If you check the Bachmann Parts HO section you will see the J 4-8-4 is listed, open that list and you will find a picture of the draw bar.

http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/images/ho_parts/821XX-00T03.jpg

I see that they are sold out at the moment, the Bachmann Spectrum SY 2-8-2 uses the same drawbar but the parts department does not have in stock for this engine as well.

Quote from: electrical whiz kid on December 01, 2013, 02:04:44 PM
Seems like a million years back, and from what I understand, these engines were pretty horrible runners; however, they had a look-maybe it was the Wotton Boiler (I think), which I had always liked, and would like to get my paws on two of them.  Reworking them doesn't seem to present any particular problem from where I stand.  I have gravitated down to mostly small-ish motive power, which was pretty common on the New England scene, which I more or less model.
Rich C.

I had on of the old 2-8-0 Reading locomotives, sure looked good but ran very sporadic. I think if was given to me in 1977.

Anyway with the Bachmann lifetime warranty I sent it in a few months ago and they only ther Standard 0-6-0 or 2-6-2 engines available, so opted for one of the 2-6-2 engines,

I was pleasantry surprised, they are actually decent runners.

Quote from: Zytx on November 23, 2013, 08:50:54 AM
I did that with the 2 trk version. Was all gentle on it & halfway around the layout, the gearbox breaks down.

Unless I can find a gearbox, It's a very expensive static display. Don't want the same thing to happen to the 3 trk version

Vermont Bob

I thought Bachmann had brought in some replacement gears for the Climax, also NWSL was going to make some replacment gears for the Climax as they had for the Shay earlier.

You should not have to have it as a static display

Quote from: shel on November 21, 2013, 05:33:57 PM
There is an unlettered Bachmann Spectrum 4.6.0 with Tsunami sound (new) available at Whistle Stop Hobbies in Portland Oregon.  Their phone number is 503 761 1822, their web is wsor.com.

How do you know. It looks like this site is inactive, last newsletter was 2009.

Other than brass, mainly on consignment there is no other stock showing. how did you ever find the 10 wheeler?

looks like a hand to mouth operation at best.

Quote from: Doneldon on November 19, 2013, 04:31:22 AM

Quote from: Pacific Northern on November 18, 2013, 04:46:36 PM
All he wants from Walthers is a replacement bolt. He did obtain a threaded bolt from the local hobby shop which fits the thread but it is too long, a factory replacement is needed.

PacNo-

He doesn't need a replacement. He can easily cut the bolt he has to the correct length. The easiest and quickest way requires an electrical wiring tool. Those have holes of various sizes and threads into which he can screw his bolt to the proper length and then cut off the excess by merely squeezing the handles together like a pliers. If he doesn't have such a tool (doubtful if he's building a layout the size described), he can cut the bolt to the right length with a Dremel tool or a fine blade hack saw. Cutting it with a wire cutter sort of tool isn't advised because it will mangle the threads on the end. However, if he insists on cutting the bolt that way he should screw on a couple of nuts before he makes the cut and then restore the threads by removing the nuts one at a time.

Or ... he can go to his LHS (in this case, local hardware store) and find what he needs. They don't have the tiniest connectors we use but they should have something the size he needs.
                                                                                                                                                                                          -- D
   

He found the screws at the local hobby shop. I have never seen a hardware store carry screws as small as you find in use in HO railroading.

He did try to cut one of the screws to reduce the length, he used his rail clipper, the threads are just too fine and become distorted at the cut line. He does not have a dremel (yet) so the rail cutter seemed to be a logical way to reduce the length, nope. I agree but he now has one screw left and the hobby shop only had the one package of screws/bolts.

The screw is hardly noticable, if ou look carefully and compare one side against the other the one with the proper length holds all of the rods neatly in place, the long  bolt allows slack, hardely noticeable until ou compare to the other side.

The Spectrum 2-8-0 came in three versions, one that was DCC ready another that had DCC on board, and the third that came with sound and dcc installed. Then later it was demoted from the Spectrum line and added to the Standard line.

I would assume the locomotive you are looking at is from the first batch that came DCC ready. This version has the pc board in the tender waiting for an 8 pin decoder. If you want dcc and sound you should mount the speaker in a baffle for the best sound. I would suggest you mount the speaker in the tender facing the bottom of the tender floor. You will have to drill holes into the floor of the tender so that the Speaker send the sound out through the hold in the floor. You could also mount the speaker in a baffle facing upward in the tender, you will need to poke holes in the plastic formed coal in the tender. I would suggest the floor placement, less likely to poke too many holes in the pile of coal.

It may look complicated but it is relatively easy to install the sound decoder.

I received an inquiry from another model railroad hobbyist who lives in the same area as I do if I could help him obtain some Bachmann HO 4-6-0 engines, preferably with sound and dcc, but without would also be fine.

He is in the process of building a HO home layout set in the 1930's and has bought two engines to date.

The engines are a Walthers Proto 0-8-0 for switching and a Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0. The layout will eventually fill the 16' x 26' basement room. Benchwork almost complete, track work 70% completed. He can run the perimeter of the layout.  More turnouts to come as well as a logging or mining railway.

Unfortunately he had to send both engines, when new in for repair.

The engines both were damaged in the mail during transit.

