A tip of the hat to Bachmann on the 1870s 4-4-0

[brokemoto]

B-mann has come a long way with these.  I have an old one, with the hex ended drive shaft that can barely get out of its own way.  Over the years, I have acquired various copies of these and recently began to notice that with a long break-in, they were not bad locomotives, as long as you operated them on a pike with metal frog switches.

I did buy a CB&Q version recently, that showed some problems.   B-personn, as usual, rectified the problem promptly.  The replacement runs well.  But this is not the reason for this topic.

My latest purchase of one of these is the very latest Jupiter , it comes in a plastic box, has the dummy knuckle coupler, as opposed to Rapido and has a much improved paint scheme over the other issues.   I was most impressed with its running qualities after very little break in.  It does not wobble, it runs smoothly at speeds from fifteen to forty five SMPH, pulls well for its size and keeps the electrical contact on my little nineteenth century pike (that has metal frog switches).

It was because of the good running qualities that I got a wild hair up my nose:  could I use this thing to power a local freight; a task that would require it to spot cars on sidings?

The first thing would be to convert to Microtrains couplers, so that I could use magnetic uncoupling ramps.  MT recommends 1049 for the older version, but I suspect that it is not yet aware of the version with the dummy knuckle coupler, as MT's website shows no recommendation for that one.  A quick examination and a bit of surgery allowed me to get  a 2004 onto the tender.  I did not even consider anything for the pilot (thus, I can only spot cars on trailing sidings).

I put the thing onto the track, coupled it up to a short freight train, pulled it up to some trailing sidings and went to work.  It worked well.  The thing crept nicely as it pulled cars off of and backed them onto the sidings.  The magnetic uncoupling went well.   It was only recently that no one would have considered using this locomotive for such a task.   With a long break in, it was an allright runner locomotive, but having it work was not something  for consideration.   That has all changed.   This locomotive has come a long way.

We nineteenth century modellers do not have much from which to choose.   Bachpersonn is the only manufacturer that makes a real eight wheeler from the nineteenth century.  While the Model Power is based on a VERY late 1890s design, it is really a mogul body stuffed onto an eight wheeler chassis.  The eight wheeler was the standard nineteenth century design.  Athearn does have a very nice mogul and consolidated and Atlas sells a mogul, but that it all that we get for the early 1890s and before.

I also fitted an Atlas mogul with a MT 2004 and tried to put it to the same tasks.  The Atlas mogul is a finicky creature that is prone to stalling, even on straight and level, at speeds less than thirty SMPH.  The latest B-mann 4-4-0s show no such problems.  I had to pull the Atlas mogul off of the local freight.  The B-mann eight wheeler completed its task with no problems.   Who would have thought that this thing would ever be able to do  something that a similar Atlas locomotive could not?

One thing, though, Mr. Bachpersonn.  It appears that the contact plates on the bottom of the tender have gotten smaller and someone in the design department decided to omit the clip that retains those contact plates.  The plates should be restored to the original size and the clip needs to be restored, as well.   What happens is that the plates try to come out.  Further, the trucks now tend to pivot excessively and the contact springs move off of the plates.  When the trucks pivot the other way, the springs get snagged by the raised edge of the contact plates, creating some problems.

Other than that, this is a great locomotive that has come a long way.  Good job.

[sharriso]

Thanks for keeping us "old timers" informed.  This 4-4-0 is nice looking but needed an upgrade.  I have read a suggestion for Bachmann to bring it up to Spectrum standards.  And by the way, the B&O William Mason dates back to the 1850s -- Bachmann's 4-4-0 is not a bad match.  We are still researching the colors.

Have you sent your review to Mark at the N-Scale Locomotive Encyclopedia?  (http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/bach440a.html)

[poliss]

I'd like to see them come DCC fitted. Before you say that it's too small for a decoder I have a DCC fitted Minitrix Glaskasten that's even smaller.