I got a new Bachmann industrial switcher and I want to replace the Rapido couplers with Microtrains. Which number conversion should I use?
1133 If you want a longer coupler shank for sharp curves, try 1134. If you are going to be running it across plastic frog switches, you might consider hardwiring it to a live car or caboose. The Kato North American caboose is live. Kato also sells some JNR brakemen's vans that are live. With a minimum of work, they can be bashed into convincing North American industrial hacks. You can also hardwire a pair together, which is what I did. Considering what these things are, they are not bad power. They have that problem that plagues all N scale short wheelbase power: they stall at slow speeds on plastic frog switches.
Brokemoto - Can you give us an idea of how you did it or is there a thread already? Thanks for the info. I needed it also.
The coupler conversion or the hardwiring? To do the coupler conversion, you simply remove the B-mann coupler box and Rapido coupler. You then assemble the MT coupler, spring, adapter and box according to the instructions that MT includes with the couplers. You then snap the whole business into the slots on the bottom of the switcher; it is located between the pilot steps. You can use a little spit to hold the coupler assembly together. One thing to do is to buy the MT coupler tweezers if you are going to work with 1133 or 1134. These couplers used to be almost universal to Bachperssonn equipment, but there are now others, especially SPECTRUM equipment, that use other MT couplers. If you are asking about hardwiring, you can slip off ths shell and you can either solder wires to the motor terminals or simply push the wires into the terminals. If you are going to hardwire a pair together, you simply repeat the process on locomotive number two. The wires will slip through the back windows on the cab. Finally, you snap the shells onto the power chassis. I have not hardwired these to live cars, but I have hardwired other power to live cars. The live cars with which I have worked have bronze contact strips on the floor of the chassis. It is simple to remove those and solder wires to them, then replace them onto the floor of the caboose. You can then slip the wires through an end window of the caboose (or brakemen's van, if you bash a JNR car) and affix them to the locomotive's motor.
i've got one of the mdt switchers (latest run) and it runs thru my insulfrogs with no problems. i've been told hardwiring is only necessary with long insulfrog switches...... its never a good idea to use saliva to hold small parts together during assembly- its quite corrosive to metal stuff.
Wow! Talk about resurrecting a thread. That was my daughter when she was in 4th grade. No, she's not much interested in trains any more. Full time college and working. I still have the engine though. Thanks for the memory.
