My experience in using the 8 pin plug to add a DCC decoder piggyback on the Bachmann board is that all will work fine but the headlight will quit working after a few hours.   Decoders employed were TSU-1000 with sound and a DH123 without sound in two different units.

I have since had to tear both locomotives down and installed surface mount LED headlights with resistors.     Probably best to just get rid of the Bachmann board and hard wire your decoder with proper resistor consideration for the LED's you use.   Forget incandescent bulbs or you will end up with plastic blobs on the smoke box from the heat.

PJD

Thanks to Bachmann for the excellent sound value model Alco S2.   Specifically ITEM NO: 63405 which is the United States Army #7109.

This is one of the four US Army S-2 units sent to Fort Richardson, Alaska for switching duty that were later in the Alaska Railroad Fleet.   My conversion article and general review of this excellent model can be found here:

http://alaskarails.org/creations/PD-7109/index.html

PJD

Do you have more than one throttle hooked up to your DCC system?    If so you may have had another throttle with the same address set to 0 for speed.     Stuff happens.

The original post was about the new Bachmann ALCO 2-6-0 pulling power.  6 of these units have now passed over my bench for Kit bashing.   All ran perfectly out of the box.  From some other posts it may be that a few of these models may have had some minor assembly problems and the spring on the pony truck may have been improperly positioned resulting in reduced tractive effort.   I would not expect a prototype 2-6-0 to climb a 4 percent grade with more than three empty cars, why expect more of the model?

Comparing relative pulling power of the rigid frame inexpensive light weight locomotives with fully sprung and weighted locomotives is going to prove one thing.  Articulated side rods and sprung drivers keep the tires on the rail providing adhesion.    A three axle rigid frame loco will have four of six drivers actually working and a four axle rigid frame loco will still have four drivers doing the work.    Put the locomotive on a surface plate and see which drivers are touching, and then realize even if they are lll touching the rail geometry is always changing that little bit.    The only compensation is adding all the balanced distributed weight you can.   I have never been able to stall a locomotive in this process but you can sure improve the DDE effects of a sound system.

In my opinion the metallurgy of the tire also plays a major part in the tractive effort obtained by our models.    I have used several Athern Genesis Mikes and Pacifics as foundations for Alaska Railroad Kit bashes.   Out of the box they would barely move a properly weighted 6 car train on a 2 percent grade.   After removing the springs on the pilot and trailing trucks and building in an additional 4.5 oz of lead there was hardly a measurable improvement.    Only after adding all wheel pickup to the tender and carefully adding Bullfrog snot to the rear drivers would they work on a grade, increasing tractive effort by 100 percent over the unweighted loco with out the frog snot.

At the NLMRR Club we have created a dynometer car to measure drawbar pull.   A small digital scale from that tool company is mounted on a flat car.   The scale is then connected to the tender drawbar and you can measure the actual pull in oz in a stall on level track or on any gradient you set up.  Very instructive tool.

Pat Durand

You can go here to find answers to opening the little Mogul up and adding weight.
http://alaskarails.org/creations/PD-208/index.html

Remove the two screws under the cab on each side of the cable socket.   Pull off the pressed on top of the sand dome (right behind the stack).  Under there you will find the third screw.  Now grab the cab at the back and rotate the cab/boiler up and forward.  The pilot braces will swing aside out of the way.   

Fill the available space in the domes and stack.  There are a few small voids on the boiler weight that can be filled.  Add sheet lead in the cab roof and below the windows on the sides.  Add a large chunk on the firing deck.  Fill in between the frame extensions behind the coupler under the pilot deck.   


If you want to tune up the sound, use JRMI and any of the generic Tsunami files, to adjust volume of the limited sounds available, and add some momentum while you program your new address number.

My appreciation of the sophistication of Bachmann's design and execution of this little critter grows with each one I encounter.   Working on my 5th kit bash so far and the basic unit is a solid foundation.   I am still hoping that Bachmann will consider the same technology in design and offer the largest single class of locomotive ever built in North America.   That would be the 2120 copies of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps   S-160 Consolidations.  G.I. Consolidations made it to every continent but for Australia and Antarctica.

