The K-27 was the first Bachmann large scale locomotive with the plug and play socket. The chuff circuit in this locomotive was designed with a chuff that goes positive to indicate a chuff.  While some sound boards work fine with this design, most prefer a chuff circuit that goes to ground to indicate a chuff.  This required the end user to install a transister and often a capasitor in the tender to allow the chuff to work properly.  All Bachmann locomotives with the socket since then have a chuff to ground circuit.

My wife and I have a large outdoor railroad with several Bachmann K-27 and together with some of our operating crew designed a replacement PCB-5 chuff circuit board that incorporates both protection circuits as well as a chuff to ground design.  For a limited time we will be offering these replacement boards for $30 each plus actuall discounted shipping.

   

This circuit board is a direct replacement for the origional PCB-5 circuit board that sits right behind the motor in the K27.

In the above photo, the board on right is the origional Bachmann PCB-5 circuit board.  The board on the left is the newly designed K-27 PCB-5 circuit board.

If you are interested please send me a note.

Stan
 

On the SJR&P many of our C-19 locomotives have battery packs in the tender for the purpose of DCC backup power. One side effect of this is that the tenders are heavier than stock tenders.

Yesterday the tender of one of our C-19 locomotives kept derailing, a condition we have not seen before.

On close inspection I found that the rear truck side frames were hitting the tender frame interfering with the trucks ability to rotate through curves. While the truck side frames are intended to have some play, the play on this truck was excessive.

On disassembly I found that the single spring that is inside each side frame had collapsed. I replaced these springs with springs Bachmann uses on its 1:20 freight trucks. After replacement the tender truck now operates like new.

This particular C-19 was one of the first to receive a battery pack. Inspection of other C-19s with battery packs showed several that were beginning to have excessive sideframe play but not the extent the problem one had. Each will have its springs replaced as well as a preventive measure.

Below is a photo of the collapsed spring next to a new one.

Stan

Bachmann is a sponsor of this show and will be the show this weekend with there latest Large Scale items

Northeast Large Scale Train Show

April 28 & 29, 2023

Friday - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Saturday - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Eastern States Exposition - Young Building, West Springfield, MA

West Springfield, Massachusetts

nelsts.org





Who's At The Show

The Northeast Large Scale Train Show features 45 exhibitors: operating layouts, manufacturers, and retailers.



For a complete list of of Who's Who at the show, click here.

Live Steam-Up

The New Hampshire Garden Railroad Society is hosting a "Live Steam-up" at the show, and providing a 44' x 22' Gauge-1 (45mm) track space for steam-powered trains. They are also providing space to store and service steam locomotives during the show.



The society is also inviting anyone with an operating Gauge-1 steam locomotive to bring it to the show and run it on their tracks. Please note however that only propane and butane fueled locomotives will be allowed to run. Open flame or coal fired locomotives can be displayed, but cannot be fired indoors.




Drag & Brag

The Drag & Brag table is one of the most popular events at large scale train shows. It's an opportunity for large scale modelers to bring in projects and show them to an admiring audience. Show visitors, in turn, get to see some really creative modeling and ask questions about how the work was done.



Show visitors are eligible to bring large scale modeling projects for display.


Clinics

The Large Scale Show will offer four clinics, lead by some of the hobby's most experienced modelers. Access to all clinics is included with show admission.



Battery controlled locomotives - Don Sweet
Large scale operations - Stan Ames
Pruning garden railroad miniature plants - Nancy Norris
Garden railroad access - Nancy Norris


Clinic details



White Elephant Section

The White Elephant Table is one of the most popular sections at large scale shows. If you have any S-scale, O-scale, G-scale, F-scale, 7.25 gauge, 7.5 gauge and larger model railroad gear, you are welcome to bring the items to show and sell them at the White Elephant Table.



For more information, click here.



Raffle

The Steam Locomotive Operation Group is sponsoring a raffle at the Northeast Large Scale Train Show. $2400 worth of large scale gear has been donated.



The full list of donated items and raffle details can be found here.

Train Show Banquet

On Friday evening, April 28, the Large Scale Train Show banquet will be held at the Storrowton Tavern on the grounds of Eastern States Exposition

.

The event starts at 6:00 pm and is sponsored by Only Trains.



Seating is limited to 60 guests. For reservations, contact the Show Office at: [email protected].

Hope to see you there

Stan Ames

While the socket used in the Dash 9 is identical to the one used by bachmann in its steam locomotives since 2007, it's new for the 1:29 diesel folks, especially to the Revolution Train engineer folks.

To assist this population I thought it useful to go over the functions.

The Dash 9 has 8 functions each of which can be controlled separately.  To activate a function you simply connect the function pin to ground.

