Hi, I have Spectrum 81703 ACL Russian Decapod #8003. It has "Atlantic Coast Line" in a straight line across the tender. I am wondering, did Bachmann ever issue this model with the ACL roundel herald? (see photo https://www.flickr.com/photos/alcomike/6523878995).

If not, does anyone make a decal set for this herald? It looks a bit too complicated to paint! and I have not found one online. Dry-print would be better than waterslide to avoid the need to disguise the film. I believe that the roundel was introduced circa 1938 with the 4-8-4s and on them at least was a separate embossed metal disk, so waterslide would not be fatal, but in the photo of #8007 it looks more like paint. It may be that it was polished metal on prestige locos but white paint on lesser beasts.

Also was it ever offered with DCC + sound for the ACL? Mine has the solid tender floor and the weight in the wrong place to fit a speaker.

Thanks,
Bill.

Thought someone might be interested to see this pic I found today. Looks pretty close to me.

http://www.railarchive.net/randomsteam/canw167.htm

Best Regards,
Bill.

Hi, thanks very much. I shall proceed!

Best Regards,
Bill.

Hi Mr B, thanks for your swift reply. I interpret "a Bluetooth chip mounted to the circuit board" as meaning part of, not plugged into, so am I right to assume that I need to replace the board entirely for DCC operation? If so I would fit an Econami, so can you confirm whether the tender is prepared for a speaker? Or am I barking up the wrong tree? It would be unfortunate to miss out on this L&N small loco entirely.

Thanks,
Bill.

Hi, I am looking at an ad for "Bachmann #57804 L&N #549 Alco 2-6-0 Loco with EZ App Train Control". It says a load of stuff, including "ready to launch and use instantly after downloading the FREE Bachmann E-Z App™ from the Google Play store or Apple App Store".

I have no idea what this gobbledygook is about. I have no intention of buying a mobile phone and paying exorbitant monthly rental just so I can run one of my engines. And I dumped my Bachmann Dynamis because I got fed-up with a system where the batteries would run out at an inconvenient moment and it would go haywire from time to time for no obvious reason – I am now strictly cable.

Will this loco work on a plain old MRC Prodigy Advance controller? I read elsewhere on the EZ App board the general comment that "These locos do not have DCC or sound. The control comes from the phone and the sound plays from the phone not the locomotive. You can however modify things to how you desire depending on your abilities."

Grateful for any advice.

Thanks,
Bill.

Hi Jonathan, thanks. Wow - are those the Exactrail B&O Wagontops? They are on my wish-list!! And exactly the sort of cars I would not want to take a risk with until proficient.

The Bev-Bel does come with a representation of planking, if you consider a raised line between each plank as such - more like a health and safety trip-hazard for 1/87 feet!

Best Regards,
Bill.

Hi, I did a note on this forum back in July 2012 about the Spectrum 4-4-0s for the SAL which might be of interest, as the Richmond 4-4-0 model includes a wood load for the tender, and the SAL model is a legitimate candidate to use this. A lot of SAL 4-4-0s migrated south to Florida branchlines later in their lives, and at least some were converted from coal to wood burners as wood was locally available. The conversions used smokebox spark arrestors, not smokestack arrestors, and so do not require a change of chimney. I have slightly modified my original note on the 4-4-0s and have pasted it below:

The real SAL #159 (the number used by Bachmann for the "Richmond") was one of a pair (159 & 160) built 1898 by the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey for the Florida Central & Peninsula Railway.  These two seem well inside wood burning territory, and I have also found a photo of an FC&PRR 4-4-0 with a straight chimney and a tender loaded with wood, so I know I don't need a smoke-stack spark arrestor for a wood burner, though most of the FC&PRR wood burners shown do have smoke-stack spark arrestors fitted.

The real SAL #106 and 108 (the numbers used by Bachmann for their "Baldwin") were a pair built 1889 and 1890 by the Rhode Island Locomotive Works for the Seaboard. I don't know where they operated. The info I have is that many SAL coal burning 4-4-0s which moved south when relegated to branch line work were converted for wood burning. The Bachmann wood load is designed to fit the "Richmond" tender, not the Baldwin.

