I put items in my cart and tried to check out and pay for them with Paypal.

It asks me for a credit card number.

That, according to Paypal is NOT supposed to happen. The whole point of using Paypal is to avoid sending personal information over the net.

I do not want my credit card number sent over the net. All indications are, from what I read at the Paypal site is that the store may be "spoofed" or I am being re-directed to a dishonest site that is trying to scam my credit info.

Is Bachmann able to fix this? I'd like to get some things ordered in time for Christmas.


B0B

I love the looks of the new Mallet, however, I am a Digitrax user, so need to know, will the DG583AR I bought for my Kays work in the NMRA socket in the Mallet.

I notice in the pictures that the same circuit board used in the Kay are also used in the Mallet. Has there been any improvement to the filter circuit to reduce inrush and prevent it from creating booster shutdowns.

I have wanted an afordable Mallet for years. Three of them would be a great addition to my railroad.

Here is a video of my first test run of the Kay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxhs6ds_IkI

She sure looks good.

I am still having issues with the drive train, one counterweight is bent. I've ordered replacements via email using the form provided, but no response yet. Does this form work? I resent it three times and it is now close to 6 weeks with not so much as an acknowledgment email.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/serviceform.php

B0B

I need to remove the flicker board in the Bachmann three truck shay.

What is the easiest way to get to the two screws that hold the board to the loco, These are the two that go through the board with the heads facing the front of the loco, Do you use a lonnnnnnnng screwdriver inserted through the smoke-box after removing the front of the smoke-box and sliding out the smoke generator, or is there more stuff that has to be removed? Or, is there an easier way I'm not seeing from the exploded diagram?

(I'm praying that I don't have to disassemble the whole loco.)

(In case you are wondering,.. I have to reverse the diodes to get them to work.)

I got two water pipes to go between the loco and tender. A long one and a short one. The long one fits.

The DVD shows connecting the tender closer to the loco in the second hole of the draw bar.

OK, so where is the second hole. Do I take the draw-bar out and turn it around? Are there two holes on the other end I can't see? Or is there an alternate one in the parts bag I'm overlooking?

B0B

My Shay came with Bachmann couplers installed, and inside the box is a pair of LGB style hook and loop couplers. I figured the easiest way to install Kadees for now, is to use the ones with the large offset. You know, the ones where you unbolt the hook and loop and bolt on the Kadee.

Later, I'll figure out which coupler I really need.

Well, I tried to figure out how to put the hook and loops on the Shay, and they don't fit the existing metal piece that extends out from the truck, the part the Bachmann knuckle attached to. I though maybe I have to turn that part over, but no, it has a pin and is keyed to go on only one way. I looked in the bags of extras, don't see anything there.

So, First question about couplers is, HOW DO YOU MOUNT THE HOOK AND LOOPS THAT BACHMANN PROVIDED?

B0B

SMOKE!
Or lack of it.

From 9 to 22 volts DC on the rails I get about 6.5 volts on the two pink wires. With the smoke switch on, and the provided smoke fluid, I sometimes get a whiff of smoke out the short stack or the cabbage stack. I get no smoke from the big stack. Smoke does accumulate in the bottom third of the big stack but it never fills up the hollow stack and exits the top.

I've tried starting with just a few drops of Bachmann smoke fluid on the heating element and added a few drops at a time until the reservoir was nearly full. The amount of fluid makes no difference, nor does the track voltage once the voltage is above 10 volts DC. I made my observations with the motor switch in the center position so the lights and smoke were on with the loco stationary. Compared to other locos I'd say this one just does NOT smoke.

According to the connection diagram, the cab light and smoke generator are both supplied by a voltage regulator.

The cab light is so dim that one has to raise the cab roof hatch to see the actual bulb to tell if it is on. When on, the filament itself glows with an orange glow but does not produce enough light to illuminate the inside of the cab, even in a dark room.

With the track switch in the center position to disable the motor, the headlight, reverse light, and cab light come on. With the smoke switch OFF, I measured the current draw with 20 volts on the rails. I measured it again with the smoke switch ON. The difference was about 45 ma. I got the same difference when I repeated the measurements with 12 volts on the rails.
From the above I concluded that the smoke unit draws about 45 ma. Compared to other 5 volt regulated smoke units that I've measured this is very low. Most brands of smoke units draw from 100 to 250 ma.

