Mr. Bach-man

Thanks, already for your much appreciated reaction!

John Baron
Netherlands

Imagine a wee little crownwheel in the gearbox near the motor (front) and a same one in the differential at the rear wheel.
A beautiful drivetrain, when it works.
Mine lurched from the beginning and clicked too. It was caused by the crownwheel that showed a crack between two teeth.

Mr Bachmann advised to go back to the shop that sold the truck to me. As I am living in the Netherlands, the truck was bought at the Favorite Spot in the Us of A, it just is not worth the cost and the effort. ((Imagine US Customs! They think every package from the Netherlands is loaded with a bomb or weed)).

Both German Bachmann (Liliput), the English Bachmann and Bachmann in the States when asked for service, do not bother answering you, not even that they do not have the parts (in stock). It is a 'two cent' part that could be sent for almost nothing.
Bet I am not the only one having truck drivetrain problems.
European trainmanufacturers  (Roco/Fleischmann) do support their customers with sufficient parts

So, my truck ended up in a box where it probably will stay till the time I am fed up with it and chuck it out.
One positive point though: My first Bachmann railtruck runs fine. Loaded with sound it is a pleasure to see it run. All my other Spectrum Bachmanns are fine too.
This truck however is a lemon.

Also, Bachmann, trains o.k. but do not ask them for parts. They only seem to shove boxes.
Sorry mr. Bachmann!

John Baron
Netherlands

Have a look here:

http://www.liliput.de/downloads/Lili_Neuh_2009_low.pdf

takes a while to get the file "down" !

This is what Bachmann does for the European Market in 2009

Watch "our"On30 Davenport now in G-ScaLE too.

Have fun watching
John Baron
Netherlands.

Anybody in the States who can order the parts needed and send them at my cost to  the Netherlands.


Neither USof A, nor England, nor Germany gives any sign of Bachmann life.

Mr. Bachmann, what do you think of all this?

Sincerely

John Baron 

Have fun listening in on this one.

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

The result of the link (with the european sounddecoder) mentioned above by Alan Ashworth 

John Baron
Netherlands

Thank you for the tip....

I have tried the English Bachmann first.

Hope they react, one way or another.

Selling trains is one thing.
supporting your customers another, is not it?

It is quiet out there at the partsdepartment...........

Hybernating?

Hope not.....................

Try a different,  but compatible, decoder.

John Baron
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.

Hello Hunt,

In the meantime I have installed a new (motor)decoder, it is the Austrian built Zimo MX 64, readily available here in Europe, top of the bill, but it is not a cheap one.
Through a 'Susi' (solderingpads) connection on this decoder I could keep my (seperate) Uhlenbrock sounddecoder attached. And the sound works with this Zimo decoder also fine.. 

The other unidentified decoder was a german made Uhlenbrock DCC.
I use these a lot on my lay-out and to my satisfaction. Therefore I did not see that the jerky performance, this time, was caused by this decoder. I thought it to be a mechanically problem in the first place. 
But , as was concluded, in this case -with the Bachmann PCB/Bühler Motor- it did not turn out to be a good 'marriage'. 
With the Zimo the bus now runs as a sewing-machine, so to speak.
Thanks again for your support.

John

Hello Hunt,

I installed the original decoder again with the standard settings. It powered the bus without jerking. Proof again that this jerking was not caused by a mechanical shortcoming but by the other decoder I used. I was glad to see that again.

Point is though that de original decoder is a bit noisy one. In use with my cab it even let the bus 'jump' a couple of times when I let it run for some time at the most lowest speed possible. The original decoder also ashuts on/off the front lights and the markerlights the same time (wires ond the decoer are cross-wired). With another decoder (with the green wire attached to the plug) you can shut them on/of seperately.

No problem for all those users who do not mind this, but if your personal standards are higher, like me, another more expensive decoder should be considered.
But make a good choice. I am going to do that now. The bus is more than worth it. Great little machine for which all the credits go to 'our'  Bachmann.

I use the Lenz LH 100 system.

John Baron

Hello Steve
Hello Hunt,

Ok, you both got me going. I took the new installed decoder out and tried it on 'regular' dc. The old fashioned way. What a different type of power. That we accepted that in the years behind us!
But, more important: I was happy to see no jerking showed anymore and thus: no binds in the mechanism !.

((Remember the discussion here on jerky Climaxes. That turned out to be  a mechanical problem)).

I also have to buy a different decoder. I will order an appropriate Austrian ZIMO with a susi plug because I have installed sound also.
In Europe these decoders are top of the bill.

I should have taken one in the first place.

Thank you both for your much appreciated replies.
You will be informed on the results (will take a couple of days).

Anyway: narrow gauge greetings to you from this side of the globe.

John Baron
Harderwijk
Netherlands.

Thank you Hunt for your tips.

I have checked parts of the drive already. No binds there.
Perhaps is is the decoder.
I will find out.

John Baron

Browse around on the site of Backwoodsminiatures in England/Scotland.
Pete has a pantograph on one of his models.
Here is the link:

http://www.backwoodsminiatures.com/0n3kits.htm#On30_Passenger_Tram_and_separate_Trailer_Car__

Succes
John Baron
The Netherlands.