I also know that by the mid-1920s the Charlotte Harbor & Northern, one of the smaller Florida lines that the SAL inherited, had converted a number of its locos from coal to to oil, e.g. Baldwin 4-4-0 #8 (very similar to the Spectrum model ), Baldwin 4-6-0 #28 (which was one of four off-the shelf small-driver Baldwin 4-6-0s very similar to the Spectrum model), and Baldwin 2-8-0 #18 (a small 2-8-0 not represented yet in the Spectrum range, very similar to the Ma & Pa small Baldwin 2-8-0s #23-26). The reason they did this is not known, but may have been related to it being easier to have oil delivered by sea to Charlotte Harbor than coal by rail.

My references on the SAL are Richard E Prince "Seaboard Air Line - Steamboats, Locomotives and History", and on the CH&N Donald R Hensley's Tap Lines website (for all things Florida) and book "Charlotte Harbor & Northern Railway - The Boca Grande Route"

Hope this helps,
Bill.

I am, for the very first time, about to dirty-up a boxcar. Why? Well I have a pile of old Athearn / Bev-Bel / Roundhouse kits unbuilt that I could either sell for not very much or do something with, that something being something I would not be bold enough to do to a modern, expensive, state of the art gem.

My first candidate is Bev-Bel 1094, Louisiana & Arkansas 40' Boxcar in boxcar brown with Southern Belle herald, built 11-47. I am going to model this with the door open on one side, with some guys handling the cargo, so that it can either be run apparently closed-up, or stand stationary being loaded / unloaded, simply by changing the side on view.

My questions are, would a car of this era have a plain wood-planked floor, linoleum, or what and what color? And would the interior walls / ceiling be painted white to maximise visibility?

I have found lots of guidance on how to weather the exterior / roof / underframe / trucks / wheels / etc., but not much detail on the interior.

Grateful for any advice / info,
Thanks,
Bill.

Do you mean Royal Scot? The Flying Scotsman was a 4-6-2.

Bachmann dramatically improved the chassis for its Royal Scot / Patriot class 4-6-0s some years ago (maybe early 2000s) and the older parts may not be available, but they do, or did, sell replacement chassis. Bachmann Branchline 35-150 Complete replacement motorised chassis unit for Jubilee, Patriot & Royal Scot. See here (currently out of stock, but it is a lead): http://www.hattons.co.uk/9863/Bachmann_Branchline_35_150_Complete_replacement_motorised_chassis_unit_for_Jubilee_Patriot_Royal_Scot/StockDetail.aspx

Best Regards,
Bill.

I see this is an old thread, and WGL from Minnesota is probably long ago satisfied, and only wanted one car anyway. But if he wants more, Athearn re-issued their 40-ft car for the SOO in three road #s in 2015 and whilst sold out at Athearn they are still around in some places - I got all three on ebay recently. It is an old MDC Roundhouse model and has molded-on grabs, etc, and so needs detailing if that matters, and it comes without load, but Athearn have also produced a very nice cast resin, painted load with earlier releases. It suffers slightly in having some displaced logs on top which means that you cannot put two on adjacent cars without a bit of surgery. Athearn also sell the load separately, Athearn #90434 Pulpwood Load.

The Atlas Masterline GSC 40-ft pulp car is a much better model but the load is hopeless - a hollow plastic molding that looks toylike and the painting does not help, but see Chooch below.

Walthers do some Seico 52-ft and CC&F 50-ft bulkhead flatcars in their 920 (i.e. Proto) range that are very nice and have some schemes that would not be lost sheep in Minnesota, I am pretty sure that the Wisconsin Central is amongst them. They also make a good-looking resin load for their 50-ft cars (Walthers 949-3100 Pulpwood Load).

Finally, Chooch make some great looking cast resin painted pulpwood loads for all the cars mentioned above. I rate Chooch for all kinds of HO loads. They have their own website, easily found.

Hope this helps,
Bill.

Quote from: kh25 on June 09, 2016, 02:28:06 AM
Would an ho scale atlas classic gp7 shell fit on a bachmann sound equipped gp7 chasis?

Hmmm, your question prompts me to wonder if the shells from my Atlas and Athearn G of G RS-3s would fit the B'man sound chassis. The Atlas Classic RS-3 does have the walkway a separate plastic part and not cast into the metal chassis. The C of G blue/grey scheme is a great livery that the B'man has yet to reach and both Atlas and Athearn versions have a full set of wire grabs. Unfortunately I don't have a B'man RS-3 to test the possibilities.

