I'm not Bach-man, of course, but I was curious.  It's odd that there's no wiring diagram in the Climax drawings.  But, the K-27 drawings have pinouts for J1 and J2, and the functions you mention line up.  If it's indeed the same, the rear light is J1-9.  Here's the K-27 drawing:
https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/83093.pdf

That's a shame, thanks for letting us know.

Quote from: Jim Banner on February 22, 2007, 11:14:00 PM
Dropping voltage with a resistor can be a risky business, and this is one of the cases where it is.  How much voltage a resistor drops is proportional to the current through it.  So if you install a resistor sized to drop from say 18 volts down to 9 volts for 4 lamps, it will not drop enough voltage for the remaining three lamps if one burns out.  If the voltage drop decreases, then the voltage on the lamps increases.  With lamp life varying as the 13 power of the voltage, a small rise in voltage shortens lamp life radically.  Within hours, a second lamp will burn out.  Then, within minutes, a third lamp, and seconds later the last lamp will burn out.

For that reason, the circuit I use contains a voltage regulator.  It is shown below



In this circuit, a bridge rectifier rectifies the DCC track voltage to dc.  As the DCC waveform is rectangular, virtually no filtering is required.  A small capacitor (.1 to 1 microfarad) is connected across the bridge rectifier to keep the voltage regulator from oscillating.  Too large a capacitor here can overload the command station or booster on start up if many lighted passenger cars are used.  The regulator is an LM317 adjustable voltage, integrated circuit regulator.  With the resistors shown, it can be adjusted from about 7 to 12 volts output.  The output of the regulator and the output of a 9 volt battery are both connected to the lamp(s) through diodes.  With this arrangement, whichever source (regulator or battery) has the highest voltage will be the one that supplies power to the lamp(s).  I usually adjust the regulator output to be about .1 volt higher than the output of a fresh new battery.  This is easy to do it you connect a voltmeter from the output of the regulator to the positive terminal of the battery.  Then you are measuring the difference in voltage between the two sources.  If you connect the plus lead of the voltmeter to the regulator output and the negative lead to the battery +, the variable resistor can be adjusted until the meter reads +.1 volt (NOT -.1 volt.)  By keeping the regulator and battery voltages similar, the lights do not noticably change brightness when switching over between sources.

I usually build this cuircuit on a piece of perforated circuit board and hide it either in the washroom or under a seat, depending on whether I install AA batteries or a rectangular 9 volt battery. 

I know this thread is old, but it's great!  It's a shame that the circuit diagram doesn't appear. Does anyone know why this is the case, for me at least?

Thanks Bill.

Thanks for the reply, Bill.  That's what I thought.  I will go with an observation car without a drum head; I just ordered enough black metal rails for my 3 car consist, two coach rail sets and one observation. 

jv

I would love to know the history, the models and chronology, of trucks on Bachmann G Scale trains.

I just bought a few N.O.S. G Kit passenger coaches, and they came with passenger trucks, of course, and plastic wheels, with the knuckle couplers installed and the optional hook and loop couples. 

After researching these online I have come to the conclusion that these are identical to LGB 67380 trucks - I mean, like they came out of the same mold!  I'd like to know how that happened.

Also, I tried putting Bachmann metal wheels on them, the G81011 that comes on the Anniversary tenders, and the brake shoes rub, with too much friction to work.  The Bachmann J&S passenger trucks have metal wheels, and I was wondering if they were smaller diameter. 

Anyway, would love to know how many different trucks were made, and the chronology.

Thanks,

jv

Quote from: Loco Bill on February 21, 2010, 12:36:07 PM
The Bach-man did the artwork and design for most of the Bachmann Cars.  In almost every case he used off the shelf Spray paints on the cars. Approved designs went to China for production where the paints were matched.  In other posts he mentioned using Krylon colors in many cases.

Krylon Black, White, Gray Primer, Red Primer.   I can't remember the Brand but a color caled Bauhaus Gold is pretty close and School Bus yellow is also close, and would probably work. 

I would wash the kits with mild soap and water, then spray with white primer, then do a coat of Bauhaus gold,  if that seems too dark for you then overspray it with an even light coat of School bus yellow.   The colors may not perfectly match you other cars but will be very close if done with care.  In real life the car colors were often different due to fading and weathering anyway so your train will have an authentic look.