On J1 there are three functions

Front Headlight J1-4  1.9 mA
Rear Headlight J1-9  1.9  mA

Most users will connect these terminals to a function output on the device they put in the socket which switches the pin to ground to turn them on.  Doing it this way allows directional or independent control and also headlight dimming. through the device installed in the socket.

There is one identified compatibility that has been identified. Revolution has two sets of products.  One provides linear motor control and one provides PWC motor control.  Unfortunately the PWC frequency and approach used by Revolution is not compatible with the Dash 9 headlight lighting circuits. The revolution engineers are aware of this and hopefully will have a solution with their plug in board adaptor shortly.

The third function on J1 is the Smoke activation function.

J1-8 Smoke Activation 11.2mA  The smoke unit itself draws up to around  0.6A. but this current is funneled through the + and - connections and not through the function pin.

This function pin can be connected to any available function output or you can manually install a wire between the J1-8 solder pad and the J1-7 ground solder pad.  When this is done the switch on the top of the locomotive can be used to turn on and off the smoke.

J2 functions,  Plug in devices specifically designed for Aristocraft locomotives normally do not support connections to J2.  The total current draw is well under 50mAs so all the functions can be connected to the revolution functions if so desired.

J2-10 Front Number board lights 5.5 mA (2 leds)
J2-9 Cab Light 2.8 mA
J2-8 Safety Lights 20.1 mA (8 leds)
J2-7 Right Ditch Light  2.8 mA
J2-6 Left Ditch Light  2.8 mA

Note a feature not documented in the manual is that the front ditchlights will not turn on if the front headlight is also not on. 

One issue with the revolution is that although you can hook up 6 functions, 3 of these functions also share sound functions.

Some suggested mapping for the Revolution folks. The safety lights can either be connected to ground or connected to the function number that turns on the sound.
The left and right ditch lights can be connected to a seperate blinking circuit which is connected to the horn function or to one of the three separate functions.  You can also connect both ditchlight solder pads to the -(gnd) solder pads.  In this case the ditchlights will always go on when the front headlight is also on.

I hope this helps explain how the functions work on the Dash 9.  The upcoming GP40 will likely have similar function mappings.
Stan Ames

I have removed the front and rear couplers of the locomotive and the shell appears loose.  However it seems to get stuck just a little ways of the frame.  I checked the exploded diagrams but that did not help.

Any idea how to remove the shell completely?

Thanks

Stan

The web site for the NELSTS is now live.

https://www.nelsts.org/

They also have a video of the new Dash-9 at

https://www.nelsts.org/latest-news.php

The show is a friday saturday show.  On Sunday several large scale layouts in the NE will also be open.


Stan

I have an older Bachmann  Plus D&RG 4-6-0 in need of a new chassis.

What current chassis would be the best fit?

How much work would it be to install the latest Chassis in this older model?

http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_69_623&products_id=4083

or

http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_69_671_669&products_id=4086

Is there one with metal gears and the improved pilot that would fit?

Thanks

Stan

Bachmann has uploaded the second in a series of Videos on the upcoming C-19 locomotive.

This one deals with the history of the C-19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUAWlmUqpgc&list=UUqXkvBbF7Lemenlxn7Ca-OA&index=1&feature=plcp

Enjoy

Stan

Severe thunderstorms and all day rain are currently forecast in CHelmsford MA on Saturday June 2. 


Because of this we are moving Saturday's activities one week till Saturday June 9th.


Friday's operating session on Jun1 1st and Sunday's layout tours on June 3rd will continue as planned. 


http://www.tttrains.com/nels2012/


We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.


Stan Ames

The New England Large Scale meet of 2012 will be held June 1-3. This event is based in Chelmsford MA on Friday and Saturday and around the NH and MA areas on Sunday.

This multi-day event will include an operation session on Friday, a bring your train and run social event on Saturday and a variety of Large Scale layouts open on Sunday.

The 2012 event is sponsored by the The Rusty Rails & Rotten Ties Railroad Society, the New Hampshire Garden Railroad Society, the HUB Division of the NMRA and the Seacoast division of the NMRA.

This is our 2nd year hosting this regional event and we hope you can join us for the weekend.

For more information and to register please check out the NELS2012 website

http://www.tttrains.com/nels2012/

Stan and Debbie Ames

PS  The Bach-man plans to be in attendance

What is the best procedure for removing the rear truck from the Heisler.

Thanks

Stan

This past weekend we held our first Northeast Large Scale regional convention. With almost 90 registered for the 3 day event and over 60 at the Saturday "bring your train and run day" at our railway, it was quite a weekend.

I would like to thank Bachmann for attending.  Those who attended really appreciated the participation.

