Bachmann's new underframes

[az2rail]

I have some beer reefers I need to lower, but I also need to raise the coupler height to match my other ON30 equipment. Does anyone know if the new lowered frames will allow me to correct both issues?

Bruce

[the Bach-man]

Dear Bruce,
It does, and they'll look great.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[az2rail]

Thank you. I will be ordering some today.

Bruce

[railtwister]

Bruce,

The new under-frames come with Bachmann medium length center-shank (the shank attaches to the coupler's head in the middle of the knuckle when viewed from the side) already installed. Most of the original run reefers I've seen use the #78022 over-shank (with the shank mounted flush with the top of the knuckle) medium length coupler, which, when used on the original frames, places the coupler at the proper height to match other Bachmann equipment. If your couplers are too low, it's possible that you have the newer low frames with the older over-shank couplers, and you may be able to correct the height problem by simply switching to the centered-shank coupler, which would be a lot cheaper than replacing the under-frame. If you look at your under-frame with one of the trucks removed, you should be able to tell whether is the original type (which has semicircular humps on either side of  the truck mounting boss on the bolter), or  the newer style under-frame (the bolster is flat and level all the way around the truck mounting boss). Also, to maintain the original height, the cars should have the standard arch bar trucks, not the low arch bars as used on the log cars. The new underframes also come with a bunch of adapter bushings to enable you to use the low arch bar truck  (which look like the trucks used on the Maine two footers), but if you choose to use this combination, you will also need to switch to the under-shank couplers (which have the shanks mounted flush with the bottom of the knuckle) in order to maintain proper coupler height.

Enjoy,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA
Florida On30 Renegades

[az2rail]

Thank you Railtwister. Reading you answer got me to thinking, so I pulled all my cars out, and sure enough, I have a lowered frame on one of my cars. Your info is right on the mark, couplers and all.

I should have said though, that the cars I am trying to match are at On3 height. I can lower the frames to make the ride look better, but I will have to remove the molded on mounting blocks that everything screws to, but it will work.

Bruce

[railtwister]

Hi Bruce,

Are you also using the Kadee On3 couplers, or just the HO ones set to On3 height? It's a lot of extra work, but I agree that after you are done, the cars will look a lot better for it. I'm just too lazy to do all that work myself, although I have thought more than once about making a couple of "conversion" cars with a coupler of both styles on either end. Doesn't the higher coupler height also prevent magnetic uncoupling from working? I know some folks just snip off the glad-hand arms from the Kadees and uncouple manually, but if you wanted to retain the uncoupling feature at the On3 height, you could try to find some of the HO knuckles with longer arms made for "S" scale prior to release of the  On3/S couplers from Kadee. I believe someone here in the States was converting #5's and selling them (or maybe it was just the longer arms to convert the #5's yourself), you might want to check over on the "S" scale Yahoo Group. Anyway, have fun!

Bill

[az2rail]

I am using On3 couplers, and I'm one of those that cut off the pins and uncouple manually, but the On3 kadees are designed for that height, so they will work with the magnet if a person so chooses to do so.

This weekend I plan on taking a Bachmann car and seeing how hard, or if I want to change them all to On3. It is not that I can't do it [I know I can], but I have options running through my head that could be alternitives to cutting up all my cars.

Bruce