Pat Durand

I appreciate the encouraging words, and hope they will inspire some other folks to step up to kit bashing and detailing to match their favorite prototype equipment.    This is not rocket science and there are no lives at risk so just forge ahead.    I find that I miss very little except some very degrading and misinformed television programing.   On the other hand I do keep the boob tube handy as a time keeper.   Once you have your game plan for a project and write it down, during the 20 minutes per hour that commercials are on you can make progress one little part at a time.  The commercials are just long enough to get things in place for the acc to set or the paint to dry if the big game is worth watching.

The long tenders. I believe are unique to the Panama, Isthmus Canal Railroad and then as hand me ups to the Alaska Railroad.   These 200 class locos were used to move two truck Western Wheel Scraper Cars and the endless flat car loads in the big cut and fill operations during construction on the Canal.   Unobstructed view out of the rear, took precedence over capacity.   

Pat Durand

Can not believe this topic has gone without some comment.   I for one would welcome the S scale Sergent coupler for use in my ON30 modeling.   I currently have 11 On30 locomotives and about 20 pieces of rolling stock that would get the full treatment of draft gear and couplers if they become available.   

The one reason I have not been more active in kit bashing my locos to more closely match Alaskan Prototypes, from the  Tanana Valley Mines Railway, the WP&Y, the Wild Goose,  and Yakatat and Southern was the lack of decent looking couplers.   

Please do encourage the development and production of the Sergent  s scale couplers for use in On30.

Also encourage Bachmann to go back to the lab and come up with a new compound to eliminate the split gear nonsense, or start producing gears in brass even if they generate a little noise.       I believe the failed gears are manufactured and installed in a humid environment and when stored in a warm dry environment shrink and crack.   If you think these compounds are dimensionally stable, think again, even teflon left exposed to humidity will absorb moisture and swell.   In any event this has been an ongoing problem and deserves to be addressed as a priority.

On some of the larger gears I have been removing the damaged gear from the shaft, reaming it out and replacing it on the shaft with lock tight or !CC-2000.  About 50% of the time this seems to be a lasting fix.   The other half end up getting new gears that I ream out before install.  I use a long tapered reamer and remove just enough material that the gear is a smooth running fit on the shaft with no force needed to place it.   Wash everything in denatured alcohol to remove oil and grease and apply the lock tight or ICC-2000.

Patrick Durand

Thank you for the kind words on the Mogul 208.   The Pat Durand Collection listed under Modeling, Peoples Creations on alaskarails.org is about one third of my collection.   As you can imagine it takes nearly as long to write the process description and photograph the models as it does to build them.

JB4-614  your interest in the s-160 G.I. Consolidations is encouraging.   This I believe was the largest single class of locomotives ever built in North America with 2120 units coming from all three major builders.   The 12 that came to Alaska as the ARR 550 class was the biggest group to stay on the continent.   All the others served during WWII and were adopted into National railway systems on every continent except Australia and Antarctica.   You can find the history and world wide distribution by going to   alaskarails.org and checking out the 557 page and s-160 history.

I would be satisfied with a Bachmann model of the s-160 as it left for war.   Then an aftermarket would develop as they took on the livery of National rail systems around the world.    Right now waiting for announcements at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in February.   If nothing happens there, I could use all the help we can get from the old Government Issue guys to convince Bachmann that this little consolidation would be a seller.    With only 37000 pound tractive effort from the prototype, the model would be only a little bigger than the Alco Mogul.   The USATC tender could be used behind lots of small locomotives, like the O-6-0 which was built for the USATC as well.

If anyone else out there wants to see the s-160 in production,  please let us know by starting a new topic.

Pat Durand

Sorry guys I do not photobucket so you can use this link to see the complete construction article and finished photos of my most recent kit bash.   http://alaskarails.org/creations/PD-208/index.html

The Alaska Engineering Commission started in 1914 and built the railroad in Alaska that became The Alaska Railroad upon completion in 1923.   Some of the first locomotives used in construction were former Panama locomotives used during construction of the canal.     My U. S. 208 is a kit bash of the Bachmann Alco 2-6-0.   This was a fun project and the first of three to be built representing changes during their service life in Alaska.

Pat Durand

By this time you have probably figured out how to get the boiler shell off the chassis.  If not,  there are two screws under the rear of the cab that are obvious.   The third screw is under the top part of the sand dome.

Really the clutch must be slipping.   I purchased the Little River rail truck in June of 2010 along with four other new locomotives in on30.   When I finally got around to taking the truck out of the box last week she would run down the track in spurts and with any restraint the motor ran but it went no where.