I have placed photos of Saturday and Sunday on flickr

Saturday –http://www.flickr.com/photos/23959355@N05/sets/72157626764459805/show/
Sunday –  http://www.flickr.com/photos/23959355@N05/sets/72157626782432559/show/

As this was an experiment to determine the desire and need for an event in the Northeast, I am not sure what he sponsoring organizations follow-up plans are. We sent a survey out to all who attended which hopefully will help shape the future.

Stan Ames

Next weekend we will host Large Scale New England 2011

The intent is for a stress free enjoyable weekend for Large Scale in New England.  We hope all that attend will enjoy the event.

Friday afternoon/evening we will host an operating session on the SJR&P.

Saturday is a bring your trains and run day.  We will subdivide as necessary the layout for DC, DCC, RC, and Live Steam.  A no fee white elephant table for Large Scale items will also be available.

We now have 6 layouts open on Sunday for you to visit.  Visitors are welcome on all 6 layouts during both the morning and afternoon sessions.

Bachmann Trains will attend on Saturday along with Remote Control Systems of New England and Train-LI-USA

Note: we will hold the event rain or shine.  Some rain may occur during the weekend but rain in New England can be very local and not stay for a long period.  Most layouts will be running in light rain but may not run in heavy rain.  If in doubt call.  If you get no answer they likely are outside operating the layout.

For more information  or to register for the event  the event www page is at  www.tttrains.com/NELS2011.

Thanks

Stan Ames

How do you remove the cylinder assembly from the side of a 2 truck shay.

Stan

Has anyone found a good paint match for the Box Car Red used on the Pacific Coast 1:20.3 box cars.

Thanks

Stan Ames

I have some repairs to do and need to replace the drive shaft.

How do you remove the cylinders  from the side of the locomotive?


Stan

I seem to have misplaced the instructions for the Heisler.

Does anyone have the instructions for removing the front truck?

Thanks

Stan

Back in December Bachmann asked if I could assist with some installation documents for various 3rd party control and sound systems.  The first drafts were completed in early January.  The time since was spent in coordinating the installation write-ups with the various manufacturers and waiting for the Bachmann WWW site to stabilize to a point where the WWW master could load them.

To access the K27 installation documents please click on the “Product Reference” tab at the top of the page.

Then from the Product Reference page go to the Manuals tab, K27 manuals, Sound and control Products.  This will bring up the page for the electronic installations.

Scroll down to the type of install you desire and click on the hyperlink for the product information you want.

The responsibility for ensuring the installation document is correct rests with the manufacturer of the 3rd party equipment, so for any questions you need to check with them.  I have personally done the installs listed to check them out.

There have been a lot of changes since these pages were first written.

ESU â€" Their adaptor board was shown in Nuremburg and has since been plugged into a K27.  I have not yet touched the actual board (will next week), but ESU reports that the board can control all functions and the integrated sound system works without the need for any additional modifications.

RCS â€" RCS has shown their new plug-in board at the ECLSTS.  It also allows the ability for a direct plug in Phoenix P5.  This installation has been published several times on the board.  At last check Philadelphia was waiting for a PDF version to update the older one now on the site.

AirWire900 â€" This was one of the first installations that Roger completed back in December.  The installation document was sent to CVP for review.  They indicated that they desired Bachmann to send them a locomotive so they could check out the install.  Not sure what the status of the review is.  The installation is rather straightforward.  The key element is to follow the CVP recommendations for a normal install by hooking the battery directly to the P5.

Aristo-Craft â€" Aristo-Craft has a plug and play board but no longer has this board in the market, so an installation document was not completed.  Aristo-Craft has announced a new RC plug-in product, but the date for release or characteristics are unknown.

Digitrax â€" Digitrax has discontinued their plug and play product. A replacement has as of this writing not been announced.


I am sorry but I will be off-line for a few weeks so I will not be able to answer questions till I return

Stan Ames
www.tttrains.com/largescale

Deb and I would like to wish The Bachmann, the folks at Bachmann and all the members of the Large Scale community a Merry Christmas and a hope that  during these 12 days of Christmas, Santa in his UPS brown sleigh brings to each what they desire.

Piece and Goodwill to all

Stan and Debbie Ames

This Sunday September 2nd we will be holding our Fall Open House on our SJR&P garden railway from 9AM to 5PM. People traveling south from the National Narrow Gauge convention in Portland will find us only a short distance off Rt495 in Chelmsford MA.

The SJR&P is a narrow gauge Fn3 layout powered by DCC, Live Steam and Radio Control. Visiting Fn3 locomotives welcome, the only request is that the wheels be electrically isolated.

For driving instructions please email me off-line

Thanks

Stan Ames
SJRP Operations
[email protected]
http://www.tttrains.com/sjrp/