With Shapeway gears I measure the axle diameter with a micrometer, then ream the gear hole with a drill bit one or two thousandth of an inch smaller than the axle. I put a drop of blue Loc-Tite on the axle as i press the gear on to keep it from slipping. So far I haven't had any gears split.

Len

Happy New Year everyone! And may this be the year the #6 crossover comes with jumpers to make it easy to use with DC only layouts.



Len

Wiring diagrams of Bachmann locos are notoriously hard to come by. If you have the standard DCC version of the loco the markings on the PCB connections relative to the front of the loco are:

R:    Right Rail
L:    Left Rail
M+: Motor Brush Connected to Right Rail
M-:  Motor Brush Connected to Left Rail
L+:  Light Positive
L-:   Light Negative

So the wires from the right side of the power trucks should connect to the 'R's on the board, those from the left side side to the 'L's. If a dummy plog is installed, instead of a decoder, the motor leads should connect to M+/M- so the loco moves forward when the right rail is positive. A mulitmeter is handy for determining this.

Len

Quote from: Tenwheeler01 on December 28, 2023, 12:37:38 PMNow I am thinking about install my older decoders in them so I can control the lights.  But this will eat up loco slots fast. 

If you set the decoders in the lighted passenger cars in a train to the same address, you should be able to control the lights just using one address slot per passenger train.

Len

If you use switches at both ends, you'll be creating two reverse loops requiring rail gaps and special wiring. That's in addition to whatever switch control is needed. Much simpler to create "dogbones" at each end, with parallel tracks in between. Something like this (drawn with LGB track):



Len

A quick search of the web shows there are a number of back-and-forth autoreverse modules available for HO and N DC powered trains and trolleys. One I've used, and been happy with, for display layouts is the JLK48. There are several others available that work just as well. Most can be used with the your existing Bachmann autoreverse track, just connect power through the new module instead of the power track.

Len

There are a few pics of the set online where the lighting gives the black roadbed a grey cast, but it's not the light grey of the NS track. The only pics and videos I can find of the set's train on NS track are on existing layouts built with NS track. I can't find any reference to the Bachmann 'Overland Limited Set' being available with NS track.

Len

Looking at the video on the product page, click the camera under the picture, it looks like the set comes with steel rail, black roadbed, track.
https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1800

You would have to buy nickel silver track seperately if that's what you want. The set comes with 22" radius curves.

Len

Back when my repair shop was open, I'd sometimes see something similar on Large Scale locos. What I'd generally find is one, or more, of four things:

1. The 4-wheel truck had been rotated 180 degrees from it's normal position.
2. The mounting arm between the truck and frame had become bent.
3. One, or both, mounting arm screws were over tightened.
4. On the truck end, the spacer on the lower side of the mounting arm was missing.

Here's a picture of the correct orientation of the truck and mounting arm:
https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/LS_4-6-0_Metal_Gears.frame_&_wheels.pdf

Len

I've run into this 'wide plug' problem and just used an emery board to sand the plugs down to fit the narrower socket slots.

Len

In my area, near Raleigh, NC, only for small portable HO layouts for temporary displays. For noise reasons, the bigger layouts, and modular layout sections, all use track laid on cork roadbed. The N-scalers all gravitate to Kato Uni-Track because of it's wide selction of curve sizes and specialty track.

Len

Then it might be like this one:
https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/11702.pdf

Len

It sounds like the old 'pancake' motor F9 that used the front truck for power pickup and the rear truck for the motor and drive. This is the Santa Fe version, but if the motor inside look like this, it's really not worth messing with. They didn't run that well and don't have much pulling power.



Len

No. It has "DCC On Board", but no sound. You can either hardwire a Sountraxx Tsunami TSU-1100 sound decoder in, with their 810153 speaker, or use a LokSound 5 Micro decoder with it's included speaker. The LokSound decoder comes with adapter cables allowing it to be either hardwired or plugged into a socket, if available.

Len

A quick check of the Kadee website shows they recommend the #148 coupler and #252 coupler pocket for converting cars with 'Thomas' style hook & loop couplers.

Len