There is a new addition to my little On30 locomotive collection.It is the Bachman ET&WNC #12 4-6-0 locomotive. It has DCC,and needs a sound system.
I can't find the Bachmann sound board for the 4-6-0.
Has anybody ever installed a TCS WOW V4 DCC system in one of these Bachmann 4-6-0's? And can you please post instructions on how to install it in the 4-6-0.
Do you think that I would better off to wait until I find the proper Bachmann sound board?
I really like the MRC Loco Genie DCC System that I've installed in the other loco, but the TCS WOW V4 sounds so much better than the MRC does.
Here's a video of the #12 on it's first test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDwb2mgbxus

Thanks, guys!

Well, I swore that it was the end when Bachmann Customer Service replaced my original On30 4-6-0 locomotive with a locomotive and tender frame that was even more broken than the original locomotive and tender frame that I had sent to them for warranty repairs.
I was really annoyed at them, and who could blame me?
Their warranty repair services have apparently gone downhill over the last few years,or so, and this was not the acceptable standard of customer care that I had come to expect from them over the last 15 plus years of owning their G , HO,and now On30, scale trains.
I was extremely disappointed to say the very least ! Bitterly so.
So, I decided to sell the one that they returned to me.
It was sold shortly thereafter on Ebay. I did get most of my money back on it, so that worked out.
I had really enjoyed that little locomotive with the MRC Loco Genie DCC system that I had installed in it.
I thought about it,,and decided to give the Bachmann On30 4-6-0 another shot.
So, I bought another one on Ebay, along with a brand new MRC Loco Genie DCC system, with remote, to go with it.
I'm just going to have to baby it, and leave it connected to its' tender at all times in order to (hopefully) avoid breaking any wires in the future.
I may have to find ,or build a special, box for it , but C'est la vie !
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to enjoy certain things in life, and,for me,this little loco is one of them.
Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9rt7HBiXh8&feature=youtu.be

This may be my last post here.
I sold the 4-6-0 last Sunday on Ebay. I got most of my money back on it, so it's not too bad.
The buyer posted positive feedback, so it's definitely his now.
for locomotives, I am left with the BLI Consolidation, and both of my Bachmann moguls.  I also have an extra, nearly complete, running chassis, and  some extra parts for the moguls.
From now on, I will order parts from the parts department for my G Scale locomotives,and service them myself.
I will, however, continue to buy Bachmann cars, track, and other accessories, as I have no issues with those items.
Bachmann cars are pretty much the standard of On30 scale trains, and are hard to beat for their quality, and durability.
Otherwise, I'm pretty much done with On30 scale trains.

I second the advice given by Hunt. My Bachmann 4-6-0 can run on the 18 inch radius tracks,but it does much better on the 22" radius tracks.
While it runs fine on the 18" radius curves, the wheels squeal loudly. It still squeals on the 22" radius curves, but not as badly.
Here's a link to a thread that I posted a few weeks ago on the subject:

https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,36611.0.html
And here's one to a video that I posted to youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gqJPRczTlQ&t=5s

Thanks, Ton! Yeah. I know that I had them running fast. But if I run them at slow speed, I think that people would get bored waiting for them to pass.
People lose attention when things are going slow!
So, I believe it's a necessary sin to fit the way I record them better.
As far as the speech issue goes, thank you for letting me know.I'll definitely have to work on it.
Later!

Hi, guys! Here's a link to a video that I just posted on my youtube channel.
It's of yy Bachmann 2-6-0 and BLI #268 D&RGW 2-8-0 Consolidation running together.
The 2-6-0 is hauling a string of 7 cars that includes the 3 cars that were original to the Roaring Ridge set that I bought earlier this year, plus a 4th Bumblebee coach car(#294) that I bought online( and received today), and the 3 other cars that I bought separately and repainted in Pullman Green. Those cars have been relettered for the D&RG RR using San Juan Decals in Gold Leaf.
Those decals do look pretty great on the cars!
The #268 is pulling my newly completed, painted, and decorated San Juan Models 3000 Series D&RGW box car.
It had to have shims installed in the coupler pocket on one end to match the coupler height of the new  Bachmann freight cars that I bought to go with it.
The shims were made using 4 extra Kadee #5 draft gear box lids, which fit the coupler pockets after a small bit of modification.
The other end of the boxcar is going to have a Kadee #803 coupler placed in it, as I still have a San Juan Car Company D&RGW long caboose to build,plus a stock car, and flanger to buy and build. Doing the couplers this way will save a lot of time and effort.
All of the Bachmann freight carswere bought on Ebay. All were brand new, in the box,and unrun until today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOvuR729Q1o

Later!