The Proto engine had a screw missing on its valve gear which is not attached to one of the main drivers, a number of detail parts had been knocked loose and the box was damaged.  He is in the process of filing a claim with the Post Office, that package had been opened by Customs for inspection. All he wants from Walthers is a replacement bolt. He did obtain a threaded bolt from the local hobby shop which fits the thread but it is too long, a factory replacement is needed. Walthers apparently does not have any replacements.

The Spectrum engine was damaged, the smoke box front was loose and some of the detail parts were also broken off, one of the wheels on the front truck had come off the axle, the bell was broken. Bachmann Service sent him replacement parts and a new pilot.

Based on the Service departments of the manufacturers he will no longer buy any more Walthers steam engine.

He has ordered another Bachmann 4-4-0 as well as a Bachmann 2-8-0, all with sound.

He has searched for but been unable to find any Bachmann 4-6-0 engines. He wants to buy 5 or 6 of these dual purpose engines.

Not only is Bachmann not making these, no one else is either (in plastic)

I am surprised that there are no HO steam engines of this wheel arrangement.

He is just about ready to give up and see what is available in brass.

If he goes the brass route then Bachmann will have lost a customer for sure. 

I agree 100% with you. I did buy a few Spectrum Heavy Mountain engines that came in the new packaging and there were parts knocked off the engine during transit.

Same thing with the Bachmann 2-8-4 the plastic did not protect the bell which came of both of those.

At least Bachmann parts did send me bell replacements for those that were broken in transit.

Most of my Bachmann Spectrum roster did come in those black boxes with the foam blocks used to protect the engines.

I re-cut the foam in most of the boxes of the engines I used on my layout, so that the engine and tender could be stored without having to separate that weak link of a wiring harness.

I even cut the clam shell (hard plastic forming) of the new packaging so that the engine and tender could remain connected, so that the plugs were not being disturbed more than was necessary.

I just noticed the price for the SY, $255.00.

I would ask more for one of the ones I have.

You just can not find these engines anymore.

Does anyone remember how much the two truck Climax logging engines were going for?

Plus these were known as problematic, gears could be bought from NWSL, but you did not know if your

engine needed gear replacement or not. About 75% did.

Boy, do I remember that when it was revealed that the 5 pole motor had been replaced with a 3 pole motor

The discussions on this site really heated up with some members of this site being  adamant that no 3 pole motor could ever match a 5 pole motor in terms of performance.

The Bachmann indicated that the 3 pole replacement motor had been tested and it was a close match to the 5 pole, and it was more efficient a motor.

There were even formula being presented on both sides of the argument showing the performance of each of the motors.

I myself have both and I can not tell the difference unless I check to see which are the 3 pole motors and which are the 5 pole motors.

Quote from: rogertra on November 15, 2013, 09:42:46 PM
The J is a faux "Spectrum" engine as it's just an upgraded version of the old Standard line J.

I'm afraid I can't offer any further advice as, apart from the downgraded from Spectrum to Standard 2-8-0 (Big mistake Bachmann),  I steer well clear of anything from the Standard line,
upgraded to Spectrum or not.

So then you would stay well away from the Bachmann 2-8-4's as well as any of the new Standard locomotives.

So are they using second rate mechanism's, inferior to the Spectrums overall.

Thanks for the advice, I will checkout BLI's J locomotives then. There just happens to be a few of those available right now at pretty good prices I see.

Quote from: adari on November 16, 2013, 01:18:59 AM
Hey,
I found one here if you really want one!
http://www.hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/s8.cgi?cat_s=UBH&mfg_s=bac&tag2_i=606

If you buy it, I hope you like it!
Adam

You obviously did not read the ad fully, the item is not in stock.

These SY are the best running locomotives that Bachmann has ever built. Their mechanisms are about the best I have ever run across.

I bought a few of these just for their mechanisms, for a while they were cheap but once they became scarce their prices rose significantly. The amount of detail on these engines makes the rest of the North American Spectrum line look like stripped down locomotives like the Roundhouse locomotive kits.

It is very interesting to Compare the North American versions against the Chinese versions, the Chinese items locomotives and coaches have a significant higher level of detail than the North American items.

A new HO Bachmann Spectrum J locomotive with DCC and Sound on board is being offered to me for a reasonable price.

I recently obtained a bunch of HO passenger coaches which are undecorated but painted in the Tuscan collar,  I was thinking of buying the

Bachmann J and decaling the passenger cars with Norfork lettering.

However, a recent conversation about Bachmann locomotives which was more or less lauding Bachmann for their much improved steam locomotives had good comments on just about all of the Bachmann locomotives except for the Norfork J engines.

The early J models I am advised by a number of people were problematic to say the least. Not good runners as are the newer locomotives.

Question is are the last batch of Bachmann Spectrum J engines with the factory DCC and Sound good running engines like the Bachmann Spectrum mountains or are they still problematic runners?

Or should I look for another steam passenger engine for the set of passenger cars i recently bought?

Quote from: Doneldon on August 16, 2013, 06:05:50 AM
Ted-

Maybe you didn't look quite far enough. Here's the url for the Bmann standard line 2-6-0:

     http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/56501.pdf

Good luck.

                    -- D

This is the wrong diagram

No, I quite like the small driver 4-6-0.I think this is a great little engine.

As you indicate you would like to do a swap with the superstructure, go for it that is what kitbashing is all about