That reminds me of how I first got my HO scale "coal" for loads.  I didn't have any HO "coal" and was sort of looking for some.  You might find this interesting:

Back in the mid-1980's I was a sales rep for the Burlington Northern RR in Portland OR.  One day I had to go to the BN's Portland Yard on business, and while there I noticed a small pile (about 3' diameter) of some black stuff in the middle of a track - obviously leaked out from a hopper.  I went over and looked - the pieces were shaped like lumps of coal, only varying in rough diameter from 1/32 to 1/4 inch.  I think someone told me later that it was copper slag.  Well, I came back and shoveled some of it in a couple boxes and went home and strained it.  This made perfect size and shape coal loads (glued to load-shaped styrofoam), and I still have some of that in a bag today.

K487

You're welcome.

Been doing this for 40 years.  I use the light green florist styrofoam sold at Hobby Lobby stores (easy to shape with a hobby knife with the blade at 90 degrees to the styrofoam), and don't use a base or a (magnetic) washer for them.  After the load is created and in a railcar (gons and hoppers) I just pry them up with a hobby knife blade or my pocket knife blade - and I usually only do this when showing them off to guests.  I keep most of the open-top cars "loaded."

The "hardest" part of all this is smoothing the styrofoam sides with the load glued to them.  I usually cut/scrape these off with a knife before the glue dries or a Dremel tool cut-off disc  after the glue dries.

Oh, I've always used the Elmers yellow glue.  Why not white glue?  Because yellow is  what I had on-hand 40 years ago and it works.

As info, I started this long ago because: 1 - the loads were very light (not add to the pulling needs of the locos) - the real strained sand etc. is only about 1/16th inches thick; 2- easy to remove to make an empty; 3 - easy to make the load the right height in the railcar (styrofoam shims underneath pressure-fitted styrofoam); and 4 - when I have a derailment and turn a car over  there is NO mess to clean up.

Of these loads I have sand (different colors), reddish iron ore in AHM ore cars (looks great), coal, rip rap rock (relatively large rocks for embankments), white rock, and cullet*.  Most of these loads come from different colored HO ballast packages.

* Cullet is broken waste glass (extra glass in the molds) from the initial manufacturer.  They sell this to another glass manufacturer as "seconds" and if there is any volume this cullet moves in open-top hoppers.  In doing a little research glass comes in three major colors: green, clear and brown.  So I went online, ordered some real glass beads (green), wrapped them in a tight-weave cloth, put that on a concrete walk, and beat the snot out of the beads with a hammer (there's probably an easier way to do this.)  I then strained the results and glued them on a fitted piece of styrofoam for a load.  They are now in an open top hopper on a train.

Hope this is some useful info.

K487

Two thumbs up for Bachmann!

About four years ago I sold ALL my Athearn BB locos, and now ALL (uh, more than 20) of  my HO engines are Bachmann - both diesel and steam.

Have every one of these been perfect out of the box?  No, I've sent some back.  So what?  And I go through every new loco lubing, adding weight where these will balance the total weight equally over both trucks, installing a soft WHITE headlight (don't like the dim orange ones), bench testing, then on a train* it goes.

* Usually two engines per 60- to 70-car train.  Will two of Bachmann's GPs pull a 65-car train (where 85% of the cars' wheels are plastic)?  Easily.  And, as you might have read here before, I add 4 oz. of equalized weight to all my SD40-2s - less weight for the smaller diesels but about the same weight for some of the steamers - and one of these will walk off - pulling or shoving - with a 65-car train.  I run some trains with two (sometimes three for looks) SD40-2s for less stress on the locos.

Overall Bachmann's price-value ratio is excellent.

K487

woliners:

I fully second Jonathan's advice: 

"Sometimes, the (drive) wheels' cover plate, at the bottom, is screwed down too tight at the factory.  Many have reported great improvements to their locomotives by backing out those screws, just a quarter of a turn." 

This has helped me a bunch with my Bachmann Berkshires and Heavy Mountains; it lets ALL the drivers move sideways left or right to their maximum.  When you back out the screws a quarter or so turn, move each drive axle back and forth; if one or more are still tight when moving, back out the nearest screw a little more and test them again.

As info, I've never had one of these loose screws back out on its own and fall to the roadbed.

K487

Well, here's my 2 cents:

Four years ago I got rid of all my Athearn HO locos and purchased all Bachmann - GPs, SD40-2s, plus heavy mountains and 2-8-4s.  I first lightly test run them (to see if I need to return any - almost always not) then disassemble them and lube them - especially on the motor bearings and gear tower bearings - with Labelle 107. 

