Hmm! Karen's comments are quite true. If you are NKP or PM you have very little to do as the model is pretty accurate for those two roads. If you are a C&O modeller as I am then you have a bit of work to do. Bell, sandbox, pilot, piping, reverser, airtanks, cab interior, booster and firebox to name a few. I've already started altering three locos to better fit the mould of a C&O Kanawah.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

In modern times locos are left hand drive but prior to the modernisation plan of 1950 the locos of the big four, LMS,LNER, SR and GWR were driven right, left, left and right. The BR transport commision decided on left hand drive in 1949 when they displayed  the cab mockup ofnumber 70000 "Britannia" . This was little strange as the CME of BR, R.A.Riddles, was an LMS man and their locos were right hand drive. Points are easy  as it just comes from the point rails which 'point' the loco to the right track. Other differences are vacum brakes as opposed to air brakes though two companys LNER and SR used air brakes. The LMS inheritated many air braked locos in the almagamation of 1923. Where sleepers(ties),  or fishplates ( jointbars) came from I don't know. Another unknown may be the use of buckeye couplers on express coaching stock . This was used on at least three of the big four, LMS,LNER and Southern and was adopted by BR though much local coaching stock still used screw couplers.


Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: john tricarico on June 11, 2008, 10:02:51 PM
thank you for that update woody

also lets not forget
british and euro trains are driven on the left side
ours on the right side
there autos are right side drive
ours on the left side

not to mention they lost the greatest parcel of land
on earth when they finally left brooklyn in 1776

all kidding aside  not to mention there great contributions
to literature and the movie industry

and the railways  has they call it

good luck  john t   brooklyn ny

p.s. going to read my 2008 bachmann catalog
and harry potter

The Older GS-4 war baby is of the split frame design. You will have to seperate the chassis halves by undoing the screws set in the chassis halves. Take care not to damage the the plastic screw locators or loose the palstic spacers that sit over them. These will most likely fall out when you seperate the frame halves. The motor will have to be insulated from the frames as the frames form the pickup path. If it has the smoke generator I'd toss it away as it's current draw can cause problems. I can't remember if the lights are 12V or not as It's been quite a few years since I've worked on one of these locos.

Best of luck.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: rowdyjoe on June 09, 2008, 12:09:59 AM
Thanks Rich and Bach-man.  Shucks!  I was looking for an easy/plug-n-play install but, when I saw "discontinued" at a few retail outlets on-line I suspected what you guys have confirmed.  Iit looks like I'll have to heat up the old soldering station again. 
Hope the disassembly and reassembly isn't too tough.  I'm a bit impatient with a new toy and I want it to work right away.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Garry Rife
Arlington, TX

Terry, there is a big difference when the loco is DCC ready as opposed to DCC ON BOARD. Most Bachmann DCC ready locos will after the fitting of a suitable decoder run pretty well on DCC. Those that come with DCC ON BOARD or DCC SOUND will run straight out of the box but generally require some tweaking of the CV's to fine tune the loco.  All this is a compromise so the model will meet the relevant standards that apply in the various countries where it is sold. 

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: terry train on June 07, 2008, 09:17:08 AM
It came dcc ready. Which it was really not! I had to do what Backmann failed to do in the first place!

I use 15thou nickel silver wire. I found it to better then copper or phospher bronze wire, more reisiliant, more springy. I get it from my local hobby shop.


Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: chuff_n_puff on June 03, 2008, 06:07:27 AM
Does anyone know a site I can go to purchase the thin brass or copper material to make the leaf for picking up power from the track for lighting of the car? Is there a pre-fabbed piece for this and what is it called, so I can search for it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bob, you wouldn't know what the no load current draw of a Bachamnn motor is? I've tested this motor out of the chassis  with no load on it and it's drawing .4A. I tried it with a load on it and it stills draws .4A.  I'm starting to wonder if this motor is stuffed because as soon as you hold the engine back while under full throttle the wheels just stop turning, they don't slip.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: r0bert on June 01, 2008, 11:32:48 AM
I will try to send you the cv setting that I have set on my J to get it to run correctly, if I can send a direct copy of the decoder pro page I will, otherwise I will have to manually copy which will probally take a bit of time.
hopefully that will get you going
bob
update
ozzie, i emailed a copy of the cv setting

Thanks Bob. I'm not at work today so I'll get it when I go back in a couple of days.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: r0bert on June 01, 2008, 11:32:48 AM
I will try to send you the cv setting that I have set on my J to get it to run correctly, if I can send a direct copy of the decoder pro page I will, otherwise I will have to manually copy which will probally take a bit of time.
hopefully that will get you going
bob
update
ozzie, i emailed a copy of the cv setting

I'm still having problems with this sound equipped "J" class. I've been through the Tsunami CV's and fixed the ones that don't match the default settings in the tech reference manual. I've reset the motion so the side rods actually run in the parralell plane. I've requartered the second set of drivers which were out and centered the gear on the axle so the wheels are now in line. But the damn loco won't spin it's wheels. If you trap the loco and have the power up full the wheels should slip but they don't they just stop turning and the chuff increases as I would expect. The loco now runs alot more easily and the waddle it has is for the most gone, can't get rid of it completely as it still has to traverse some sharp curves. I removed the chokes off the Bachmann board but it hasn't made difference. I'm wondering if I should remove the Bachmann board completely and hard wire in a new PC board without the DC rubbish for the lights, I'll add resistors for the lights. Any thoughts anyone.  Perhaps MR B can shed some light as this is not as good as the other Bachmann locos or the previous non sound "J" classes I own which are the upgraded version. Maybe it's time to take this off the catalogue and UPGRADE it again.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Mark, this is quite true but as I said it is prportional to motor load based on voltage and yes if you tune a few more Cv's that I haven't mentioned you can get the chuff closer still. You cannot get it to be exact by using this form of electronic method. I generally use some form of cam be it electro mechanical or optical. On the Bachmann locos this can be done b by fitting an axle mounted cam or a wheel mounted cam. Other ways that are slightly more complex is by using an optical sensor or magnetic reed switch. These methods require more ingeniuity on the behalf of the modeller as in most cases extra space as to found as well as magnets for the backs of wheels to provide the magnetic influence for a reed switch.
The axle mounted cam is the easier method but due to Bachmann's insulated wheels and small diameter axles it makes it slightly more difficult to mount. The easiest method, if slightly unsightly is to use a disc mounted cam similar to the Soundtraxx cams These can be glued to the back of the wheel. An electircal path has to be provided and some form of pickup mounted. This can all be done quite quickly and you can a synchronised chuff in afternoon.


Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: Mark Damien on May 29, 2008, 10:09:08 PM

Quote from: Ozzie21 on May 29, 2008, 07:41:51 PM
it's not linked to throttle position but to motor load. Change the load on the motor and the chuff rate will change slightly as will the timbre of the exhaust. While the the Tsnumai OEM is laid out differently to a Tsnuami all the Cv's are the same except for whistle which has only 3 selections instead of the normal 7. By tuning the decoder CV's 2,3,4,5,6, 116,209 and 210, whose default settings are a compromise to allow the loco to run. By further tuning these CV's the running qualites will be improved.

G'day Charles,

I'll have to disagree with you on one point. CV 116; the Auto Exhaust Rate, is not controlled or related to any Bemf signal. If that is the case you cannot attain a sychronised Chuff Rate across the speed range.  CV 116 is  linearly proportional to throttle setting. You can apply a Speed Table, CV25, but this again is only an approximation & not connected with any Bemf input.

It's actually a " leading Bogie" or " Pony Truck"  or the leading truck.

Charles Emerson

Queensland
Australia

Quote from: eagle37 on May 29, 2008, 07:36:08 PM
>as the harness can drag on the sleepers & lift the drivers off the ground.
>as the harness can drag on the sleepers & lift the drivers off the ground.

Thanks for the response.  I'd hope this simple solution would solve the
problem.  Unfortunately not.  The harness easily clears the track.  Usually,
the engine will just sit on the track with it's drivers spinning. 

What's a "bogey?"

eagle37

it's not linked to throttle position but to motor load. Change the load on the motor and the chuff rate will change slightly as will the timbre of the exhaust. While the the Tsnumai OEM is laid out differently to a Tsnuami all the Cv's are the same except for whistle which has only 3 selections instead of the normal 7. By tuning the decoder CV's 2,3,4,5,6, 116,209 and 210, whose default settings are a compromise to allow the loco to run. By further tuning these CV's the running qualites will be improved.

Charles Emerson

Queensland
Australia

Quote from: Mark Damien on May 29, 2008, 03:53:34 AM

Quote from: SteamGene on May 28, 2008, 02:43:18 PM
If you can alter CVs, you can alter the chuff rate.
Gene

That's true.

But unfortunately, the OEM Tsunami's chuff rate is linked to the throttle & not the anything the loco is doing.
I have corrected the chuff on several Tsunami OEM locos, but as soon as you apply any load [incline or cars]; or remove any load [decline] the throttle position is changed & therefore the chuff is running at a different rate.

So I guess, if you get rid of all that boring stuff like freight & passenger cars, shunting, inclines etc - I mean, what's wrong with running your Tsunami OEM loco light, on a billiard table smooth flat surface?.......?

A tsnumai can be tuned by altering a few of the CV's and the chuff an be synched better. It would take to long to explain so if you followthis link this explanation should iron out the wrinkles.

http://www.litchfieldstation.com/lobby/u_tsunami.htm

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: Mark Damien on May 23, 2008, 10:12:11 PM
[quote ]

The chuff is not synchronized. I have the Spectrum 4-4-0.

Rich

Thanks Rich,

I was going to trade my non sound locos in on a few new Tsunami versions, but if the chuff is not sync'd, there's really no point.

I might buy one of the Quantum Revolution systems & see if that will 'chuff in time'. Using Bemf, they are pretty good on the BLi's, so I may be lucky there.

Cheers.
Mark


[/quote]

Hmm I doubt it somehow. Though you'd think being of the same nationality he's say "yeh lets's go" 

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: r.cprmier on May 27, 2008, 05:38:45 PM
Would there be a good chance you'd run it all on Rod Stewart's layout?   That 120-foot run would be a neato place to see that action.

The Old Reprobate

Gary, I got mine Tony's Train Exchange. Good prices too if you buy in bulk. My next order will be for twenty speakers. Lots of locos to do.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: C.S.R.R. Manager on May 26, 2008, 10:03:28 AM
Thanks Charles, I do appreciate the info.  It sounds as if this might be a way to improve the effectiveness of sound, at least in locos where there is room for the speaker. 

My Connie came with the sound pre-installed by Soundtraxx, so I'm hoping that the speaker update would be a matter of soldering a couple of wires.  And making room in the tender base, of course.  Now I'm looking for a dealer in the US that has these in stock.

Gary

Gary, yes it is the 1.57. it was a challenging install due to Bachmann's lack of adhering to the NMRA standards for DCC wiring, the same applied to the 4-4-0. This means you have to trace the wiring back to the loco and hope that the marks on the Bachmann PC board actually line up with the wiring.

Charles Emerson
Queensland
Australia

Quote from: C.S.R.R. Manager on May 25, 2008, 01:40:02 PM
Great info, Charles.  Is that the HB157S speaker?  I've got a Tsunami in my On30 Connie, but I think it would benefit from a better speaker.

Gary