2-8-0 Connie

[traindude109]

I am looking into purchasing one of these. Can anyone give me some info on it?

[Tom Lapointe]

As long as you have curves wide enough (48" radius, 8-foot diameter, or greater), HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

BEAUTIFULLY SMOOTH, SILENT runner! - It just glides around my railroad with only the clicking of the wheels over the rail joints.

Pehaps a bit TOO silent - surprised the heck out of a squirrel "trespassing" on my mainline!   Boy, did he move FAST!! (in the opposite direction!)

 

Other than curves, only real thing to watch for is loose motor mount screws on some earlier production ones (which mine apparently was, even though they had been out for a few years).  "TOC" has a very detailed procedure on how to disassemble the "Connie" & cure that problem - contact him & he'd probably be willing to e-mail it to you.                                      Tom

[Matthew (OV)]

Here's one of mine... at present, the flagship of the Slate Creek:





Have another on order. 

Oh, and Soundtraxx makes a GREAT cure to the "too silent" problem also.

Matthew (OV)

[tlnibert]

I have one Connie and it's my favorite engine, I hope to buy many more.  It runs as good as engine that cost ten times as much.
Tom

[joconnor]

A great engine, I am in the process of converting my unletter version in the D&RGW C-21, #360.  Great pulling power with lots of class.

[traindude109]

Here's one of mine... at present, the flagship of the Slate Creek:





Have another on order. 

Oh, and Soundtraxx makes a GREAT cure to the "too silent" problem also.

Matthew (OV)

That was one of my other thoughts, is it worth the Sieera Sound upgrade. I was listening to their sound for the Connie the other night and it sounds pretty good. Also, if I don't have sound installed now, would it be to much of a hassle to have be put in later?

[Matthew (OV)]

Mine has the sound designed with the LGB mogul in mind .... really you can pick whichever one sounds good to you. 

Dave Goodson did the install on #7, so I can't take credit for the work, but it all goes in the tender, and the chuff contacts work and are wired into the tender, so it's really not that complicated.  I'm going to do the install myself on this next one, and will report back here as to the specifics.

The sound makes all the difference on mine.... really comes to life.

Matthew (OV)

[Tom Lapointe]

Oh, and Soundtraxx makes a GREAT cure to the "too silent" problem also.

Actually, my own planned cure for the "too silent" problem will be a Phoenix P5 board!   (6 watts of audio! ).

                                                                                                             Tom

[David Buckingham]

I have four one thing to watch is the screws holding the main outside balance weights thre have needed loctite 222 to fix as they come loose after a very short time.

At present doing conversion job on four engines moving cab boiler fittings etc etc looks more like a Colorado engine.

Very pleased
Dave

[Rod Hayward]

A good loco for bashing, A small 1.20.3 makes a nice sized 1.22.5 C-21

here is the before and after, which I am sure some of you have seen before.

http://www.smegworld.org.uk/spaf/c21/images/comp.jpg

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi Guys

I definitely rate the Connie as the best running, most bullet proof Locomotive Bachmann ever made. 

Have to second the comments on the Sierra Soundtraxx sound board.  It sounds fantastic, and several in my club thought it was a Phoenix!! 

[Jon D. Miller]

I've had a Connie since they first became available. Great locomotive. It's been run to death with never a problem.

The motor screws and driver counter weights were treated to Loctite.  That's the only "fix" necessary. Just give it regular lubrication.



Connie at work on the CD&StL.

[Danny Sheehan in Oz]

While I agree that the Connie is my favourite loco, it is out of service at present, due to the pony truck pivot point cracking, I have requested a replacement from Bachmann Service.  Which I hope they can supply!
Regards, Danny Sheehan in Oz.

[jeckardt]

I just received my new Connie in yesterday's UPS delivery.  Unfortunately it had a couple of rather major issues right out of the box that made it unrunnable (which I'm working with the seller to remedy) -- one of the "brake shoes" near one of the drivers rubs causing noise and scratching off the paint on the wheel, and two of the four screws that hold the gearbox closed are missing and the gearbox cover is "flapping in the breeze".  Seller is being very helpful so I don't expect any problems getting this fixed/replaced.

But...

I've noticed several references to how to disassemble the engine to check the various internal mounting screws, but have been unable to find those instructions.  Would someone please be able to put me to them?

Thanks,
Joe

[Tony Walsham]

Joe, here are the instructions on preparing the Connie.

They are part of the instructions I supply on converting the Connie to battery R/C.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/accessories/rcs_tenloc_inst.pdf