terrible(my opinion)  Brands are not even grouped together.  Not a great site for browsing.  You mostly have to know what you want and do a search on it and hope your search criteria works.  I typed in "Aristo" hoping to get all the Aristo items up to browse through them, but all I go was "no items found" All in all a cumbersome site!!  You can look at their present ad by brand but if the item you want is not in the ad it can be a pain to find.  They say it is improved and they will no longer do ads with prices. Also to get the best prices from St Aubins you have to pay to join something just to get the best price.  St Aubin's seems to have gone backwards since the old man died.  Boy I miss him.  The price for an Annie at St Aubins is $159.

They sell at the Favorite spot on EBay for $70 to $80 but they only have WP&Y. No offense Glenn, but in my fixed income world I will gladly paint a WP&Y Annie to get that much of a lower price. 

Barry,  I forgot about those glass slldes, I used to use them for windows in my scratch built buildings in HO Scale,  I might have to get some more, that real glass really looked great!!

Enough rambling for now!