Some of us in the US have extra of the original archbar trucks resulting from converting old cars to the low archbar truck for use as representing lower 2 foot gauge cars, including in conjunction with replacing the underframe with 29906.  I or others might be willing to sell you a few surplus sets for a token amount plus overseas shipping.

I also see some on E-bay which may have access to better shipping rates: https://www.ebay.com/p/Bachmann-On30-Scale-Train-Arch-Bar-Freight-Trucks-29901/1600542111?iid=303239913309&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=303239913309&targetid=595076246328&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9016859&poi=&campaignid=1689407474&mkgroupid=74365777868&rlsatarget=pla-595076246328&abcId=1140476&merchantid=101510138&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1NP40IH_4wIVCP_jBx1i-AiiEAQYByABEgJQxPD_BwE

Still would be nice to have a SR&RL Prairie2-6-2 to go with the SR&RL Forney and side door caboose.  (And with the other Bachmann cars we have already re-lettered!)

Seems like there are enough mechanical pieces for other engines around that it wouldn't be completely new tooling.

Bachmann did offer their stock car in a black D&RGW version some time back, Item 27518.  I bought a few to go with a BLI C-19.  They look fine with it, older smaller cars did mix with the later larger D&RGW cars but these are quite small by late D&RGW 3 foot guage standards.  Also see http://drgw.blogspot.com/2008/07/on30-stock-car.html where the author bought some of the new cars, added larger letter boards, painted them black and added San Juan Decals.  I intended to run a San Juan On3/30 long caboose but it progably would look out of place with only bachmann cars.  I am still working on a kitbash of an original Bachmann caboose to roughly represent a D&RGW "short caboose", with Grandt Line window castings intended for the actual car and a new cupola.

Has anyone tried the Foothill Model Works extended knuckle on the Forney rear (or front) coupler FMW 4008 or 4009 to overcome the problem of uncoupling over uneven track?  My 15 year old "temporary" layout with EZ track has a couple humps in it where the rear coupler up and down swing that is exaggerated by the length of the Forney causes it to uncouple.  I can't run it backwards because it derails on the EZ track switches, pluse there is no reverse headlight.   (I have tried putting extra screws to push down the high spots, but then it pops up somewhere else a few months later.  To save weight on a portable temporary layout, it is just homasote, and it is slowly shrinking while the EZ track is not.)

I don't have a problem withcars being pushed off on curves, its just that the coupler lifts right out of the mating car over a couple humps, so it seems like this would be a simple solution.  I am not intersted in cutting it up into a separate tender loco as I am trying to keep the SR&RL look.  If anyone has tried it, did it work and was the 4008 enough or did you use the 4009? 

Now I just have to wait for a blown 567 sound version for my BL2s or old F units!  Do the separate True Blast Plus systems come with a speaker like the add on True-Blasts did?  The speakers in my BL2s were so covered with hot glue that they couldn't flex much and I ripped one trying to pull off the globs. 

I did try an Altas generic sound unit with different speaker in one but the normal 3 rail operating sounds drown it out.

Thanks - once I got that the coupling was flexible it was no problem to change the u- joint components!  I just assumed it was similar to the other black plastic pieces  Now I see that in the service parts it is called an O-ring which would have been a good hint. 

I also noticed that on the older shay I had the sleeves and u-joint ends that connect to the crankshaft were metal and well formed, with a little grease they had always worked just fine.  The later one (soundraxx version) that I was running for the first time with new trucks and gears in hand had plastic sleeves that were poorly formed - more round than rectangular to match the shafts.  I heated the shaft that goes into it to open it up a bit, then sanded the shaft smooth and with enough grease it works OK.

The one replacement sleeve in the kit with the gears was also plastic and as poorly formed as the original one. 

In replacing the trucks with the replacements for new geasrs on a shay that had not been run yet I find that one of the slip joint between the crankshaft and trucks binds severely.   The replacement gear kit included an extra slip joint sleeve with u joint half, the mating piece of the u-joint that presses on the crankshaft, and the ring that holds the u-joint together.

How do you assemble the joint, do you just squeeze the two ends together enough to fit into the ring and pop back to shape in the holes?  Also, is there any way to disassemble it without just snipping off the ring?  I would rather just replace the sleeve part, and not try to pull off  / press on the part that goes on the crankshaft.