I've come up with an action plan for mating these diverse cars together. The box car will be a dual coupler transition car that will have a Kadee #5 coupler installed on one end in order to mate up with the tender(or other On30 Bachmann cars) of any On30 locomotive that's currently in my collection.
The other end will receive a Kadee #803 coupler. The remaining On30 cars that I plan on buying from SJCC, as kits, and one RTR stock car,will receive the Kadee #803 as designed by the maker of these cars.
This will make my job much easier,as I will not have to a make and install shims, or make any modifications to the cars.
Might look a little funny to some, but I believe that it will work well for running these trains.
Thanks guys!

That's what I kind of thought about the Kadee vs Bachmann. Despite their similarities, I still find Kadee to be the better,less expensive choice in couplers for the On30 and HO scale trains.
I've been thinking about changing my G Scale trains over to the Kadee 907,but that will get rather expensive ! I'm currently using Aristocraft,and Bachmann hook and loop couplers on most of those cars since they don't detach from each other as easily, or as often, as the knuckle couplers do.
LGB knuckle couplers, while very expensive, seem to hold as good as Kadee couplers do, and they look better,in my opinion. I have 2 cars,and one loco/tender that I've converted to the LGB style coupler, and they never seem to fail.

Hi, all. I talked to the very nice people at Bachmann Customer Service this morning, and my 4-6-0 is going in for warranty repairs.
It will be sent out via USPS Priority mail tomorrow afternoon.
She said to expect a turn around time of about 4 weeks,but that's just fine with me. I'm getting my locos' tender wiring fixed, and that's great!

Thank you, Ton. I originally was thinking about using the ol' Kadee 5 for these cars. Much cheaper, and they're my go-to for the H.O. scale cars in my collection, and they mate up just fine with the On30 trains,as well.
Thanks again!

Hi,guys! I just finished building and painting, my San Juan Car Company D&RGW 3000 Series On30 box Car.

I noticed that the box cars' coupler pocket is a bit higher than the Bachmann On30 cars couplers are .

This poses a problem ,as that means that the San Juan Car Company freight cars, and long caboose ,will not be the same height with the couplers on my BLI #268 D&RGW 2-8-0 Consolidations' couplers either.
I bought the SJCC D&GW 3000 Series box car ,and the D&RGW round roof long caboose specifically for the #268.
The instructions that came with both SJCC cars recommend installing Kadee 803 couplers on these cars.

Now it appears that they will not mate up with it without modifications to the coupler pockets on both of these cars.
I expect that the same issue will exist with the SJCC D&RGW Flanger, and D&RGW Stock car kits that I'm planning on adding at a later date.
So, any ideas on what would work best to lower the couplers on the SJCC cars to match the Bachmann cars?
I'm thinking on layering some thin plastic sheeting in the coupler pockets until I get them to match the Bachmann cars.
I think that will work, but I'm not sure.
Video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whBgIgluvPc

