Picked up a New York Central consolidation, older run, in the box at a show that appeared to have been test run only - the couplers were never installed - for a good price.

Went to test it and it lights up, motor spins, engine does not move. 

Any idea what headache I'm looking at here?  It doesn't free roll so I presume it's a belt issue, but there isn't even a diagram of the thing here on the site to get an idea what I'm dealing with. 

I expect I'm probably on my own to fix it, since while boxed the paperwork was absent so no warranty card. 

Is the hopper out of production for some reason?  I don't even see it in the catalog, at least not online.  I got curious because I see someone on eBay looking for $160 for a two-pack of them, what the current list is, given I bought all mine for like $40.

It's looking like they're doing shorter runs and tightening up production on some of this stuff to keep the prices higher. 

Assuming I can get this to run, I have an HO Bachmann 2-10-0 missing some parts I wasn't sure what to do with.

Well, I also have an On30 Bachmann 2-6-0 I bought in pieces where someone started to bash a 2-6-6-2 only to have Bachmann release one and do the work for you. 

Lo and behold, the boiler shell comes close to fitting the 2-10-0 frame as-is, it would need a tab on the bottom front removed, but appears it would even cover the stock 2-10-0 upper weight. 

I just wonder if a 2-10-0 is overkill, with all those drivers would it be too little weight on them to pull much were it a real engine, although looking at it I see no reason why I couldn't remove the rearmost drive axle and rods. 

I picked up a 2-10-0 cheap at a show Sunday, like stupid cheap, because it had been damaged or dropped or something.  Appeared to be mostly cosmetic damage. 

Everything it's missing I can replace easy enough, if I don't bash it into something else entirely, but before I get into it I wanted to see how it ran.

Well, the wheels wouldn't move and the motor clearly was, so I presumed maybe a belt issue and opened it up for a look-see.  What I found is the belt is fine, but there is a pronounced squeal that comes and goes from the motor or one of the bearing areas for the upper shaft the belt drives.  At first it did it in both directions, then in only one, then it would come and go with a noticeable decrease in speed when it did.  Anyone else run into this, can I lubricate it to solve the problem?

As to the lack of wheel motion, it appears the drive gear is chewed up and no longer can contact the worm.

Bach-man, I see I can buy the entire set of drive wheels, but is it possible to buy only the geared axle?  Is that a question for the sales department?

Anyone else pick this up?  Nice article on the Argent Lumber 3' gauge steam operations in the mid-1950s in South Carolina.  Although 3-foot, the engines are all pretty tiny - and all still exist, including an 1891 Baldwin 2-6-0 originally built for a Virginia line, that now runs in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.  (I mention it since Bachmann seems to be partial to Baldwin products....)

Bought a couple of Gilbert American Flyer S gondola bodies for a buck each.  Grind the ladders off, cut the steps off, replace with O, mill down the truck bolster, insert a piece of tube in the outer most set of holes, drop on a set of the steel frame trucks, add couplers, paint, and bingo.  Width is fine, length isn't overpowering, particularly if you run the larger engines like the 2-6-0, 2-8-0 and 4-6-0. 

You can do it with the hopper car body, also, although they work out to kind of a wierd length and could stand some rivet detail.  Also, they'd look better changing the brace the ladder mounts on so they still match up. 

Some of the 600-series link coupler Flyer cars have virtually no value, worth $5-$10 in mint condition, so there's no worries about cutting one up. 

The Lionel Scout boxcar might also work, it's similarly proportioned and doesnt have the lettering strip on the side the Flyer boxcar does.  Again nearly worthless.   

.. I don't understand why the undec Davenport comes with the headlight and exhaust stack glued in place.  I had to remove the headlight to paint it seperately and broke the pin off the bottom of it.  The light is glued to it's base platform and the base has one pin which is glued into the shell. While I was able to deal with painting the stack with a brush, I didn't want to try to mask the headlight when spray painting the shell, especially to try to paint under it.

I also don't understand what the deal is with the bell - there's one packed with it, the hood has a flat spot where it might go, but it's not opened for it, and the bell is not shown in the instructions at all.  Which itself is fine, but the bell has a square peg and will be tough to file it round to fit the round hole a drill bit will make. 

I had to make a set of doors for the cab, as it has none, but when used in colder climates I would expect they'd have doors and a heater in the cab. 

Also missing in the instructions is that the shell should be removed in two pieces - the cab first, then the main shell, and that the shell kind of snaps in place at the rear, it doesn't just pull off.


Just some thoughts for the next run on these, or if they turn around and try to do a version with sound.

Found one of the newer engines for a good price but it's the red windows with painted trim version.  Is it worth the trouble to try to repaint the red trim, black, or can I get a replacement window set for it?  The rest of mine are all black and I prefer how they look. 

Anyone know offhand what size the screws are that hold the trucks in on On30 freight cars (Boxcar, flatcar, tank car)?  I need to scare up some that are the same thread but a tad longer, I'll probably need to get some washers to use them since I doubt I'll ever find any with the same heads. 

This because I redid the tank car eliminating the flatcar deck and shortening a leftover frame in it's place.  The result doesn't look bad, same length as the hopper, mine needs walkways, brake wheel and steps added yet, but with a tad longer screw I can even put it back together using the holes  that originally held the tank to the deck.  The bonus is I get another flatcar out of the process. 