There is a unused screw terminal on J3. It is not used at all for DC or DCC according to the connection diagrams. There is a white jumper from the board to the other terminal on J3, there is a three volt difference between the two terminals. Is it possible that this is a course adjustment for the voltage regulator. Will moving the jumper increase the voltage to the smoke unit and cab light? Just wondering, as there does not seem to be any other adjustment or option jumpers on the board.



Is there some easy way to increase the output voltage of the regulator to provide a little more smoke and light in the cab.

B0B

I tried to find a drawing, but the link (http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/G824X-2.PDF) results in a page not found.)

So, it turns out the three truch Shay with DCC sound  I bought over a year ago is finally going to arrive, but without the DCC or sound. 

Three questions:
(1) Is the wiring in the non DCC shay identical to the one I ordered? Will a Tunami just plug in?

(2) What is the Bachman part number for the Tsunami?

(3) Will it b easy to install? In particular. If I have somone unbox the loco and set it on the rails for me,. will it be posible to remove whatever cover and gain access to the connections without removing the loco from the rails. I ask, because I will need to hire somone to do the install if the loco needs to be rolled over, or build some sort of jig to clamp onto the loco to rotate it if I'm to avoid breaking off all the detailed parts.

I travel a great deal in  Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. I've located a dozen large scale dealers in that area, but almost none carry any Bachmann LS trains.

Dealing with them is a nightmare.

First, I should say, I DO NOT DO MAIL-ORDER. The first year in the hobby, I did, and lost 3 Locos, and 4 $250.00 passenger cars to the shipping process. Wife said the "D" word if I ever mail-ordered anything over $50.00 again.

I don't have many Bachmann locos. Mainly because they are so hard to find. I got Big Haulers in sets. I found a 2 truck shay at a train show in Birmingham. A very old Lynn was found in a small shop, they had it on display for years before I found it. I found a trolley at the Bachmann booth in the SE train show 2 years ago. Several others were bought used.

Now we come to the three truck shay.

I am unable to handle any big heavy loco well enough to convert it to DCC, specially ones with small delicate parts. I was never able to perform the lubrication procedure on my old 2 truck shay without breaking lots of little things, so when Bachmann announce the three truck Shay, WITH DCC INSTALLED, I just had to have one. The only place that had one was a mail order dealer 600 miles from my house. I took a day off from work and drove to SC. to see what he had. I ended up buying 12,000.00 dollars worth of locos that day, including one Bachmann, an undecorated 3 truck shay with DCC sound. Unfortunately, the van was full, I was running late, and my Shay was buried in the middle of a pallet of newly arrived Shays and would take a long time to get out.

I paid for the Shay and agreed to return a month later to pick it up.

Then I had trouble getting the dealer to answer the phone. I took another day off to visit the dealer again, only to find the dealer closed.

More calls, left messages, no return calls.

Another 600 mile trip, the dealer's warehouse was empty, abandoned and no forwarding address.

In the following months I tracked them down, found they were relocated into a new place of business and had my Shay. They said they would ship it. I reluctantly agreed.

It never showed up.
Twice more, I reached them, they made an excuse, said they would ship it, and twice more it was a no-show. That was August and September. the loco had been purchased for over a year.

I  finally got through to them on the phone in November. They said they discovered that all their Shays turned out to be ones without the sound decoder. They called and tried to get me one direct from Bachmann, but the ones with sound are no longer available. They are shipping me the undecorated one without sound or DCC. So far it has not arrived.

Sadly, dealers here in the deep south are on a shoe-sting budget. Many have had one or two Bachmann cars, but I've managed to clean them out. They do not re-order. They will special order if you pre- pay. And, that has draw backs too.  This is certainly no reflection on Bachmann, as the same thing has happened when trying to get other brands of LS. A dealer in Montgomery folded right after I prepaid for four Aristo heavyweight passenger cars.

I suddenly realized that a major reason for most of my cars and locos being one brand, is that that brand is carried by large retail stores who can afford the high priced line and stock them.

Now, finally, My question:

I'm sure there are plenty of shops I have not visited in my limited 3-1/4 state area. Where can I find large reputable shops that carry Bachmann locos in stock. Ones that I can see and perhaps have test run on  the shops track? The easiest to get to would be in Alabama followed by  the panhandle of Florida, Georgia, then Mississippi or South Carolina.

By the way I prepaid for a K27, MAIL-ORDER, but don't tell my wife. Hope it doesn't take as long to get here as the three truck Shay.


B0B

Now that I have 2 Shays,some 1:20.3 rolling stock and 2 porters and a K27 on order, It suddenly dawned on me.

I need some cabooses.

What is available in 1:20.3?