Good luck!!

Loco Bill, I want to thank you so much for this post!  I know it's old, but it's still apt.  I was fortunate enough to buy a new Anniversary 4-6-0 D&RGW Bumble Bee loco and tender about five years ago.  Now I'd like to build out a consist of combine, coach, and observation cars to go along.  That color you mentioned, Bauhaus Gold, looks to me so far to be exactly the right color to match the paint on the loco.  Thanks!  I'm planning on picking pa can and trying it out.  The reason is that I've purchased three new-old-stock G Kits - two coaches and a combine.  I'm aiming for the looks of the Accucraft cars, with silver frame ends and steps (please forgive my poor terminology), silver trucks, and silver roof.  Of course I'll need black, too.  In addition, I purchased black passenger rails for the combine and one coach, and black observation rails for the other coach.  I'll need to make some additional black railing for the combine, and maybe some small black chain for the rails.  I'll need decals, too.  For lights I will likely go with the led strips that I used on my other coaches, and track power.

Can you please recommend a silver paint?  I'd like to stay in the Krylon COLORmaxx family, if possible.  And, should the silver and black be satin or flat?

While researching this I found an interesting site called encycolorpedia: https://encycolorpedia.com

Their page for Bauhaus Gold is this: https://encycolorpedia.com/e9a239



"The hexadecimal color code #e9a239 is a shade of brown. In the RGB color model #e9a239 is comprised of 91.37% red, 63.53% green and 22.35% blue. In the HSL color space #e9a239 has a hue of 36° (degrees), 80% saturation and 57% lightness. This color has an approximate wavelength of 582.48 nm."

I think it's very cool that there's a precise way of describing colors, and it could help the hobby immensely. 

Regards,

jv

Wow, that's great.  Thanks for sharing.  How do you think he generated that smoke?

Scans of the kit parts sheets included in the kits (but not apparently available online):

Bachmann G Kit Classic Coach

Bachmann G Kit Classic Combine

Part numbers.

I think you're wrong about that, Bill.  The sheet that comes with the kit has an exploded view on one side, side 2, but on side one has a list called "spare parts," column one of which is labeled "Stock No.," and it is here where the numbers corresponding to parts on the diagram appear.  There's a description and list price column, too, and instructions for ordering that read "list part numbers required and send a check or money order for the cost of the parts..." (emphasis mine). 

So, regardless of how Bachmann organizes their inventory now, it's clear that when these kits were produced, these were part numbers.

Hi Bach Man,

Just a nit, but I found, while looking for parts, that there's a part on the pilot of the locomotive that's sort of a guard rail, but Bachmann parts calls it a Johnson bar; it's not a Johnson bar!

It's part number 00H04 on the parts diagram.

Just thought I'd let you know.

jv

Just received my new jeweler's size precision JIS driver set.  I can now confirm that a JIS #000 perfectly fits those tiny screws on the 4-6-0, P/N 10402.

If you want me to try any other screws that might be on a 4-6-0 or freight or passenger rolling stock, just let me know.

jv

p.s. the driver set I bought is the Vessel No. TD-56S, on Amazon for about $15.   It includes JIS drivers #0 through #0000 plus 0.9mm and 0.7mm flat blade drivers.  They are very nicely made.  And there's nothing like a perfectly-fitting screwdriver!

Hello again, Bachmeisters,

I wonder what's the difference between the coach and the observation car.  Is it just the rear rail and drum head?  Does every road's observation car have a drum head?

Thanks,

jv

Well, this is interesting.  I just received three kits, two passenger coaches, 98905, and one combine, 98906.  One coach seems older than the others, and is further distinguished by having green clerestory glass and green light glass, while the others are red; and, it has black handrails and brake wheels while the others are gold.  (All of the kits have lighting and trucks with plastic wheels.)

I can't find anything on the boxes indicating what color the glass or rails are, and the part numbers on the enclosed parts list is the same, regardless of color. 

In addition, comparing the parts lists for the coach and combine, certain identical parts are numbered differently from the coach to combine, for example, the handrails, 8101 and 8102 on the coach, 8128 and 8129 on the combine.

(These parts lists with exploded views on the back aren't to be found on the Bachmann site, unless I'm just missing them.)

Can anyone shed any light on this?  Bach Man?  Loco Bill?

You are welcome, best of luck to you.