Anyone have any details on this?  It's basically a blue plastic case about 8"x8"x1" that doubles as a battery pack and contains a Bachmann N 0-4-0 shifter, 41' plug-door reefer, and caboose, except the engine has a green boiler, red cab, red tender, pastel green reefer (body and frame), pastel yellow caboose, and the track in the set has pink(!) ties.  Reefer and caboose have some minimal roadname markings.   The pieces are straight Bachmann, marked Bachmann.  I found one some time back on eBay, for sale in England, but they knew about as much as I do.  I just wondered about when it was made and what market it was intended for.  Presumably there's some reason why it has the Kader name on it instead of Bachmann. 

Has anyone thought to put together a chart for the Bachmann locos that shows what their relative prototype tractive effort translates to in number of average freight cars?

I'm just curious what a realistic train length is, some of these engines will certainly pull more cars than the average layout could handle, and others.. well I can make my inside frame 4-4-0 stall on grades pretty easily.  It's a pretty light-duty locomotive.

My Forney is dead, for no apparent reason, when trying to run it with standard DC power.  Was debating about pulling the DCC plug and putting a dummy in and see what that does. 

Also, I picked up a deal on another one, but it's a wood cab.  Any ideas where to look for someone who might want to trade even for a steel cab?

I now have three cars that all came missing the part bag with the couplers, cover plates and screws - a PRR box car, a tank car, and a caboose.  I think they're all older run cars, the tank car I know I've had for several years. 

I just wondered if I need to buy those from the parts department at this point, or if I can get them sent no charge.  The couplers are no real loss, the plastic ones are too flimsy for these cars, but the screws and covers would be nice to have. 

I picked up a mostly complete plastic static kit of the Southern Pacific RR's first locomotive, a 4-2-4T known as the C.P. Huntington (preserved today).  This is a tiny engine even in O scale, it's about the same height as the Bachmann On30 Mogul, maybe a little wider, but shorter than the Forney. 

Having trouble figuring out who made the kit, I think it was MPC that did this and a General 4-4-0 in the 70s but no one's had one on eBay lately.

After comparing it to an early 60's Aristo-Craft HO Reading 4-2-2, I think I could turn it into a 30-inch gauge inside frame 4-2-4T without a lot of trouble, just by cutting up the frame from another of those 4-2-2's (I have two more that have lost tenders in various stages of disrepair) and doing a little trimming and filing.  The main frame under it is just slightly wider than an HO wheelset.   The 4-2-2 drivers are tall enough to do justice, the only tough point is making counterweights and so on that all work.  But it would look reasonable.  I suppose some extra pieces from a Bachmann Forney (trailing truck) would make it work. 



Question is, was there any similar prototype for such a thing?  I'm sure it would have been fairly limited in pulling capacity and slippery with just two big drivers as it was.  But if it will pull two cars that's enough.

Picked up an O/O27 Supermarket that's shallower (or skinnier, the side walls are shorter) and has a centered door with windows on each side on Sunday.  Is it the original version of this building?   It has a BB logo on the back wall.   It's missing one side wall, too, but I wonder if the HO gas station can provide the replacement.. I'll have to dig one up and see.

At the same time I picked up a couple of the O version that are just like the HO one with the door on the right and the add on sign piece with the overhang.  (mostly because I didn't realize the first one was missing that, so I got one that does have it).  They have longer side walls with two molded in windows.

I also got a Plasticville Bank.  Thought maybe it was OOP, don't remember seeing another one, but I see you can get it built up as I look on eBay.  I got it because it looks pretty good, I've seen quite a few older bank buildings that it resembles pretty well. 

I happened on an older MRC DCC transformer and control for a rediculous dirt cheap price at a train show - a Lionel guy selling off his kids HO and didn't really know what he had - and I'm wondering how difficult it will be to operate my On30 Forney (no sound) and small 4-4-0 with it? 

The controller is marked AD490 and uses a rotary switch to choose what numerical address to operate; it has four function keys as part of a 9-key pad.  The base is marked Prodigy DCC and has a switch to go between programming and running.  But no manual with it and frankly I'm not that DCC knowledgable, I tended to ignore it with my HO stuff due to the large added expense of using it, plus the work involved to add decoders to older locomotives. 

Edit:  Although no manual, there are stickers on the back of the handheld control explaining how to run, set consists and program decoder-equipped locomotives.  I finally un-rubberbanded it and looked -

So at a show last week I picked up what looks like the usual Bachmann USRA style 0-6-0, the older one with the split frame and pancake motor.  No tender, but some folks had a whole box of tenders and shells (looked like a leftover box from warranty repairs or something) so that was no problem.

Anyhow, this one has a 4-axle lead truck, making it a 4-6-0, and may have had another truck on the back - the seller told someone else it was missing a part.   Now I know this same basic engine was (still is?) sold as an 0-6-0 with a switcher tender and as a 2-6-2 using the tender from the Reading Consolidation - but was there a 4-6-0 or 4-6-2 version too?  I don't remember ever seeing one.   

I just nabbed it to repaint up for a local road and sell, I seem to have good luck with that, but it may just be that people like the looks of the quick and dirty paint jobs I give them.