Bill,
Back in May of 2020 I asked...
"Have you seen this before?
In February of 2019 I purchased, from eBay, a North Pole & Southern Big Hauler #12.
One of the things I've noticed about this loco is the floorboards, like the ones on the Osh Hardware set, have wood grain and rivet details and the front edge of the floorboards, over the air tanks, are in line with the boiler strap separating the smoke box from the boiler. The standard Big Haulers floorboards stop forward of the strap, about 3/8", and don't have the wood grain.
Another thing different is the new style pilot truck. The chassis is a gen.5 with plastic gears and also plastic drive rods, connecting rods and valve linkage. The chassis definitely looks stock and unmodified.
I was not aware that Bachmann made a Big Hauler with the new style pilot truck. Seems to be a hybrid between a Big Hauler and an Anniversary
Any thoughts about this North Pole & Southern?"
Below are a few pictures, looks to have little to no run time on the chassis.
As you can see, there's no slot between the cylinders for the Big Hauler type pilot truck guide and spring assembly. The front trucks have power pickup wires. The drive gears are definitely plastic, as you can see through the access hole.
Seems kind of strange that someone would change out the bottom cover with a version 6 and rewire the front pickups to a non-Annie version 5 chassis.
One other thing, like I mentioned earlier, I purchased a brand new Virginia & Truckee #25 OSH Hardware Big Hauler set and the floorboards have the wood grain and the forward floorboards have two holes for the sand piping. These are the only two Big Haulers I've seen with such detail to the floorboards.
Could I have gotten a couple of flukes that were made with the only parts available at assembly time?
What's your thoughts?
Adam
Back in May of 2020 I asked...
"Have you seen this before?
In February of 2019 I purchased, from eBay, a North Pole & Southern Big Hauler #12.
One of the things I've noticed about this loco is the floorboards, like the ones on the Osh Hardware set, have wood grain and rivet details and the front edge of the floorboards, over the air tanks, are in line with the boiler strap separating the smoke box from the boiler. The standard Big Haulers floorboards stop forward of the strap, about 3/8", and don't have the wood grain.
Another thing different is the new style pilot truck. The chassis is a gen.5 with plastic gears and also plastic drive rods, connecting rods and valve linkage. The chassis definitely looks stock and unmodified.
I was not aware that Bachmann made a Big Hauler with the new style pilot truck. Seems to be a hybrid between a Big Hauler and an Anniversary
Any thoughts about this North Pole & Southern?"
Below are a few pictures, looks to have little to no run time on the chassis.
As you can see, there's no slot between the cylinders for the Big Hauler type pilot truck guide and spring assembly. The front trucks have power pickup wires. The drive gears are definitely plastic, as you can see through the access hole.
Seems kind of strange that someone would change out the bottom cover with a version 6 and rewire the front pickups to a non-Annie version 5 chassis.
One other thing, like I mentioned earlier, I purchased a brand new Virginia & Truckee #25 OSH Hardware Big Hauler set and the floorboards have the wood grain and the forward floorboards have two holes for the sand piping. These are the only two Big Haulers I've seen with such detail to the floorboards.
Could I have gotten a couple of flukes that were made with the only parts available at assembly time?
What's your thoughts?
Adam