Got a whole new set of gears for the Bachmann On30 truck. Assembled them, the result was very disappointing for me.
Instead of a smooth running truck, which I expected, I got a noisy, shaking, wobbling result with a slow and heavy running truck.
Assembled, dissassembled,  cleaned about three time, every time it got worse, The led wires broke and in the end I got a short circuit somewhere in such a way that the motor does not want to run anymore.

Yes I know what I was doing..

Wished I had not taken the truck apart and only replaced the rear axle where the crack was and not the whole drive train.
It seems to me that the white gears are slightly larger than the black crackling ones.
What caused in my case a slow and heavy wobbling drive of the truck
It was a nice rebuild truck with a Backwoods Miniatures cab on it and a Boulder Valley Box.
Even with sound.
The gears cracked while the truck was only laying in its box....

It is dead now............

Sorry Bachmann

John Baron
The Netherlands.

Are there Bachmann NEM coupler pockets available to mount on Bachmann HO locomotives.
It makes it possible to insert couplers of other brands.

Hope to hear from you

Thank you
John Baron

Netherlands.

Hi all,

Once again, trouble with split gears.  
This time in the drive train in the trucks of my Bachmann Spectrum On30 Climax.
The plastic "crownwheels'' seem not be able to withstand the tension when pressed onto the steel rod between the wheelaxles. This too is an essential part.
It appeared,  with my climax,  a slow going on process that even takes place while the lokey is at rest in its box.
I hardly used it so far.
My climax started as a fine runner, now it shows bumps when running and the bad part  hits the gear on the drive wheels.
Asked the Bachmann parts department for help. I hope they can. Keep our fingers crossed....

Have fun out there with 'our' hobby
Best to all of you.
John Baron
The Netherlands.

My (second) railtruck turned out to be a bad runner, right from the start.
It 'bumped' along the track with regular intervals.

Took the truck apart and examined the whole drive train.
Trouble was caused by both gears (!) on either end of the drive shaft, one inside the gear box, the other one in the 'differential'.
Both showed up 'widened' teeth because of a split

Quite essential parts. I therefore emailed the Bachmann parts department.

I sincerely hope they carry these wee small spareparts, otherwise the truck is of no use and has to be left on the scrap track....


John Baron
Netherlands.

Hi all,

My On30- Bachmann railbus can bee seen on Youtube. With sound!  After some 'problems'
(see the threads on this board) it is all right now.

This is the link:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=k3IGgpFlbU0

It has a Zimo 64R (motor) decoder and  a Uhlenbrock sounddecoder both attached/connected through a so called Susi plug. Mr Dietz on www.d-i-e-t-z.de invented 'susi'.

My settings:
F0: Headlights
F1: Markerlights
F2: Motorsound
F3 is the whistle.

I use the Lenz LH100 digital system ('cab' in American English)

The sound I loaded in is from an historic (austrian) railbus:  TCA of the  SKLGB.

Here is a picture of that railbus: http://www.lotuslok.at/images/Lotus026.1.jpg

It is an old fashioned ('raw' diesel) sound that I liked very much to go along with the bus.
The German electronic manufacturer  Uhlenbrock (www.Uhlenbrock.de) has a downloadable sound library on its website to choose from (special soundadapter and decoder needed though).

On the Uhlenbrock website (to bad it is only in German) look under:

Produkte
Digital
Sound
Probehören and you are in the library (hören means listen).

Write to them for availability of their system in your country.  (Luckily sound speaks a universal language)

I have attached the speaker (with enclosure!) to the inside roof of the bus. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I and may be it helps you to get along with your (beautiful) bus.

On30 greetings to all of you.

Enjoy 'our' hobby!

Thanks Mr. Bachmann for all your efforts to get 'our' 0n30 trains on the tracks and running.

John Baron
The Netherlands.

My railbus 'jerks' while driving at low speed.
It runs with dcc.
Any thoughts on what may cause this?
John Baron
Netherlands.

Hi all,

If you want to add sound to your On30 railbus the original Bachmann dcc-decoder must be removed.
The bus has many leds on it: frontlights, markerlights, lights inside. I counted 14 leds.
The decoder has to 'serve' them all what I think, draws more milliamps than we are used to with a regular locomotive with only headlights (and perhaps a cablight).

The following happens with my bus (a beauty, is not it ?).
With the Bachmann decoder all the lights work perfectly.
Not so when a (German Uhlenbrock) sounddecoder is installed.
The sound works perfectly. But with it only the two headlights of the bus on. You can shut these on/off. That is ok.
But no markerlights, no lights inside turn on.
The same thing with a standard ESU decoder.
The connections of the decoder are therefore 'proven ok' otherwise I would not have gained this result so far, isn't it? 

Any idea what causes the markerlights and inside lights not to light up with other decoders than with the original Bachmann ?

The original Bachmann decoderplug has two wee small resistors(?) mounted on it.
I have not seen this on dcc plugs before. The board even shows up some circuitry.
Has  this -parhaps-  anything to do with the 'challenge' I am facing with my bus?

Thanking you all for your kind replies!

John Baron
from Harderwijk
The Netherlands.

Bachmann makes beautiful 0n30 tankcars.
But how were these cars used/filled in real life? Through the '90 degree' funnel attached to the side of the big 'bump' on top of the tank?
Is that also the place where the oily 'spillings' occur?
How were they emptied?

Thanks for your replies!
John Baron
The Netherlands.