Bachmann freight cars...good deal?

french_guy Feb 14, 2021

  1. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    Good to know. Is this for body- or truck-mounted couplers, and what minimum radius and/or how much easement do you use for/on curves (i.e. minimum radius adjacent to straight track)?

    There are so many variables, I like to gather information about what people have tried and either worked or not.
     
    Doug Gosha likes this.
  2. MK

    MK TrainBoard Member

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    Truck, 9-3/4 radius, no easements.
     
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  3. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Mainly body but some truck.Minimum radius in the last 47 years - 13" (maybe sharper for sidings/spurs but not sharper than 11"). No easements.

    Doug
     
    MK likes this.
  4. NtheBasement

    NtheBasement TrainBoard Member

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    Almost all my cars have MTL roller bearing short extension trucks. Three don't - two high cubes and a 90' flat car. None of the cars are even close to having interference problems on 9.75 radius track.
     
  5. JMaurer1

    JMaurer1 TrainBoard Member

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    I don't know how you could even use short or medium extensions with truck mounted couplers. Truck mounted couplers will pretty much go around any curve that just isn't silly sharp. 9 3/4" is entering the trolley world, but they still work.
     
  6. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    My MTs are almost all short extension. My sharpest main line curves are thirteen and three quarter inch. Some of the sidings are nine and three quarter. One does have a section of a runaround that is seven and a half. It is rare that there is more than one car on the runaround. The diesel locomotives are all body mounts; the steam varies. I do not have problems with car ends that bang against each other and cause derailments on any section of the pike.

    Those MT short shanks will take some sharp curves.

    Some of the MT gondolas do come with a medium extension on one end. I do have one car with a long extension. It is a B-mann boom tender that I made into a work caboose. I added a platform and steps to the aft, thus it required a longer extension. Even that car has no problem on the sharp curves.
     
  7. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    Wow, thanks for all the feedback!

    Sounds like short extension couplers work well (on trucks mounted close enough to the end of the car). In the past, I had quite a bit of 11" curves abutting straight track, without any problems, with a mix of medium and short extension couplers mounted on trucks (except locos), without any operational issues. My new layout (only prototyped, and not running yet) has one 11R15 curve between straights, and otherwise has a minimum radius of 12-3/8R butting up against straights.
     
  8. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    BTW, how many of you also have a 19R/19R S-curve (like on a #4 switch crossover)? I have some of those, and I have always calculated that transition to be the equivalent of 9.5R (or a little worse than a 9.75R butted up to straight track). I've never had any problems with them either.
     
  9. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I don't have any right now (my crossovers are #6 switches) but I have had them in the past and never any problems. Of course, Atlas standard switches aren't really #4s. They are a switch with a 19" radius curve through them and are closer to a #5 switch.

    Doug
     
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  10. Inkaneer

    Inkaneer TrainBoard Member

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    RR's did not abandon the Bettendorf truck in 1963. Some are used even to this day albeit not in revenue service (tourist lines may be an exception). As a low cost alternative, the RR's replaced the solid bearings in the Bettendorf truck with roller bearings and in the process removed the cover on the axle ends to signify that the bearings had been converted. I think that may have been a requirement by the FRA. This was a stop gap measure and all new equipment had to have roller bearings. That fact is moot in our model world as Bettendorf trucks are one piece castings and the covers are not easily removeable.
     
  11. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I remember seeing many Bettendorf-type trucks with the covers removed and roller bearings visible back in the eighties and nineties.
     
  12. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    Are Kato #4s the same way? They match the interface geometry of a 19R curve on the diverging route (i.e. you can replace a 19R curve with a #4 switch).

    The Kato single crossovers match the interface geometry of two #4's, but I haven't looked closely to see if they are more like true switches or not. The crossing track seems straighter, but that's just an "uncalibrated eyeball" assessment...
     

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