Bachmann Forum

I have been away in the Hospital but before I went there I decided to change out the Stevenson valve gear on my S.P.C. 4-6-0 Annie. to the more mechanical Walschaerts valve gearing.

I thought this wouldn't that much of a job but the more I got into it I was going to scrap the project and reinstall the original valve gearing. I ordered a chassis with the Walschaerts because Bachmann was offering a 20% discount so I figured now is the time to do this.
I must say this change over takes a lot of thinking due to the  drilling of specific holes and other aspects. As it stands now I still have to finish up assembling everything but I'll have to wait till I finish up with some kidney stone treatments. I'll post a more detailed report when I'm feeling better.

Later
Dr Who `12 

Hi Loco Bill

Thanks for the info.

Later
Dr. Who 12

Thanks for the info Loco Bill. I'll take your advice and wait till I can afford installing  better sound equipment.

  Is the loco set you bought the same vintage as mine or newer?  Also I noticed that the gear axle assembly from Bachmann's parts page is the same as what is in my loco ( flat milled axle and milled gear) when did Bachmann change to the milled configuration instead of the gnarled one? Perhaps I will get a longer service out of the milled axel as I think it might not put as much strain on the gear as the gnarled gear/axle. The chuff barrel on the chuff trigger axel was really thin and I think it failed/cracked because of the stress on it as on the gnarled drive gear cracks. Perhaps all this is why Bachmann uses metal gears in their newer reissued 2-6-0 locos a nice up grade either way.

Thanks for answering my questions and advice.

Dr. Who 12

Hi Loco Bill

You mentioned that you have a 2-6-0 Russian Iron Spectrum Mogul.

Have you installed a sound system in your loco or run it without sound or did your loco come with factory sound installed?  I ran my loco last month for about 10 min outside and really missed not having the chuff sound at least in my loco.   I was thinking of a way to wire a 4-6-0 tender that has a sound/chuff board in it to my loco. I have the same 2 wire plug on the loco  as on the 4-6-0 however it is reversed on the 2-6-0 but there is a female plug in the 2-6-0 tender that I think I could use to connect the loco to the 4-6-0 tender, as an experiment, thus I would have sound for my 2-6-0. If this experiment works then I'll order the 4-6-0 sound board and install it in my 2-6-0 tender with a rechargeable 9 volt battery.

My budget is kind of low now but I could buy the Bachmann board and battery.  Do you think I'll be wasting my time and recourses or should I wait till I can afford a better sound system?

If so what system would you recommend?

Thanks in advance
Dr. Who 12

Thanks Loco Bill you have been most helpful.

I'll order the axel assembly that way I can replace the gear either way if NWSL has a corresponding gear that will fit the milled axel.

Later
DrWho12

Hi Loco Bill.

Thanks for the quick response.

There was no way to tell how bad the chuff drum was cracked and the pinched wires were until I disassembled the loco to do the gear replacement. I figured I would do the gear replacement as a preventive measure thus I wouldn't have taken the loco apart. I recon I could have stopped and returned the loco to the dealer right then but it is a real hassle doing that and explaining things especially after I had taken the loco apart.  Like I said the loco ran with no problem on my layout for about 10 min. I only ran it that long because I had other locos to test that day and I only a few hours of warm weather.

I read several stories of people getting a new loco to have the gear brake very soon after running it for a short time so I was trying to save myself some grief at a later time when running the loco.

Thanks for the time line info. on this loco and I agree it must nay have been stored for some time in a cold environment as I stated I bought it from a dealer in Minnesota. If I hadn't gotten such a great discount I wouldn't have bought it. I couldn't afford the price of a new one and I saw this one offered on line so I decided to buy it after all it is a beautiful loco. Bachmann really does a great job engineering the quality in the loco's details. I liked all the exposed brass as well.

I am concerned about the drive gear cracking in the future but with the milled flat area in the gear I hope the pressure on the gear is less than on a gnarled axle one. It would be great if Bachman would offer the new metal gears/gear box on the parts page.

Do you think it would be worth calling NWSL and asking them if they have the replacement gear in the milled drive shaft version or call Bachmann and see if I could get a gnarled drive shaft to match the new gear from NWSL?

Thanks again for your response and look forward to your thoughts on the above question.

  Later Dr. Who 12

 

Hi Loco Bill.

Well I just finished putting my in lettered Spectrum Russian Iron 2-6-0 back together and testing it so all is running ok.

I took the loco apart to install a new drive gear but discovered many problems before I could get to the gear replacement. First all of the screws were loose also the rods on the chuff trigger drum were falling out.

I forgot to mention I bought this loco new from a dealer in Minn. last month and only ran it on my layout for 10 min. last month on a 60 degree day. I received the loco in all of the original shipping containers even the plastic bag wrap and Styrofoam container was in excellent condition. Actually every thing looked perfect and the loco ran very well on the layout. I have 8' diameter turns so no binding of any kind as the loco ran.

So I write this notice more for information rather than a complaint. The chuff drum was cracked in 4 places under 2 of the small trigger rods( the drum is a two part assembly ) making it able to spin on it's axel. I won't go into the extensive repair I made to this part here so If someone wants to know they can let me know via the forum and I'll get back to them.

