Big Hauler With New Gen. Pilot Truck

[A Trainman]

Bill,
Back in May of 2020 I asked...

"Have you seen this before?

In February of 2019 I purchased, from eBay, a North Pole & Southern Big Hauler #12.
One of the things I've noticed about this loco is the floorboards, like the ones on the Osh Hardware set, have wood grain and rivet details and the front edge of the floorboards, over the air tanks, are in line with the boiler strap separating the smoke box from the boiler. The standard Big Haulers floorboards stop forward of the strap, about 3/8", and don't have the wood grain.
Another thing different is the new style pilot truck. The chassis is a gen.5 with plastic gears and also plastic drive rods, connecting rods and valve linkage. The chassis definitely looks stock and unmodified.

I was not aware that Bachmann made a Big Hauler with the new style pilot truck. Seems to be a hybrid between a Big Hauler and an Anniversary

Any thoughts about this North Pole & Southern?"


Below are a few pictures, looks to have little to no run time on the chassis.









As you can see, there's no slot between the cylinders for the Big Hauler type pilot truck guide and spring assembly. The front trucks have power pickup wires. The drive gears are definitely plastic, as you can see through the access hole.
Seems kind of strange that someone would change out the bottom cover with a version 6 and rewire the front pickups to a non-Annie version 5 chassis.
One other thing, like I mentioned earlier, I purchased a brand new Virginia & Truckee #25 OSH Hardware Big Hauler set and the floorboards have the wood grain and the forward floorboards have two holes for the sand piping. These are the only two Big Haulers I've seen with such detail to the floorboards.
Could I have gotten a couple of flukes that were made with the only parts available at assembly time?

What's your thoughts?   

Adam

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi All, Adam,

My speculation begins:
Bachmann never made a BH (standard line)chassis like the one depicted in Adam's pictures.  Looks to me like a custom job of some sort.  If I used a Barry's Big Trains swing type pilot truck  or bought the new style Bachmann front truck , I would probably eliminate the slot to avoid the new pilot truck catching on the slot. Looking at Adam's bottom pictures you can see the rub marks where the replacement truck rubs on the place where the old slot would have been.    Here is a pic of the Bachmann new pilot truck:

https://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69_623&products_id=9850

You can still get these from Bachmann and add it to your Big Hauler 4-6-0. Looking at the Bachmann part in the catalog you can see that the brown and yellow wires in the parts photo are exactly the same color as in the picture Adam posted of the truck on his locomotive.


Bachmann 4-6-0's have been a major source for modification changes of parts, experimental chassis.  My own parts drawer is full of BH and Annie parts from junkers and parts loco's I have acquired  since 1989 when the Big Hauler 4-6-0's were first made! Hard to believe that they were first made over 32 years ago when I was a young 49 years old.  Annie's first came out 21 years ago in 2000.   The Bachmann 4-6-0's are the worlds best selling Large scale locomotive.

Do any of you have a photo of a modified(bashed) Bachmann 4-6-0 that you have changed to make it look very different in body style from the original??  Please post a picture of it.


Let the speculation begin

Loco Bill

[RailMan63]

Hi, Adam!
My best informed guess is that someone was able to buy the Version 6 chassis underframe,and swing arm pilot directly from the Bachmann parts department.
I was able to buy a version 6 underframe, and the new swing arm pilot,directly from their service department last year for one of my Anniversary Edition locos that came with their Version 5 chassis as the original underframe had broken off at the front pilot slot.
I called Bachmann Customer Service and mentioned that I wanted to repair my locomotive using the new pilot and underframe.
The lady in Customer Service connected me with James in the service department. He listened to my concerns, and set me up with what I needed.
That's one thing that I love about Bachmann Trains: they're always very helpful, and help you in any way that they possibly can.
I now have 3 Bachmann 4-6-0's that have the new swing arm pilot installed in them.
One is a Version 6, and the other two are modified Version 5's.
I believe that original owner of your BH did the exact same thing that I did.
And that's probably all this is.
Pretty train  you got there!

[A Trainman]

Bill, Railmam63
Thanks for the replies. you're both most likely correct, I guess I'm just lucky to have these upgrades.

But one mystery still remains, This Christmas Big Hauler also has the same running boards as an Annie and so did the Virginia & Truckee that I bought brand new from OSH Hardware somewhere around 2001. Maybe the Christmas BH got the upgrade along with the pilot truck and bottom cover but the V&T had the very detailed floor boards right out of the box.

Anyone else have these detailed running boards on their version 5 Big Haulers? 

