Bachmann 2-6-0 is here!

Mike C Oct 12, 2012

  1. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    Wow, that's great Mark. Pilot truck on OK? LOL.
    Joe D
     
  2. Cajonpassfan

    Cajonpassfan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Mark, thank you.
    It does look like a winner. I can see all kinds of possibilities....like I NEED another project!
    I love the new tender also, sure wish B would make it available separately. Could you (or anyone who has one) please measure the length of the tender body shell for me, preferably in scale feet and inches?
    thanks and regards, Otto K.
     
  3. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    The tender is approximately 23' long.

    -Mark
     
  4. Jerry M. LaBoda

    Jerry M. LaBoda TrainBoard Supporter

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    "...sure wish B would make it available separately."

    Hopefully this will be possible to obtain once parts are made available in about a year. The Ten Wheeler parts are now available...
     
  5. Cajonpassfan

    Cajonpassfan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks Mark, appreciate it. That's even shorter than it looks...nice.
    Otto K.
     
  6. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    Hee hee!
    Guess what showed up in my mailbox today!
    Looks great: nice and low, unlike the earlier Bmann 2-6-0 / 0-6-0.
    Great detail.
    Looking forward to taking it for a spin tomorrow & taking some video (now I'm regretting a little destroying my Mt. Coffin & Columbia River layout a couple weeks ago, but had no idea these beauties were on the way).
    If it runs as good as it looks, we have a winner!
    Need to order another one to bash into an 0-6-0T or any number of other projects!
     
  7. joetrain59

    joetrain59 TrainBoard Member

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    What's the led in headlight like? Dull orange?
    I thought I saw a back-up headlight mentioned somewhere, too.
    Don't see one on NYC version Mark's showed us.
    Joe D
     
  8. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    The headlight is yellow/orange. I don't think any of them come with a backup light.

    -Mark
     
  9. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    It appears that my 2-6-0 doesn't pull nearly as well as my 4-6-0 (kind of surprising since they're virtually identical mechanically). After eyeballing things a bit, the problem appears to be a very slight vertical wobble that causes the forward (traction tire) driverset to raise up off the rails a bit. It's not hugely noticeable unless you're right in there close looking for it, but I'd bet money that's what's affecting pulling power -

    [video=youtube;-lOcgfCY9nY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lOcgfCY9nY&feature=youtu.be[/video]

    I don't know what's causing the wobble yet (let alone how to address it). At the moment I'm running it around in circles to see if the problem doesn't just go away after breaking in the mechanism a bit.

    -Mark
     
  10. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    I ran my 2-6-0 around in circles (backwards and forwards) for about seven hours, but that didn’t help the pulling power issues much (if at all). So, I went with the tried and true Bachmann steam solution– IE, installing thin shims in the forward bearing block pockets in order to prevent the drivers from pushing up. And yep, that did the trick; it now pulls just as well as my 4-6-0.

    I guess I’m still a little mystified, though. The forward drivers aren’t connected to any of the cranks, so I’m not sure what it was exactly that was forcing them to lose contact with the rails. If it was just the slight up and down rocking of the chassis that was causing the problem with the forward drivers, I don’t see how shimming them should have done anything (since even if they were free to move around, gravity should have kept them from moving up with the chassis).

    The other mystery is what is causing the vertical rocking in the first place. Usually when a Bachmann steamer is shimmying or wobbling it’s pretty easy to trace it to something that one or more of the drivers is doing. But honestly, these appear to be spinning fairly true (or at least not so untrue as to be obvious).

    All in all, kind of strange. Here’s hoping others will be able to provide me with some guidance.

    -Mark
     
  11. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Mark, When I ran a similarly troublesome engine upside down in a cradle, I saw a barely visible driver wobble caused by a slight binding of a rod bushing. This was a while ago so I don't remember if it was due to flashing on the rod, a slightly tight rod pin or rivet, or the bushing slightly dry from lack of lube. It was simple whatever I corrected, and the engine ran fine afterwards.

    Now if you would be kind enough to give me similar advice to correct the slipperiness of the MP American....[​IMG]
     
  12. Cajonpassfan

    Cajonpassfan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Tungsten...:)
    not Mark, Otto
     
  13. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    Viewed wheels up in the cradle, the rear two driversets do have a very slight wobble to them (presumably eminating from where the crank screws are attached). But honestly, I've seen much worse from Bachmann (their bearing blocks generally being a bit loose fitting), and nothing appears to actually be binding (IE, speed is constant).

    I guess I'm content to let it go at this point. It runs great overall, and the shim solution seems to have taken care of the slight pulling power issues. But I'll be interested to hear what other people's experiences are.

    -Mark
     
  14. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Tungsten???? This does not compute, please elaborate. Thx
     
  15. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I add tungsten for weight wherever I can. I have it in powdered form and little cubes and cylinders that I have obtained from various golf supply and pinewood derby web sites. It is about twice as heavy as lead.
     
  16. Cajonpassfan

    Cajonpassfan TrainBoard Supporter

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    Sorry Hytec, didn't mean to be flip.
    I use tungsten which in its pure form is about 1.7 times the weight of lead ( and not toxic) to weigh down my small locos for better traction and electrical pickup. It's expensive, but one can add quite a few grams in the tightest spaces. I get mine, in the form of disk shaped punchouts from Midwest Tungsten Service in Illinois. Amazing what little extra weight in the right places can do to an engine's performance.
    Regards, Otto
     
  17. MC Fujiwara

    MC Fujiwara TrainBoard Member

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    I took mine for a short spin on my DC "Alameda-Belt-in-a-Box" switching layout.
    Looked close, but didn't see any of the up&down Mark described earlier.
    Only issue I found on mine was that the rods and metal parts coming right out of the piston valves on the right side stuck out a bit: actually got caught up on some Caboose groundthrows that were a little close to the rails (but other locos, including the 10-Wheeler) had no problem with.
    A closer look showed the mechanical sliding parts on the right side stuck out a little farther than the left, so perhaps a little pressure can bend it back a little closer to the loco body.

    This was all a 5-minute test run this morning on a very short and DC layout.
    I plan to do some DCC running on a longer run tomorrow.
    It looks amazing, though.
    Nice and low.
    Traction tires on the lead drivers.
    Horribly oversized couplers that will be replaced with MT905s as soon as I find out there are no mech problems (Bachmann was great sending ten-wheelers to me until I got one with perfect rods & running).
     
  18. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    OK, I exaggerated a bit. However it is great stuff if you can get it to fit into any voids you can find under the shell or in the cab. That is usually the challenge. In solid form, is very hard and not easy to form. I have some thin diamond dust covered cut-off wheels for my Dremil tool that I use to make small pieces fit. The powdered tungsten can be mixed with white glue to make a paste to cram into small areas.
     
  19. EMD F7A

    EMD F7A TrainBoard Member

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    Here's the issue- sometimes, those mass-produced wheels' axles are off-center! Even a fraction of a millimeter will cause this issue. Take the driving wheels off, use a pin vice and spin 'em against a piece of glass or etc.; you'll be able to figure out which wheels have an eccentric. I recommend swapping the Traction Tire'd drivers to the rear, if at all possible! This is the kind of stuff Bachmann overlooks even on their nice models. Cheers!
     
  20. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    The #1 drivers (the ones with the traction tires) are not connected to any of the running gear, so for an experiment I tried running it with them removed. And lo, all of the bucking went away. So, I'm definitely liking your theory about the axles slightly being off-center on one (or both) of the #1 drivers.

    -Mark
     

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