Hello, trainman203

So, you're an old guy too. I'm old enough to have experienced big steam - mostly PRR & Reading, but GTW and some Canadian too. But I don't have room to model any PRR or the Reading. Bachmann put out some beautiful 4-4-0 models under the Spectrum name, and I bought when the Brooklyn and Baltimore sellers cleaned out stock.

So as you do, I model on a 4x8, and follow John Allen's idea for small, old locos and short trains, with 40' freight cars and open vestibule passenger cars. I have a small engine yard with turntable and roundhouse, with 0-4-0t, 4-4-0, and 4-6-0 locos.

In addition to "Mixed Train Daily, you'd appreciate Mallory Hope Ferrell's 2-volume book, "Slow Trains Down South."

Luca_DC

Thanks, trainman203,

I'm a bit loose on the era I model. Beebe & Clegg's book, "Mixed Train Daily" shows many short lines, especially in the American Southeast, had old slide-valve 4-6-0s and 4-4-0s in use, even after WW-II, though admittedly their new finish and striping had already been long-gone. But I'm comfortable with pre-WW1 models on the property.

Luca_DC

Hello Guys,

This is the 4-4-0 that (except for its headlight) is finished as if it is just out of Richmond, the locomotive builder, in 1896: gold striping on cylinders, domes, wheels, cab, tender; Russia iron boiler finish. I've long wanted one and could never find one for sale. I recently found a clean, almost new one in private hands, and bought it.

My questions are:
Why were these so hard for me to find?
How many were made available in the USA?

Questions about the On30 Porter 0-4-2t Greenbrier & Big Run Lumber Co. #9 model:
   The latest ones have Greenbrier & Big Run Lumber Co. legends on the black-painted and (apparently) cast metal tank.
      Are the legends decals, or are they painted onto the tank?
      Can the legends be removed without affecting, scratching or ruining the black paint on the tank?
      If so, how?
      If a solvent, what solvent?

A few days ago I repeated Mr. Bach Man's method for hooking the HO streamlined K4's drawbar to the tender. The technique involved loosening the single screw under the front truck of the tender, allowing one to slightly separate the tender body and the tender frame at the very front, just enough to install the drawbar.

The above system worked well for me. But if one pries the parts apart too much, or is ham-fisted, damage may be done.

More recently, Mike of the Bachman service center suggested a gentler, more conservative means of installing the drawbar. This method offers less chance of doing any damage. I repeat it here in Mike's own words:
   "To hook the draw bar to the tender, you must loosen the tender chassis from the top shell. To do so, you must loosen the two screws on the bottom of the tender. THESE ARE NOT THE ONES THAT ARE IN THE CENTER OF THE TRUCKS. IF YOU LOOSEN THOSE, GAME OVER. The ones you need to loosen are the ones under the second and third truck axles. Loosen them enough to slide the draw bar into the tender and then tighten the screws."

"Game over?" I believe that what is meant here is as follows. The truck screws are fastened by nuts within the tender, and the nuts also retain electrical power connections within the tender. Once the truck screws are loosened or undone, the connections are also undone. Remaking these connections is not easy to do; it requires care and significant patience.

I'll add that if one loosens either of the screws under the trucks to the point of dropping out, either is easily replaced and re-tightened.

Thanks, Terry, and thanks, Rich,

Terry, I think I understand a bit. That is, if I had a social media account, I could put my images on it, and refer interested readers to it. That does not apply. I've never signed up for any social media, and I probably never will.

Rich, my wife has Gimp on her side of our computer, but I've never needed or used it. Photo Bucket is strange to us. I have put good images in MS-Word and published same, but I think that that is no option here.

Back to getting a streamlined K4s' drawbar and its 2 aft pins into their slots in the tender, Mr. Bach Man's instructions are right on and fully adequate, and my additional comments should be further help. With them, anyone with a #1 Phillips screwdriver and a couple of toothpicks should be able to assemble the model. One can get the screw driver onto the front screw without removing the front truck. (That may not be so for the rear screw.)

It's a nice model. Perhaps it should come with a sturdy #1 Phillips screw driver and instructions for coupling the tender.

Thank you for your note, Hunt.

But you lost me:
   What is a URL registered site?
   Do I make one?
   If so, how (keystroke by keystroke)?
   What is the SMF Bulletin Board, where is it, and how can I see it?
   What are BBC tags?
   Are they something I make up for my images?
   Then what do I do (keystroke by keystroke)?

I see two choices:
   1.  Give me explicit keystroke by keystroke instructions from end-to-end, or
   2.  Send me an e-address, and I'll send my three images, with descriptive captions, along, and you post the message if you think it's worthy of posting, or not, if it's not worth posting. Or you may send it to Rich, who sought the images.

I apologize for my lack of skills.

It's just as Mr. Bach Man says. The screw, 10145X2, is at the bottom of a deep well, not necessarily centered in the well, initially quite tight, and requires a #1 Phillips screw driver. The screw is not necessarily centered within its deep well; one must feel the screw driver's way into the screw's cross-slot. Toothpicks at the front edge of the tender between the frame and the bottom of the tank can keep the  parts spread until one wiggles the legs of the drawbar into place.

I cannot load my three images. I keep getting error messages no matter how low-res I make them.

Got it,
Thank you, Bach-man.

I'll try it later today or tomorrow.

Thanks, Rich.

I've put the model away for a now, and no longer have access to it or to the drawings, so at may be a day or two before I can check either for the two screws. I had looked for obvious ways in, but saw none.

Perhaps I should not have described the drawbar as a "yoke." It is the loco-to-tender drawbar, and it is similar to those on earlier Bachmann K4s. Like the earlier ones, it's kinematically more sophisticated that a simple drawbar. It is forked at each end, with two vertical pins at the fork ends, the pins fitting into two curved slots. The forks, pins and slots enable both fairly close coupling and also fairly tight curve capability.

I have a PRR streamlined K4 4-6-2, Bachmann number 85301.

It appears that the tender must be partially disassembled in order to secure the yoke that couples the locomotive to the tender. It appears that the tender's upper body must be lifted away from the tender's frame, though I do not have the confidence of certainty.

If you know how to secure the yoke to the tender, please tell me the sequence of disassembly moves needed to accomplish any necessary disassembly without doing any damage.

Thank you.

I am considering retrofitting a "Keep-Alive" capacitor to each of several Bachmann HO model steam locos. Since I run some old models, I still operate on DC, not DCC My questions:
   Do such capacitors offer the same advantage to DC-operated locos as they do to DCC-operated locos?
   Some of my locos have DCC decoders and operate on either DCC or DCC; any specific cautions?

Any helpful comments, especially from personal experience, is appreciated.

I run a Bachmann Spectrum Modern Baldwin HO 4-4-0, bought new. I run it using DC in the 0 to 12 volt range. The model seems to run just fine. Presumably, it would also run just fine, as is, on a properly operating DCC system. My questions are about the two (2) little DCC decoder electronics jumpers that are included with the model. On the parts sheet, I see the diagram that shows how to install the jumpers on the DCC decoder electronics unit.

1. Should the jumpers be installed if one operated the model on DC only?
2. If so, then what are the advantages, if any, of installing them?
3. If they should be installed for DC running, then what are the pitfalls that are avoided by having the jumpers in place?