Rich - and others.

I'm sorry - I've not got around to the photos yet and am away all next week.

I will try and get back on this when I return. Thanks for your patience.

- Don

Hi Rich,


Thanks for all that. I've been a bit up to the neck in stuff over the last week or so and will be for the next couple of days - but I'll get a couple of photos during the week and come back on this.

Please bear with me.

Thanks again - Don

Sorry - Didn't mean to be offensive. Bit stressed out right now due to 3 recent family bereavements in pretty quick succession.

On re-reading my post it was a bit OTT. Not intended to come over that way. Please accept my apologies.

- Don

Thanks for the suggestion - which I am sure was made with all good intent - but anyone can simply buy a Tsunami and put it in ...and it would cost me around £80.

The whole point of my question was that I already have a perfectly good ex-Forney Decoder/Sound board to hand which has cost absolutely nothing and which will drop perfectly into place and simply needs hooking up. So why would I want to spend (ie waste) another £80 of hard earned cash?

If it were not for the fact that I already have this, then I wouldn't be buying Soundtraxx anyway - I would be going for Zimo (preferably) or Loksound, both of which are in my opinion infinitely better than Soundtraxx.

And with due respect, in my opinion few serious modelers would want the rather toy-like 'Fireman Fred' sounds anyway, so that really is not a consideration.

This sounds like a bit of a strange question as any E-Z mate coupler will coupled with any other. The reason there are various different varieties out there on the market is that not all rolling stock is the same in terms of height, coupler reach, etc. and the different types which are available allow for fitting couplers to different manufacturer's stock and/or kit/scratch built stock so that they will all work together.

Most of the Bachmann On30 rolling stock is fitted with the standard length centre set shank coupler - but there are exceptions, some being fitted with standard length high set shank coupler.  Locos might very well be different, depending on the model.

This is exactly the same situation that you find with Kadees, where coupler style is generally dependent on the model to which they are fitted.

I assume you are thinking about fitting E-Z Mates to other rolling stock or locos you may have. If in doubt then get a pack of each and then you can work out which will be best for each use. As a general rule, I would get more of the standard length centre-set shank variety, as these are by far the most common.

There is never a definative answer to this one because narrow gauge railways by their very nature tended to use up all sorts of rail - in many cases whatever they could get hold of.

For my last layout which was based on the Maine two-footers, I used ME code 83, which was about right - but for the logging layout I did before that, even though it was 3 foot gauge, I used a lot of code 70 - as it was intended to represent light rail which could be taken up and moved easily, as logging lines often did.

Here in the UK on the other hand, code 70 would be right for many of the lightly laid narrow gauge lines we once had, especially some of the industrial concerns.

So to an extent, it depends on what kind of railroad you are actually tryng to portray. But for a general purpose USA narrow gauge line you really can't go wrong with the ME code 83. IMO, the Peco On30 track is far too hefty for all but the very heaviest laid railroads. It does look a bit like the trains are running on the edges of girders....although it undoubtedly performs well.

Hello all,

Wonder if anyone can help me?

I have acquired second-hand an originally 'sound fitted' Bachmann On30 Forney which has had all it's circuit boards and wiring stripped out and which has been converted back to non-sound 'DC'.

However, the two little green circuit boards have been supplied with it, with a mass of loose wires still attached to both (no 8-pin plug).

Does anyone (possibly Bach-man?) know if there is such a thing in existence as a wiring diagram for this engine, so that I can re-instate the original DCC circuit boards and sound? I have an 8-pin plug to hand and am quite competant with wiring, so all I need is to know what wires attach to where on the two circuit boards and which where on the boards to connect the various wires from the pick-ups and motor.

Thanks in hope.
Don Mason - Nottingham, UK.

That's brilliant guys - Thanks for all who answered. That's good enough and all I need to know......just planning platform lengths for my new layout (space is tight, as always) ...and that's more than near enough.

Thanks again - Don Mason

Hi there,

This is really aimed at any users of Bachmann British 'OO' Scale who aremembers on the board.

I'm trying to establish the overall length of the Bachmann Class 105 2-car Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) train, also ditto for the 2-car Class 108 DMU, and if anyone knows it, the overall length of the forthcoming 'Derby Lightweight' DMU.

I appreciate you guys in the USA probably won't be able to help - but thought it worth asking anyway just in case, as there is no similar forum for Bachmann UK.

Thanks in hope,
Don Mason

Thanks Tim - I'll check the voltage, etc. with my meter later.

Definitely not the connectors in the smokebox - they're now hard soldered (got wise to that one already).

If all else fails, I have a spare circuit board and can replace that.

Anyone have any experience of curing faulty head lamps?  I have a problem with the 2-8-0 (lamp on front only in my case) but assume all of the DCC ready Bachmann Locos will be similar.

I am using a Soundtraxx Tsunami just plugged into the 8-pin socket on the Bachmann 2-8-0 circuit board and everything works fine - except for the head lamp, which originally worked OK but suddenly went out without warning after just a week or two of use.

I have replaced the lamp itself (with no success) and I then established that the original lamp is in fact still working fine anyway (on another loco).

I have traced the wiring right back from the lamp, through the connections in the ash pan and all the way back to the printed circuit board in the tender and have checked all the connections and solder joints. Everything seems fine so far as I can see - but still no head lamp.

The Tsunami itself seems fine, so I have ruled that out.

Anyone have any ideas? (I was going to say 'bright ideas' but that would have been a pretty rotten pun!)

I could do with one for the 2-8-0 - the headlight has stopped working and try as I might I cannot sort it.

Yeah - but he maintained his "....these turnouts are perfect and all tested mechanically and electrically before despatch....." stance.

Well, clearly that wasn't the case...

To be fair to Gary (who's a nice guy and whom I actually get on with quite well from a 'Maine Two-Foot modelling' point of view), he did state that any faulty units would be replaced, 'without question'. Period.

But that's not the point - I'm in the UK and the sheer cost and hassle of sending them all back (having already waited six months to get them in the first place) just wasn't worth it when I could sort them myself and get them on the layout.

To be equally fair, once I got them sorted I have to admit they look good and perfom well.

I just feel the percentage of problem turnouts was a bit too high, that's all.

Interested in all the good comments about Litco (Light Iron) turnouts.

I bought 11 of the On30 ones (in 2 separate batches):

The first batch were fine. Sadly I cannot say the same for the second lot:

Four were tight on gauge at some point through the turnout (all in different places), down to 15mm gauge (!) in one instance. Another two were tight on gauge at the blade ends due to these not being machined thinly enough (easy to see by comparison with the others) and a sixth had the blades soldered so closely together on the tie-bar so that the length of throw needed defeated all known commercial switch machines.

I had to get out the soldering iron and adjust 6 out of the 11 before I could get standard Bachmann stuff to run smoothly through them.

A seventh was just binned.

All the other 10 are absolutely fine now - but I thought the work I had to do should not have been necessary for the price.

Was I just unlucky, or has anyone else had similar problems?

Problem found - fault speaker - confirmed.

Have tried other speakers in my stock, all work fine. 

Problem is, I don't have one the right size, I am not ocnfident of Bachmann UK having any !!