battery cover and remote control

[nontechsavey]

I am very new to this board , so be kind. We have an old Big Hauler, battery operated R/C train. Runs on D cell batterys, plastic track. It came from Frank's nursery and crafts R/C is 27mgz. Looking for battery door and r/c Hope someone can help us,we want to give this to grand kids. Need to make it run first.

[Hunt]

Look on eBay or like sources  for what you need



Not what you want to hear --  Anything you do to revive the locomotive you have is a waste of time and money.  Very poor gift as it will not be reliable or run well should you get it running.

About 30 years ago when it was new it did not run well and Bachmann stopped production.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi nontechsavey,

Hunt is 100% spot on, do not bother trying to revive the locomotive.  It is simply not worth it.  This product was developed as a toy store item meant for sale at big box stores they came out in 1989, and were a success in the toy market.  On sale at K-Mart they went for as low as $29.99. The Franks Nursery and crafts set was made just for that store as a Christmas item. I bought two sets myself at my  local K-Mart.

None the less the rc sets were a sales success, because modelers like me bought them for the  low cost cars that came with the set which were US prototypes. Even though the locomotive was poor it was a U.S. style 4-6-0, and for its time looked great.   I repainted mine and used them for around my engine house as non working locomotive.  Bachmann got the message from the modelers and almost immediately came out with an electrically powered 4-6-0.  well more than 1 million of these locomotives were produced.  Bachmann kept improving the mechanism, and in 2000 came out with a new Version 5 chassis.  These were an amazing success and incredibly reliable.   This link will take you to a repair tip page : https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,30394.msg224039.html#msg224039  If you scroll down you will find a section on how to identify the various chassis versions.

My recommendation is to buy a new set, preferably one with passenger cars, and give them the cars form the Frank's set to go with it. 

Have a great time with your grand kids!

Loco Bill