I also found 2 wheel bearing pickup wires pinched showing the bare wires. I repaired all these as well.

I finally got to replacing the gear and after I opened the gear box the gear looked in perfect condition. I was only going to replace the gear because of all I have read about it's failure. Well not only was the gear perfect it was mounted on the drive shaft with a section milled out to match a flat milled section of the axel. I realized from this that the new gear wasn't going to work so I greased everything and reassembled the loco.

I noticed that the new reissue locos have metal gears and I wonder if they might be available from the parts dept. in the future also how is the newer loco's gears pressed on the drive shaft, with the shaft gnarled or milled out as mine is?

I'm happy I decided to do this gear change even though I didn't replace the gear because I was able to fix the other problems so now I can run my loco for a long time before it will need extensive service.

I don't know how old my loco is so perhaps someone could help with that. With that being said I don't know how long the dealer had this loco on the shelf and I don't recall seeing a date of mfg. anywhere.

The disassembly/assembly in prep. for replacing the drive gear isn't all that difficult but handling the tiny wires is kind tight work one should have a good soldering iron.

I don't know how long the drive gear will last in my loco but I will need to get the proper replacement or a new drive shaft that corresponds to the new NWSL gear I bought.

I would welcome any comments don this post.

Later.

Dr. Who 12

Hi All.

Well I have finished cutting out the back of the cabs on my remaining locos. It was a bit nerve wracking and as I mentioned the windows were difficult. On the Annie. models that have the back of the cab closed the windows are all one part up to the top and including the roof of the cab. The only thing that may look a bit off is the beam I left across the top of the cab it is a bit thick due to the clear plastic of the windows I had to leave. I was able to fill the space between the cab beam and the plastic then I painted all to match the cab and all looks ok.

I also made some grab/ railing/ handles like the ones on the open cab of my ET& WNC Annie. out of some brass rod and brass balls from a light rotary switch pull chain. I left one pr. all brass to match the other brass on that loco and painted the other pr. black to match the railing of the East Broad Top loco.

All in all a successful venture as I have all my Annie. locos exposing the beautiful boiler details. The only thing left to do is add some canvas curtains to the sides for a more realistic look.

Later.
Dr Who 12

Hi A Trainman

Well I got enthused this pm so I decided to cut the cab on one of my new anniversary 4-6-0s using your suggestion. By using an exacto knife and some muscle. The results were right on. I was able to do all the surgery with the cab installed and I didn't wreck any of the details on the boiler or the rest of the engine either. The glass plastic was the worst as it is more brittle and I was afraid I was going to destroy the windows I still needed.

I have 2 more new locos to go so I hope all goes as well as this one. I took my time but my nerves had a work out because these locos are like 3 weeks new. There goes the warrantee I guess.

Now there is a guy on the web who customized the front of his loco by shortening the pilot truck and pilot like the 4-6-0 loco at the Tweetsie RR. It appears like quite a project but the results look great. There is one draw back though the loco won't run on a 2'(4' diameter) radius curve track any more. That is no problem for my layout as I have 10 and 8 foot diameter curves.

I have a lot to think about doing now  I hope the weather turns colder so I might be able to do some more customizing .

Later.
Dr Who 12 

Hi Trainman.

Thanks for the response to my customizing question. I was thinking of doing the same kind of cutting away of the unwanted cab parts with a sharp exacto type knife but my locos are the anniversary models and I am afraid I'll wreck some of the nice details on the boiler so I think I'll use a diamond disc on my drumel tool and go slow cutting the parts out. I don't want to take the cab off the loco so this will make things a bit tricky.

I have 3 anniversary models I would like to modify the cab on and I also have a $30.00 pond shop loco I have rebuilt into a anniversary model. I think I'll work on the pond shop loco first and see how things work out before attempting the other locos.

You are right customizing your locos is part of the fun of this hobby and especially on these cold winter days it keeps me busy.

Thanks again for your help.

Dr Who 12

New Topic

I have a ET&WNC 4-6-0 that has the back of the cab cut out so that the boiler is exposed I was thinking of cutting out the parts on my other 4-6-0s so the nice details on the boiler are exposed as well.

Has anyone done this custom work to their 4-6-0 engine?

Dr Who 12

Hi Trainman.

I was able to remove the plastic insert wheels with little difficulty using the punch process. Thanks again.

Later
Dr Who 12

Hi Michigan Jim .

I made a mistake the trucks I mentioned in my commutes are in the parts for the 4-4-0 spectrum loco listing, of the parts catalog and not the 2-6-0 pages that I mentioned.

Sorry for the mix-up.
Dr Who 12

Hi Trainman.

Thanks for the info and refreshing my memory.  Since I retired I had forgotten the places I used to order materials from and Mc Master Carr was one of them.

Later.
Dr Who 12

I have another question for the forum.

Is there a way to produce a louder/more volume chuff sound from the electronics installed in my 4-6-0 anniversary locomotives?  I would like to keep the original board that is in the tender at this time because I run all my locos from track power. I was thinking of adding some kind of small amplifier to the existing board and powering it from power pickup trucks I would install. Does this sound feasible or has anyone done something similar?

Any information would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.

  Dr Who 12