I plan on doing the same thing to my Tweetsie 12. I did some look into it and basically the chassis on the standard locomotive is the same as the one with metal valve gear with the only difference being it has metal side rods. If not you could always get the chassis and pull the drivers/side rods off and install them onto the old drivers. Hope that helps!

You get the standard 4-6-0, a gondola and a bobber caboose. Usually you get a circle of tubular track with 2-4 straights. If i were you, i would try to find the old version of the set because it had one or two more cars and came with 4 more straights. Hope this helps  

Thanks all for the reply's! Now comes the fun part, rebuilding and modifying the locomotive!

Hi, Im trying to figure out what would be the best thing to convert a Bachmann 4-6-0 to run on both track power an battery power. I have a good idea of what to do as in wiring, but what would be a good size battery and RC system to use with it? I was thinking a 12 to 15 volt battery pack but i'm to to sure. Any help is appreciated thanks!

Thanks rich! Yea, I looked and it has the resistor on it.

Hello, I had a question about Bachmann 2-8-0s that are from a newer run say 2012 +. I want to take the Soundtraxx decoder out and install a TCS WOWsound decoder in it. But the only problem i see with it is they don't have LED resistors made into them (well most dont). So my question is, do bachmann 2-8-0s in general have a resistor made into the tender DCC PCB?
Thanks to anyone that can answer my question, Thanks!

Quote from: wtierce on August 05, 2013, 09:28:52 AM
I really think that this locomotive should be made by Bachmann. They actually produce Southern 722 which is the direct sister of 630. 722 is actually in pieces on the GSMRR while 630 is actually in service. Either way, I have also thought about doing this exept also retrofitting the Southern style valve gear from the 2-10-2 onto it. A quick fact that you might not know is that the tender on 630 is actually not the original tender. It was built from scratch because the other tender was in really ruff shape and is now sitting on a siding between East Chattanooga and Grand Junction.

i know every bit of that info wtierce, i live in the Mountain area of NC and have been around to see, yes i think bachmann should make this model and i have the 722, but its not at all accurate to the real thing. (even though i plan on beefing it up once i get my 630 done. Yes 630 has had three tenders built, her original which was scrapped due to ware and tear i think when she went to the ET&WNC (my favorite road) then when she was restored in 2011 they built one from the tender frame of 4501, cause 4501 is gettin a new tender with the stoker built in. And yea i do plan on puttin the valve gear on her once im done modeling and have a sorta correct style tender to what she has now, but thanks for the tip 

Quote from: Doneldon on August 05, 2013, 12:42:22 AM
NG12-

eBay is your best bet. You can also check various on-line stores and/or do a Googol search.

You might find what you are looking for at a train show or swap meet. You never know what will show up at such an event but you could get lucky. The shows are a good place to talk with hobby shop owners and other model rails so you might get a lead on the tender you want even if there isn't one at the show.

Good luck with your quest.

                                             -- D

Yea i was thinkin the same thing, only problem is, were i live there arnt many train shows other than the eastern part of the state. But i can keep an eye out.

Hi everyone, I am in the process of building/making an accurate HO scale 630 to run with some various things to make the 21st Century Steam program ran By Norfolk Southern. I have bought my base model, a standard Bachmann 2-8-0 with sound. I have the decals for the lettering, and plan on moving things around on the locomotive to make it look more like the real thing. But when i get to the tender, the normal tender on the 2-8-0 is way to short to match an accurate thing. So Ive looked and the closest thing i can find to 630s real tender is a tender from the USRA 2-10-2 lettered Southern railway. Does anyone have an idea were i can find one besides ebay and maybe the parts page?
Also if anybody has any things they would like to help me with, like if i should put accurate southern valve gear on or some other things as well.
Thanks as always ~Chris

I was about to say that, blackstone has a very good HoN3 K-27, goes well if you want to model dual gauge operations like several Narrow gauge railroads did. But it would be nice to have a very nicely detailed On30 K-27, Bachmann do you think its possible, cause if you did one i would be all for it.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, i have now fixed the problem and am much happier. 
Thanks again.

Well, the problem is for me, is there one solid metal wheel that has a copper contact that connects electricity flow to the tender contacts and into the sound decoder.

Hi, i recently bought a Dynamis Sound commander set from a local hobby shop, and i love it, but after a day of use i noticed that the first tender truck was messed up. I checked to see if the little copper contact was good which it was. Every time i got around a curve it would pick the truck off the track making a short. Then today when i applid just a little bit of power, the system would shut off. Any suggestions?           
Thanks for the help.
(P.S. this is my third 2-8-0 and the only one ive had problems with, and my other 2 are the older ones.)