I just couldnt stand to look at that tender on the Bachmann ten wheeler any longer. The C&O had several 4-6-0s with much smaller tenders. I have an Athearn 2-8-0 I wanted to put a different tender on also so it was a natural to take the Athearn tender and put it on the Bachmann 4-6-0. First the Bachmann ten wheeler with original tender. Followed by the new tender. I'm pleased. So what do you all think?
Looks fine, makes it look older. I would like to see what a shorty Bachman USRA tender would look like on this loco also. Funny thing is that many locos had larger tenders swapped to them as they got older, For example N&W added a six wheel tender from (I think) a Y3 to some of their 4-6-2s. ( Loco 578 currently at the Ohio Railway Museum) . The tender is just about as long as the loco is .....Mike
Looks great, Oldrk. Here it is with the Bachmann "shorty". I'd like to go one step further, though... I am working on bashing a Bachmann slope back tender frame with a Model Power mogul tender shell. All I have left to do is the wiring (which I am NOT good at). I wish they had included the plug with the ten-wheeler but, they didn't....
I think it looks like crap!!! Just kidding! That was a good call on that short tender. I really like the way that looks. I see far too many steamers with the larger tenders and its sad that not more are offered with a smaller one to get more variety in the selection. It wouldn't take much to make two different tenders and twice as many locomotives just to put two separate models on the shelves.
The athearn/mdc tender is a perfect match! The only tenwheeler I know that had a significantly large tender is SP 2353, with a 12,000-gallon vandy normally used with mikado's and the like. The tender IS as long as the locomotive!
Definitely a HUGE improvement; the proportions are sooo much better. The USRA tenders are just wrong on so many levels (yeah, I know some railroad cudda retrofitted a newer bigger USRA tender on an early tenwheeler, but the chances are slim; I'd like to se just ONE photo of that). The short MP tenders would also work. Here's one MP shell on Bachmann slopeback frame (with all wheel pickup). Regards, Otto
Here is another example with the shorty.... Dick, Do you still need me to make up the wiring harness for your slope back chassis? I can put it in the mail Monday.
The short Bachman tenders make a nice model. Looks like a possible up date done by a real railroad. Otto that MP tender shell is real nice also, should look great behind this loco.....Mike
This is what the MP tender looks like with the 4-6-0. Actually it's only the MP tender shell on a Spectrum slope back tender chassis.
Ooooh, that does it!! I gotta get one of the ten wheelers now. Really like the MP shell on the slopeback!
I wonder how many more Bachmann would sell if they used a good looking tender to start with? They've done a British 4-6-0 with a small six wheel tender that not only contains a six pin decoder socket, but a motor and drive as well! The Bachmann US and British design teams seem to have different ways of thinking. Anyway, it's still a great engine. I used the slopeback tender underframe with a tender shell from a Minitrix old timer 0-6-0 that had gone to the big roundhouse in the sky. I can't find the photo but it's on another thread somewhere.
This tender is very close to the prototype. It has the Bachmann slope-back frame and trucks, with the body made by cutting and splicing two leftover MDC/Athearn shells to make it long enough to fit the frame.
That one looks good, the tender seems in better proportions to the locomotive. The standard Athearn/MDC tender always was too square and boxy looking to me.