Why do I do this?  When I run these engines, or the motors by them selves, on the bench without load, without keeping records I'd say that 7 to 8 motors out of 10 needed the oil.  How can I tell?  After applying the oil, and before 30 seconds are up, the pitch of the running motor goes up (i.e. it starts to run faster).  Usually they do so in uneven steps (up/down,up/down), both when run forward and in reverse, and then they smooth out at a higher pitch.  Takes about one minute.  I then run them in by puting them on the head end of trains.

Also, as posted elsewhere, for me the Bachmann diesels start acting "funny" at about 45 hours of run time (maybe I work them too hard - I don't think so - but usually two GPs or 2 SD40-s pull 60- to 70- car trains).  "Funny" means making some not-very-loud growly noise, and/or after stopping  jerking forward vs. normal smooth starting.  Nine times out of ten a small drop of oil on the motor bearings fixes this, and if not I add a small drop to each of the two worm gears' bearings.  Except for maybe some minor gear growl, quietness and smoothness reign again.

As info, I also add a VERY small drop of Labelle 107 on the commutator plates while the motor is running slow, and then run the motor fast forward and then reverse.  I think it helps but if you ask me exactly how, I can't tell you.  But I can tell you that Labelle actually recommends their 107 for this exact purpose (in addition to bearings).

Hope this is helpful.

K487

"My granddaughter shows more interest in reading, so I'll dig up some Thomas stories and start my subversive plan."  You twicky wascal.

DougC

Irbrick:

The track diagram looks like it is set up only for breaking up and building trains.  Might be fun to have some industrial trackage and buildings too - even if just temporary.

K487

Donaldon:
JBrock27:

You're very welcome; glad to be of some help.

GGI:  Maybe Bachmann should rename all of their loco gears/bearings/etc. after animals, starting with "... the mouse gear."

K487

I've got over 20 of Bachmann's HO diesels and a number of their steam locos. 

The other day one of the diesels had a peculiar problem that stumped me for a while.  One of them was squeaking.  And it took me some time to locate the source. 

Normally any squeaking is due to an engine having been run for 40 to 50 hours and is one or both of the motor bearings is telling me they need lubing.  This is simple to fix so I put a little oil (I use Labelle 107) on each bearing.  Well, that didn't help the squeak.

So I removed the two bottom covers of the trucks.  Believe it or not one of the truck's axles and gears were dry (from the factory).  AHA I thought, easy fix.  After some oil and grease, nope again - squeak still working.

Oh, then how about the gear tower bearings?  Nope, they're fine.  How about the male/female plastic drive-line fittings?  They're okay too.

Ooookaaay, think!  What's left?  Could it be those little (flimsy-looking but work great) copper-colored electrical pickup wipers on the back sides of the loco's wheels?  I din't know, but it couldn't hurt to try, so I turned the engine upside down and put a very tiny drop of Wahl hair clipper oil on the back side of each wheel right above/next to the wiper knobs, then ran the engine on the track.  THAT WAS IT!

This was the first and only time this type of squeak ever happened me.  So if you run up against a squeaky "blank wall", those wipers/wheels combos may be your culprit.

K487

Jerry:

Thanks for the link.  Saw some strange and interesting railroad things.

I think the main message I got was KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid!

K487

Pat:

I'm with Donaldon on this.  I have many Bachmann HO GPs, and after lubing and running them in, they MU easily.  Some of the engines may still have a little variance in speed, but when pulling trains MUd they function fine.   I believe most all of these type engines have the exact same motors and drive trains.

Hope this helps.

K487

GG1....

I can see you're not slow.

K487

Doneldon:

Thanks for your comments.  We will see how things turn out regarding HO and N scale working models, and I'll bet you're right about a static model.  OTH I'm thinking that in the railfan community at least in the Anglo sphere the first day that the 4014 turns a steam-powered driver will be a BIG DEAL.

I'd like to take credit for "training" my "general superintendent" but I can't.  I wish I could figure out how to market her attitude (I could probably make some $$$ and buy more trains.) 

K487

Bach-Man:

Here's a business thought that you folks are probably already discussing, but here goes anyway:

I've not read the thread(s) here about the UP's restoration of their 4014 Big Boy, but it occurred to me that if a UP-approved (sponsored?) manufacturer had superb models of this loco in HO and N gauges for release at the time of 4014's operational debut - well, the international sales could and probably would be "off the charts."

In the four? years' time it will take the UP to refurbish the 4014 the models (and with your successful experience with your EM-1s) could be thoroughly tested and re-tested until they all ran like Swiss watches, and then mass-produced.

I wonder what the world-wide sales volume would be?  And I bet many rail fans around the world would buy one just to have (i.e. not for running but to commemorate the event and display the loco.)

[I also just wondered about a 1:22.3 (large scale) model without a motor but with about 3' of track - both all plastic - for display purposes only.  This thought occurred to me because I have one of your 1:22.3 D&RGW K27s (with motor) on display in our living room - and believe it or not my wife actually LIKES it there!]

Watcha think?

K487