Thanks

Great to hear that Bachmann will step up to correct the various bad gear systems - this will make us all more inclined to try the next one - I will be looking forward to the June date for replacements for 3 units.

Is it clear that Bachmann now understands the problem and the fix will be permanent?  Since so many similar designs in a row were bad there must have been some flaw in the design process or quality control, not just a simple one time mistake.  Have the maximum possible stresses in the gears been calculated correctly now, taking into account the tolerance stack-up and the range of temperatures that may be encountered in shipping?  Nylon has many times the CTE of steel, so at the tight end of a stack-up that is supposed to be just barely within the strength of the nylon at room temperature, it will get much tighter yet at -20 on a container train across the northern US in winter!  I wonder if this explains why some seem OK and others break quite early in use.

Has any one had long term good luck with Shays, Climax or Railtrucks?  I wonder if I should get gears for the ones that haven't broken yet to have on hand, or if they got through the first few years they may be OK.

Has anyone had one long enough / looked hard enough to see if it appears to have the same gear design problems as the other geared locos, etc? Its cool, but  I don't want to buy another shelf queen...

Has anyone had a fix for the railtruck from Bachmann service other than the a fore mentioned offer to swap with a rail bus or some other critter?  I took my railtruck out to risk its once a year run, and now instead of running but hopping like it had a square wheel, it just moves a little and sits still with motor running.

I see some railtruck gears in the service parts section now, but not clear which ones they are or whether they are likely to be the problem. I don't really want to take it apart if there still is no fix and have to put it back together broken as a display anyway.

Hopefully someone will chime in otherwise but the last it was left in the forum, Bachmann had no fix nor plan, but would offer to trade a rail bus for a bad railtruck.  I still want the railtruck, so I am stuck with one that goes down the track like it has a square wheel.  I don't see a kit specifically for the railtruck on the NWSL website, but they do respond to demand.

Glad to see the progress on the Shay and Climax gear problem, Bachmann, I am more willing to run mine now that I know there is a fix. 

As far as I can see that only leaves the railtruck owners out of luck for split gears, and that is the only one of the three that I have actually had fail.  Last we saw on this forum, the only resolution offered would be a swap for a railbus which doesn't help if you want the railtruck...

Any plans to get behind this one, or is there an aftermarket set anyone knows of?

I used a small screwdirver to release the necessary terminals from their plugs, stuck the one that needs to change connection location back into the appropriate cavity.  For the other two that need to be connected to each other, I fitted a short stiff wire into the two terminals, then taped the connection.  This way it can be restored to parallel without cutting and soldering.

  It was hard to find a wire that was small enough to fit snugly and was not stranded, so I ended up cutting ridgid wires that were used to connect the parallel port connector to an old PC circuit board.  I cut a few extras to have on hand for the next one.   A paper clip is close but a little too large and lightly plated steel so may have a corrosion issue eventually.

The details on my B&M BL-2 are pretty good already, but I do plan to spray the whole thing with dullcoat including the windows (to make them opaque)  I may mask two areas representing the area that the windshield wipers keep clean.  I plan to model winter so the windows would likely be none too clear.

I also bought an AC sounder but it doesn't seem to be load enough even after I figured out how to turn it up.  Seaboard, did you use the stock speaker from MRC, and where did you mount it?  I plan to put it in the fuel tank sounding through holes or slots like some of the other brands do, but when I run it just lying on the frame with no body it is barely audible above the sound of the loco itself.  The speaker from MRC is closed on the back, so I don't see how a resonance chamger would help.   I also tried the trueblast speaker but it had a lot of hot melt glue restricting the cone travel from a sloppy original installation, and of course it is inside...

I like the Heisler, but before signing up for another geared loco, I am still looking for Bachmann to fully address the split gear issues.  I understand only the Shay has been addressed, and mine is actually OK so far without the fix.  I don't see that the equivalent Climax or Rail Truck problems have been addressed, however, and previous posts indicated that the warranty fix for my bad RGS Rail Truck would be to try to trade a Rail Bus for it rather than a proper fix.