Bill.

Quote from: Trainman203 on June 09, 2016, 10:28:14 PM
You don't have to look anything up.  It is definitely not a Southern Railway prototype.  

None of this means that you can't enjoy this engine.  I have two that run great.

Hi, thanks for the above. I did know that the immediate source for the Bachmann model was the GB&W, but not how close it was to a real SOU loco, or what really carried the #s 7080 / 7082 and where they ran. As you may have guessed, I have these 2 too - saw them on ebay at too good a price to ignore as they both have sound (value) (7082 boxed and 7080 liberated from a set). They are ideally short for switching a small (or micro) branch line layout.

The Prince books are not re-published often enough -  I will have to track one down for the SOU.

Thanks,
Bill.

Hi, I am trying to track down whether the ALCo modern 2-6-0 models in the Bachmann range for the Southern (#7080, 7082 and maybe others) represent a real Southern class. The database on steamlocomotive.com is no help as the Southern was composed of so many constituents (over 150) it is impossible to search it. The Southern Society website does not have a list of SOU steam classes, nor does anywhere else I can find on the web.

Does anyone know, or maybe know where to look?

Maybe Mr B can say where he got the #s from?

Grateful for any help,
Thanks,
Bill.

Hi Trainman + Len, in reply to a few points above.

On the SAL - I misspoke about the Bachmann SAL USRA 2-10-2 models, they are in fact both DCC fitted, no sound. They are Bachmann 83310 + 83311, SAL 2485 + 2491. Curious that B did two with DCC and not one with and one without sound, but it may be no bad thing as the new Econami has the interesting feature of "steam downhill drift" mode, where the clanks become louder and the chuffs quieter, which is also useful for yard work IMHO. Also, the July Model Railroader has an advert from Sountraxx for the Tsunami 2, which I have not looked into but presumably has some advances over its predecessor.

Also on the SAL, I believe that the name started as an advertising slogan to compete with arch-rival the ACL, and had its origins in an early constituent, the Raleigh and Augusta Air Line Railroad. However, I also believe that the SAL always regarded its Richmond VA to Jacksonville FL line as its "Main Line", and whilst this only runs along the coast south of Savannah, technically the geographic term "seaboard" applies to the whole coastal plain, i.e. the Atlantic Seaboard is everything east of the Appalachians, so "Seaboard" is a legit name for the Richmond to Savannah section too.

On the N.C.&St.L. and Vanderbilt tenders, the loco diagram pages at the back of "Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Ry. History and Steam Locomotives" by Richard E. Prince shows the following classes with Vanderbilt tenders:

2-8-0 class H7C (but the notes and text elsewhere say that these locos only received Vandy tenders after WW2, from (presumably retired) class L1 Mikados);

4-6-2 classes K1A, K2C, K2D (but text says some Pacifics were supplied with box tenders which were later exchanged for Vandys, and photos show many kept their box tenders throughout their lives);

4-8-2 class J1A, J1C (The first five USRA Mountains received by the N.C.&St.L. had box tenders and were #550-4, class J1, so Bachmann's (and my) #553 (Spectrum #81604) is correct with its USRA medium coal tender. J1A (#555-7) and J1C (558-62) were delivered with Vandys. However, these later locos also had trailing truck boosters and so are not represented by the Spectrum model;

4-8-4 class J2 (all apparently delivered with Vandys. The successor J3 class were semi-streamlined and so had the "semi-Vandy");

2-8-2 class L1, L2A (The L1 was the Dixie Line's pre-WW1 Mikado and all had Vandy tenders. Then came ten L2 class USRA 2-8-2A Mikados with box tenders. Finally twelve L2A class were all delivered with Vandys.

All of the standard Vandy tenders shown in the diagrams are 4-axle types. Some "semi-Vanderbilt" tenders were attached to streamlined locos and had 6 axles.

Happy Steaming!
Bill.

If you look in the Bachmann spare parts area on this website under the ALCo 2-6-0 you will find some relevant parts, e.g. a speaker to fit this tender.

Good Luck,
Bill.