I probably need a 2 axle bobber (or two) for logging and something really big for the K27.

Lighted with nice interiors, please.

What is available in 1:20.3? Anything that won't break the bank?

I plan to pre-order a K27 in two to three weeks.

I run DCC at 22 volts.
I have some Digitrax DG583AR decoders, I could use one in the Kay.
It looks like the Decoder will plug into the plug in the tender and control the motor, headlight, backup light, and possibly the smoke.

So, my questions are:

• What about controlling the other lights?
• Can I take the wired functions coming out of the plug on the side of the decoder and connect them to pins on J2. Currently, the decoder has no connections to those pins, so I can solder the wires right to the back side of the pins on the decoder itself.
  
• When I plug the decoder into the Kay, will that let me control the cab light, number board, marker and any other lights in the Kay?
• Can anyone tell me which lights are included in the Kay and what pins they connect too?
• What are the voltage requirements of the pins? I currently run 22 volts, so 18 volt bulbs work fine. If the Kay has LEDs, are the limited or regulated in the loco so I can wire decoder function outputs directly to the pins in the tender?

Also, is there an official list of pin #s available from Bachmann that the Bach-man can post?
And, I noticed that the hand built prototype has the pins reversed from the Digitrax\Aristo assignement. Will that be changed in time for the first run?

Thanks in advance.
B0B

Does anyone have a current phone or address for an Bachmann dealer, "Southeast Trains" in Auburn Ga

The last information I have is from their website:
http://www.southeasttrains.com/

SOUTHEAST TRAINS
3105 SPRING GROVE DRIVE, BLDG G
AUGUSTA, GA 30906
USA

Tel: 706-796-0052
Fax: 706-772-9992

I tried all last week to get a hold of them, The phone goes to voice mail. I've left them several messages.

A couple months ago I bought a bunch of locos from them. I brought all of them back with me except the 3 truck Tsunami Shay and one other. They where having a hard time finding those two and I was running out of room in the van.

I was hoping to get the Shay in time to run on the fourth, but, not being able to contact them, I drove to Augusta Friday. All I found was a empty building, no notice of where they moved to. The landlord for the office park was of no help. I'm still not able to contact them.

Any help as to where they moved or any name or numbers for the owner would be a big help.

B0B

I can't visit pages I haven't visited befor.

Can someone tell me what the color and consistency of EZ Lube Gear Grease is supposed to be?

Is is supposed to be like water, Vick's Petroleum Jelly, LGB gear grease, or a bar of Ivory soap?

Is it supposed to be red, pink, yellow or clear?

B0B

Trying to decide which Shays to order and comparing different vendors I find a lots errors in their catalogs, flyer's, and web sites. Most vendors show three different prices, 2 truck, three truck and DCC but sometimes they have the DCC price on one of their 2 truck versions or even the other way around. Also some descriptions do not mat the part number commonly used by other vendors.

I ended up making a chart and sorting out what I could.

Maybe this chart will help others to avoid getting the wrong loco.
Unfortunately, there are a lot ob blanks in my chart and the Bachmann on line catalog search is no help.

Can anyone fill in the blanks?

Part Number S=In Stock P= Per-order # of trucks, (bunker) [Stack] - Road name

82195 ANA  S 2(Coal Load ) [Diamond] - W.M. Ritter #7
82196 ANA  S 2(Oil Bunker) [Cabbage] - Oregon Lumber Co #106  
82197 ANA  S 2(Coal Load ) [       ] - Ely-Thomas Lumber Co #6
82198 ANA  S 2(Oil & Coal) [       ] - Unlettered, Black w/Red-White Trim
82199 ANA  S 2(Oil & Coal) [       ] - Unlettered  (black)

82494 ANA  S 3(Oil Bunker) [Cabbage] - Oregon Lumber Co #110
82495 ANA  P 3(          ) [       ] - Little River Lumber
82496 ANA  S 3(          ) [       ] - Meadow River Lumber Co #7
82497 ANA  S 3(          ) [       ] - West Side Lumber
82498 ANA  S 3(          ) [       ] - Unlettered, Black w/Red-White Trim
82499 ANA  S 3(          ) [       ] - Unlettered (black)

82697 DIGI S 3(          ) [       ] - Little River Lumber
82698 DIGI S 3(          ) [       ] - West Side Lumber #4
82699 DIGI S 3(          ) [       ] - Unlettered, Black w/Red-White Trim

I got the open side United traction Co. trolley

How do I replace a burned out bulb? One on the front and another under the roof.

Thanks in advance.

B0B