Yes you are correct about the parts diagrams showing the newer can motored versions. It's been so long since the upgrade that I don't believe the parts department even has the pancake motored trucks anymore.

I own at least a dozen of the can motored GP40s, and I like them alot. These versions, there are several slightly different ones, have corrected the problems that plaguesd the pancake motored units: poor electrical contact, lack of pulling power due to only one truck being powered, rubber tires on the powered truck in an attempt to increase pulling power, a motor that didn't hold up under heavy usage.

If you decide to rebuild the one you have, you'll be able to find another one at a train show to use for parts. But you'll still be dealing with the drawbacks of the original design.

That is a GP40 with a pancake motor. You can try to get it running again, but it'll never be a good runner. You may want to go to a train show and look for a better locomotive. Sometime in the 1990s, Bachmann upgraded the GP40, and the upgraded units can often be found for well under $50. They are on ebay as well, but at a train show you will be able to test it before you buy it.

Very quick way to identify EMD locomotives like the GP40 is by the fans on top. On GE locomotives like the U36B the fans are internal and not visible from the outside.

 

As you guessed, you gently pry on the end of the truck frame until it pops loose. Not much else to it.

Quote from: trainman203 on July 15, 2023, 04:12:00 PMBachmann makes a lot better steam engines now than the Chattanooga choo-choo 0-6-0 you had.

That is a Tyco CHattanooga set he had. The steam version was either a 2-8-0 or 0-8-0 with a power truck hidden in the tender. It was completely different than the Bachmann 0-6-0.

Quote from: trainman203 on July 15, 2023, 04:12:00 PMYour 4-8-4 will need a decoder and speaker to run on DCC. 

You are confusing DCC with DCC/Sound. They are NOT the same. A DCC conversion does not NEED a speaker, and is far easier and less expensive than a DCC/Sound conversion. You do not NEED sound to gain the benefits of DCC operation.

Next question.

Does it have holes for a speaker in the fuel tank area? If so, when you pry the cover off, does it also have a space for a speaker? If so, your conversion is going to be alot easier than if it doesn't. The biggest issue with any sound conversion is finding a place to put the speaker, and many Bachmann locomotives do not have this space.

I do not do sound conversions, though I have equipped many locomotives with DCC. Therefore, I cannot offer specific suggestions other than what I have observed when taking the Bachmann locomotives I have apart. The GP40 in particular has come in many versions in the past, in some of the chassis weight takes up almost all available room in the locomotive.

It sounds like the components in your control circuit are overheating. Are they rated at a high enough amperage to handle the current draw of the train?

If pushbutton start and stop is what you're after, it would have been much cheaper to use appropriately rated (3 amp or more) pushbuttons and a relay.

Quote from: trainman203 on July 09, 2023, 08:14:05 PM9" radius.  Next thing, someone's going to ask if they can get their centennial diesel or big boy around that.

😂😂😂

I've never understood that mentality. "I'm going to buy the biggest, baddest locomotive I can find. But I have no room for a layout so I'll use the smallest radius curves I can find. Why won't my train work?"

I was going to mention this. Also for those who like the complex trackwork often found at city intersections, FastTracks makes jigs for a 9" radius streetcar switch.

I think you got your forces wrong here. The up and down force you describe isn't innate to backing, but a reaction to the true forces at play when backing talgos.

When backing freight cars, the couplers will swing to one side. This exerts sideways pressure. With body mounted couplers, this force is transmitted through the car itself, and its effect on the trucks is to push the wheels against one rail. But the wheels themselves will stay in alignment with the rail they are pushed against. With a talgo truck, the sideways force the couplers exert will be transmitted to the truck itself, with the talgo arm acting as a lever to multiply that force on the truck. The wheels are now skewed, and riding against the rail at an angle. They are looking for any irregularity or flaw in your trackwork as a place to climb the rail. This rail climbing action is the upward force you described, and it is caused by the rail itself, not the truck. Switchpoints and frogs are perfect places for this to happen, as are rail joints or places where the track is slightly under guage. In the case of frogs, in theory the guardrails would prevent the truck from derailing, but most commercially made switches have guardails and flangeways that are wider than NMRA tolerances. And switchpoints are often stamped pieces of metal mass produced, rather than actual rail tapered to a sharp point. These are just the sort of flaws that cause derailments with talgo trucks, and the more cars you are trying to back, the worse the problem becomes.



 

Quote from: Len on July 03, 2023, 03:03:07 PMThe original trucks can still be used after removing the 'arm' holding the horn-hook coupler box.

Len

You're right. In many cases the truck frames themselves are usable. I've done many such conversions over the years, and they've generally worked well with proper wheelsets.  As a matter of fact, the Mantua cars featured body mounted couplers, with a modified Tyco style snap in truck. I've never had problems with those.

I am a little confused as to how adding knuckle couplers to talgo trucks is going to improve their operation during switching. You haven't eliminated the main drawback of these trucks, which is their tendency to skew sideways every time you back them up. Even on good track that's a recipe for derailments.

Quote from: Ralph S on June 29, 2023, 01:15:22 PM

QuoteIs there an easy way to tell if they are DCC equipped?

That's one of the good issues that I like about Bachmann.  If the locomotive is DCC, Bachmann stamps on the bottom of the fuel tank "DCC on board" indicating that the locomotive has DCC.   

Teh only problem with that is that somebody may have added their own decoder to a non DCC unit. I've done this numerous times.

If I'm not mistaken those fit the old AHM/IHC/RIvarossi passenger cars.

Quote from: trainman203 on June 25, 2023, 01:57:56 PMI'm still trying to figure how the right hand column works in the EZ track tabulation for the large layout shown a couple of posts above.  The total track length is shown at the bottom as 590.51, in what appears to be a total for the column. However, when you add those numbers up, the total is well over 1500.  I recall way back in school having a lot of trouble with what was back then called "new math," but I don't think this is an example of that😂

Those numbers are the total length of the track pieces they correspond to. Example the plan calls for 5 22" radius curves at 22.5 degrees, a standard track section. each one measures slightly under 9" for a total length of 43. whatever inches. WHat is confusing is that, in typical anyrail practice, the track pieces are listed in inches, while the total track lenght is in feet. 590.51 feet

As a general rule, 33" wheels fit freight cars and 36" wheels fit passenger cars. I know from experience the freight cars you are running, including the cabooses and the tender on your steam locomotive, will take the 33" wheels.