Up on the rack it was apparent that both ends of the drive line might be slipping.   Both of the u-joint sections that press onto the steel drive lines were cracked.

So I removed the differential and back axle to pull out the drive line.  I discovered the U-joints were not the problem for they had been glued onto their respective input and output shafts.

So I held the U-Joint right behind the transmission housing and cranked up the motor.   Motor ran with nearly no resistance but the shaft and U-joint would only turn when I released them.  Some where between the drive line and the motor the "clutch" is slipping.

Talking to service,  they want to replace it with the railbus, a most generous offer.     I want to fix it.

Can anyone tell me what is wrong?   How do I get the transmission cover off?  Does the motor have to come out of the frame with the Transmission cover?

Like my truck, just need to get the "clutch fixed"    Help!

Pat Durand

You say you use the digitrax system, but are you familiar with programing?   Have you reprogramed other engine addresses succesfully?        If you are using a throttle to program on a single track the problem could be anything from simply selecting the wrong number during the programing of the address all the way down to failure to turn the DCS 100 or 150 track status back on after you set the address.   

PD

Manny,

I see there have been a lot of lookers at your post regards the value of "Sound value", but no comments.

My comments will be more focused than your post but should address most of the questions you raise.

Specifically to "sound value".   I purchased three HO Alco Moguls mail order for $100.00 ea and sound was just a bonus.    I take the limitations of sound value or I spend another $100.00 and install a Tsunami.  It is what it is.

From a practical matter during operations when multiple locomotives are running "sound value" is all you would ever need to keep track of where your loco is.    I have dozens of locomotives with sound and when I am in an operations session I do not have time to study the manual for each decoder to make sure I push the right button on my DT400 to turn on the dynamics when going down grade.

All the bells and whistles are fun to program on the bench and play with DDE effects for show and tell .  When operating nothing sounds any better than two of those little moguls double heading and going in and out of sync.   Well really, three does sound better but only if you have them doing a scale 8 miles per hour, which they will do.    You cannot put together a triple header with sound anywhere else for $300.00.   So I thank Bachmann for the opportunity.



As to the local hobby shop not stocking Bachmann, well could that be they are tired of us beating them up over pricing when we can go to that tool place by email?


My only negative experience is not with Bachmann service, they  do a great job under pressure and in my experience have been more than generous with exchanges of defective units.  I do have an extensive inventory of ON30 locomotives in multiples.  My only fear is when I take them out of the boxes to run them in five years are all the gears going to be split?   If I have a complaint that is it.  Even if I buy replacement gears, am I to have faith they will be serviceable after a few years.   That issue needs to be solved in the chemistry lab and the engineers cad program.     Lotsa work and more than a few failed attempts at fixes.   Leaves room for NorthWest Short Line to market replacement gears.

We go through the same split gear routine with any P2k product you purchase second hand.   Athern gears solve that problem.

It is my hobby and I take it as it comes.   No ones life depends on the decisions we make here.

Pat Durand

There is a more or less step by step guide for this kit bash at the link offered up in the first post.

The conversion also includes going from Walscharts gear to Stephenson gear.  Both conversions consist of deconstructing the offending parts.    On the cylinders use a sharp zona saw and just cut the steam delivery line flush with both the cylinder block and the side of the smoke box.   With the D slide valves the plumbing is all internal to the cylinder block and saddle castings.   Take a slice off the outside of the cylinder block flush with the valve chest to make room for a new .020 wrapper that will increase the diameter of the cylinder block.   Use .040 styrene to punch out the cylinder head covers.  The front one stays whole while the one at the rear looses about 80 degrees of the circle to a pie cut so it will fit around the cylinder rod and crosshead guides.  After you have sawn off the original covers from the block both front and rear glue on the new ones.   Careful on the rear with the glue!  Study photos of your prototype.   

If you can follow these instructions, when you run the loco the Laird crosshead will almost hit the rear cover, just like the real one.   

I do welcome question.   Kit bashing offers little steps of instant achievement.  Ah ha moments and the end goal of seeing it all in final paint and weathering keeps one at the task.

Pat Durand

If there is any air leak between the tender tank body and the frame your sound will go to nothing.  The tender body is the enclosure for the speaker.  If you make any holes they need to be filled and the body must be secure to the frame.

If the enclosure is broken, increaseing the CV volume level will just begin to distort the sound.

Experience is the teacher in this case for me.

Pat Durand