Thanks,guys. I'm going to work with Bachmann. If they will not fix it under the warranty,I will probably just buy the darn tender frame with the board already installed. Or maybe James in service will be able to set me up with a new harness that I can solder into the old board.
I tried to call them early on Friday morning, but they are still closed due to Covid-19.
Which  is fine, as I don't have the money to fix it right now.
When I found that they're still closed, I decided to snag a brand new Bachmann  long caboose (which is painted oxide red,and unlettered) on Ebay. It cost me $94.00, but I felt that it was worth it,considering what people are paying for them used.
There's a red long caboose on Ebay right now that is painted red,and unlettered. It has 1 broken and missing ladder loop on one end, and the other two ladder loops on the other end are bent over. It also has a missing section on one of the platform railings.
Yet it is currently going for $72.00 plus $17.50 for shipping.
So, with tax added , that caboose will cost the auction "winner' as much for that damaged caboose as I paid for a brand new, in a sealed box, identical caboose(except for the color).
Personally, I don't get that. Maybe thos bidding on the other one want it for kitbashing,or because it's red...
Other than that, I have no clue.
Here's a link to that auction:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bachmann-Spectrum-ON30-26796-Side-Door-Red-Caboose-Unlettered-Used-Lot-J473/202993489476
There's also someone offering 8 brand new Bachmann On cars on Ebay right now. The current bid is $100.00 plus $10.00. And there is a yellow/brown long cabose included in the lot of cars!
Needless to say, I bid on those as well.
I'll have more money come this Thursday.

Hi, guys. I went to run my 4-6-0 today. It hasn't been run for a while. I placed it on the rails. It made the usual sounds from the DCC system, so I thought everything was fine.
I hit the power button on the IR remote, and it started backwards. So, i started it forward with the idea of having it gently pushing the 3 passenger cars forward a little ways,since they were on the curve.
Fine. Got that done.
I put in in reverse. It moved backwards a couple of feet. Then it stopped. The chuffing sounds continued. The rear tender light stayed on. It just wouldn't move.
I tried forward again ,and it still wouldn't go.
After a few more minutes of working with it, and not getting anywhere,I decided to pull it off the tracks for inspection. A wire on the 4 prong plug was hanging on by a thread.
I tried to gently unplug the tender from the loco, but 2 wires broke off.
I then tried to fix the first one by pushing the pin holder out of the plug. I got it out, but I had to solder the connection. I then pushed the pin holder back into the plug. I no sooner had it back in, and the wire broke off again.
So I started over. I noticed that the wire I was working on was now shorter than the other 3. So, I decided to try replacing the entire wire with a spare that I have.
Well,that worked out real great, as the pin holder is closed to the point that when I tried to plug it into the locomotive, it pushed the pin down.
Grr!
I'm at the point  where I thinking seriously about sending this thing to the landfill tomorrow when they pick up the trash.
These plugs and wires are so fragile. And I know that even if I get the thing fixed, it will happen again. And again.
I have to unplug the wires from the tender after running it to put it away. I was not expecting this thing to be so fragile where the wiring is concerned.
Not only that, the whole thing breaks easily.  It derailed a while back, and 2 of the pins that hold the drawbar on the front of the pilot broke, forcing me to remove it in its' entirety.
And Bachmann doesn't even offer the parts needed to fix either the wiring or the drawbar.
Sure, I could spend $70.00 to get a new tender frame with the DCC board installed,but I only paid $80.00 for it when I bought it brand new a few months ago.I can also still get a brand new one for about $90.00, but why bother as I'm already unhappy with this 4-6-0?
And I don't think that Bachmann will honor the warranty in this situation and repair it.
So, what am I left with?
A useless locomotive that will not work at all because it requires connections in the tender ,and a DCC system just to run.
Can I take it apart and rewire the internal wires inside the loco? Or am I stuck with a worthless hunk of garbage ?
What do you guys think?

Cool! I finally went on the San Juan Decals website,and found them there.
i also discovered that the set on Ebay that the seller says is for On30 trains, is actually the exact same set that he's listing for On3 trains,but he's charging $10.00 more for On30.
After going to the SJD website, I memorized the numbers for the On3 decal set(they don't offer a set specifically made for On30).
I then went back to Ebay and checked the numbers on the decal sets being offered by that seller. Sure enough, the numbers on both sets are SJD701 !
Nice,huh?
So, I'll be buying the decals directly from SJD. Better price,and cheaper shipping,too!

Thank you, my friend!

Ton:
Do you know if decals for on3 passenger cars will work for On30 passenger cars?
There are 2 different sets of decals for passenger cars on Ebay right now.
One is On3, and the other is On30. There's a $10.00 U.S. difference in price, so I'm wondering if I can save the extra $10.00 and buy the on3 decals for my On30 passenger cars.
I think I can, but I'm not 100 percent sure.
Thank you!