Perusing the latest MR, saw an ad (Micro Mark) for a Bachmann trainset with a 4-6-0.   Looking at the pix real close, it showed a Spectrum tender (still the way too big and modern "medium USRA") hitched to the engine in the "normal" way, suggesting a non-DCC locomotive.  Just what I need ... a non-DCC, simplified (no external valve gear) easily converted to a reasonable tender.  Micro Mark had no stock, but I found a seller on our favorite auction site (sarcasm is only one of the many service I offer) that had one in stock.  Arrived today.

Hitched a Spectrum "slope back" tender to it, and it ran smoothly ... for about a foot... then stalled.  Nudge, repeat, ad nauseum.  There was obviously some pickup problem going on here.  "Lifted the hood" to see what was going on.  One screw aft of the rear driver, disconnect the pilot deck braces, and the whole boiler/cab pivots up, forward and off.  The motor leads run forward in a groove to the microscopic LED board for the headlight, which is screwed to both sides of the split frame chassis.  Could be a couple of things going on: one or both of the screws could be loose, or something funky could be going on in that tiny PC board for the light.   I took the easy route, snipped the motor wires from the light board, and ran them aft and out beneath to cab, soldered them to the contact strips in the Spectrum tender, and VOILA!  Smooth, reliable slow speed performance, creeps through the insulated frogs of the Peco Setrack turnouts in my small 2x3 layout.  The tender bodies from the Model Power/MRC 2-6-0 or 4-4-0 will slip on the Bachmann slop back Spectrum tender, with only a few styrene strips on the sides. I have a few of these that were "converted" to HOn30, so the tender bodies were available for this project.  Now I have a smooth running 4-6-0 that is passable for any of the Belfast and Moosehead Lake (former Bangor and Arrostook) 4-6-0's.


There may be no motivation for Bachmann to offer this simplified loco for sale separately, but I paid a little over $100 for the entire "set".  I have no use for the rest of the set, so I may substitute one of the new USRA 0-6-0 or 2-6-2 Prairie locos that I have, and donate the set somewhere.


BTW, Bachmann seems to be very conservative in their minimum radius recommendations ... they recommend 11-1/2 (?) radius, and that is what is included in the set.   FWIW, this 4-6-0 has no problem with the 9" Peco Setrack on my small layout.


Just thought you'd like to know ......


Respectfully,
Bob S.

Greetings,

Compleat DCC Idiot here. I model in HOn30, and I have used Bachmann N scale tenders just for all-wheel pick-up in regular old DC. I have one of the short USRA tenders that has a small circuit board in it, with a six-pin (male) connector. Is that in fact a decoder, or is it something else? If it is "something else", what is supposed to plug into the pins?  Most decoders I have looked already have the 6 pin connector.

I am about to build another 2-6-0 based on the Model Power unit, and the motor is already isolated from the frame, so it might be fun to build it with DCC, if it's not a PITA. (I bought a Prodigy Advance system a few years ago, but never used it) I just don't know what I'm looking at inside that tender.

Tutorials, suggestions are welcomed ....

Respectfully,
Bob S.

I need this one done in N.   Perfect for GB&W!

Resp'y,
Bob S.

How is this done?

Nothing is "broke", just looking for parts for improving electrical contact on 0-6-0 or 2-6-2 tenders (easily done with an extra front truck assembly and draw bar), and for kit-bashing.  There is fertile ground here for altering to specific prototypes of small steamers.  And yes, I realize that this will void the warranty ... I'm an engineer, and when I buy a locomotive, I usually look at it as "raw material".   

Resp'y,
Bob S.

All I had to do to the Spectrum 2-8-0 to make it "convincing" as Green Bay and Western No. 351 was shorten the tender.



The sand dome should be a bit further forward and should be round, but it's "close enough"  ... operation trumps cosmetics around here.  There is one cosmetic detail that I might have to change though ... that round Baldwin builder's plate sticks out like a sore thumb.  I might have chisel it off and replace it with a rectanglar bit of styrene laser-printed for "ALCO Schenectady"   :lol:

The Spectrum 2-8-0 and Atlas code 55 track were the two items that convinced me I could switch to N scale and be happy with it.  I had the HO version of the loco; when the N scale came out, I purchased one, and enough Atlas code 55 for a small temporary switching set-up.  Right out of the box, the loco would crawl through the Atlas turn-outs (with the frogs unpowered) without even a hiccup, and the tractive effort is prodigious.   I bought a second, which will be the Ahnapee and Western incarnation of the same loco, and it performs as well as the first.  The frogs of the turnouts will be powered on the permanent layout (as "permanent" as layouts are .... )

Resp'y,
Bob S.