As I was writing this, I realized these two Big Haulers that I've been talking about are version 5s. All of the other BHs that I've put Annie chassis under were previous versions and didn't have the detailed running boards. Maybe I answered my own question about the running boards?

Do all the version 5 Big Haulers have these nicer looking running boards?

Please let me know about your version 5 Big Haulers.
And thanks all.

Adam

[tedyarbrough]

Bill and All,
I was very surprised to watch the following video last Christmas. Made me want one of the sets for sure! Look at about 6 minutes into the video and you will see the set comes with the new style trucks! Set appears to be brand new.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IefDbErIytI
More discussion fodder I am guessing.
Happy Rails To You,
Teddy Y

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Very interesting video Teddy,  thanks

I have repeatedly asked Bachmann if and when they were going to add the new truck to sets. Never got an answer.  The version six annie came out in 2011. The video was made in 2012.  It certainly looks like they added it to that set right away.  Makes me wonder what other sets may have it as well.

That also would explain why Adam's set had it as well!

I will try to explore further!

Bill

[A Trainman]

Thanks Teddy!
Answers my question about the pilot truck.

Bill,
Hate to make more work for you, but looks like you got a little bit of updating. Who knows this Night Before Christmas may be the only run with the newer pilot truck?

Adam

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Railman63,

Thanks for you post!!  The mystery deepens.  Hard to tell what you are getting. Good thing you made the call.  Service has repeatedly told me that the Version Six chassis with the metal gears is not available!!

Bill

Adam, I will need a lot of help from the forum to figure out what is what with the sets.  More later when I get a chance.

[RailMan63]

I watched the video , and all I can say is that I'm shocked. I thought that the improved front pilot was only available on the Anniversary versions of the 4-6-0.
I already knew that Bachmann is selling the improved front pilot on their website for both versions, but i never expected it to show up in a set-especially attached to a standard big hauler.
Oh well.
Live and learn !

[Loco Bill Canelos]

HI All,

The only 2 "NEW" sets I can find since 2011 are Night Before Christmas SET 90037 With Loco NP&S #12 and Ringling Bros & Barnum and Bailey Set # 90083  With RB&BandB Loco #12.

90037 is not really new having been around for many many years, but we have discovered that the latest Run in 2011 or 2012 has the Version 5 chassis with plastic gears, plastic drive rods and the new style swing style front truck. In my version info I am going to call it Version 5A.

90083 is truly new and came out in 2112 and was the first year Bachmann obtained a license to use the RB&BandB name.  I suspect it might have the front swing style truck as well.  What is needed is confirmation!

If any of you bought the Ringling Bros Circus set in recent years, could you please check to see what style front truck it has.  slot or Swing.  If you bought one recently it is still possible that it was a dealers old stock.  I checked EBAY briefly, but no RB&BandB there.

Note: If you want a swing truck loco in a set, you must verify with the seller it is 90037 AND see a pic of the front truck. 

The link below is the NEW May 24 2021 Chassis Identification list:

CHASSIS IDENTIFICATION: as of April 24th 2021
   
Big Hauler 4-6-0 Chassis Version Identification  by Bill Canelos  Copyright 1995-2021 by Bill Canelos All rights reserved.               
Version 1  1988-1990  Battery Powered R/C Units                              
Version 2  1990-1994  Smooth Bottom Cover  You can turn drivers by hand and motor will turn.                           
Version 3  1994-1998  Smooth Bottom Cover You cannot turn the drivers by hand.                              
Version 4  1998-1999  Large wide hump dead center between the rear drivers on bottom cover.                              
Version 5  2000-Pres  3/8th inch wide hump offset between the rear drivers and a plastic lubrication plug the size of a dime to the rear of the hump and has the old style slotted front truck. has plastic gears & siderods.
Version 5A  2012 -pres 3/8th inch wide hump offset between the rear drivers and a plastic lubrication plug the size of a dime to the rear of the hump and has the New style swing front truck. has plastic gears & siderods.
Version 6  2011-Pres  New Chassis for Annie only, has metal gears and new front truck.  It is identifiable only by the new front truck which is a floating truck rather than the old style which rides in a slot on the chassis.    Note Anniversary 4-6-0's have only Version 5A or 6 Chassis.               
                           

Note that the dates overlap and as of Sep 1, 2019 have not been fixed more precisely, but all new sets introduced in 1999 with the VHS instructions have the version 5 chassis locomotive. As of this update the only know Big Hauler set Loco that is version 5A is North Pole & Southern #12 in set #90037 in the latest run.                        
                              
All Big Hauler 4-6-0's manufactured after 2000 have the version 5 chassis, all new sets after 2000 have it as well.