Has anyone repowered any Spectrum C40-8W's with Atlas or Kato parts or mechanisms? I had thought of using C30-7 chassis, but find that the truck centres are 5mm short. I would really love to be able to run these locomotives with my other Atlas/Kato machines. Any suggestions would be appreciated ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
Well, Alan, can't say I have. I find mine run rather well with the few Atlas/Kato units I could afford at the time (and get my hands on!!). Of course, DCC and adjust starting speeds helped that. They would NOT run well together beforehand. My typical lashup for an intermodal is SP (Kato) C44-9W, UP (Bach.) C41-8W, UP (Bach.) C40-8 or C40-8W, depending on what's "around". I have also run UP (Atlas) SD60M, UP (Bach) C40-8 or C40-8W with success. My other Kato is a GP50, so it tends to stay in the yard or on local service. ------------------ Corey Lynch Pres - Rensselaer Model RR Society NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
I've always thought about this swap but I too have found my Bachmann Santa Fe CW41-8's run just fine with my Atlas and Kato locos. Of course, this isn't right out of the box, I did a little tinkering with them first, but nothing that cost me any money. This topic covers what I do to my Bachmann-Spectrum or Bachmann-Plus N-Scale locos. http://www.trainboard.com/Forum9/HTML/000131.html ------------------ Brent Tidaback, Member #234 BNSF Railfan-to-the Max and a N-Scaler to boot! "Ship it on the Route of The Roadrunners!" The Aransas Odessa & Western, a division of the BNSF [This message has been edited by Maxwell Plant (edited 26 October 2000).]
I had thought of giving them the "Brent treatment" described previously, but I am really not happy with them as is, so I would like to repower them. May have to experiment ! ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
Give them the Treatment first to see if that helps. You won't be out any money so give it a try. If it doesn't help, then try a transplant of some sort. I might add, my CW41-8's are currently in the paint shop. I decided it was time to fix the botched paint jobs I did on the cabs a few years ago. I'm also going to ad grab irons to my CW44-9's to replace those hidious cast on ones Kato put on top of the nose. I did the same to my Bachmanns when I painted them last time, wow, what a difference it makes! ------------------ Brent Tidaback, Member #234 BNSF Railfan-to-the Max and a N-Scaler to boot! "Ship it on the Route of The Roadrunners!" The Aransas Odessa & Western, a division of the BNSF [This message has been edited by Maxwell Plant (edited 27 October 2000).]
I found out from elsewhere that a C30 or U30B chassis will do the job The truck pivots are off-centre, so just need to be turned round 180 degrees, and the pick-up strips extended to contact the re-positioned truck contacts. Now, if I can acquire a couple of C30's . . . . . ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
Alan, The bolsters on the KATO C30-7 are CENTERED. Flipping them 180 DEG. will not help any. The TRIX U28/30C can have the trucks flipped, but why use a mechanism that performs the same as the Spectrum out of the box? That's a waste of money guy, I'd stay with the Original frame and drive and work it over with "The BT Treatment". The only other option would be replacing the motor, drive shafts, worm gears, and trucks with the Kato parts and use the Bachmann frame. I wouldn't do it that way but I don't have a machine shop. If I did, like you do, then I'd might give it a shot. Want to mill some frames for me? ------------------ Brent Tidaback, Member #234 BNSF Railfan-to-the Max and a N-Scaler to boot! "Ship it on the Route of The Roadrunners!" The Aransas Odessa & Western, a division of the BNSF
Brent, I measured the truck pivots on my C30-7, and they are, indeed off-centre. Each truck pivot is 1.5mm off-centre, so turning them around gains 3mm (about 1/8") in truck centres. This still does not make up the difference (assuming the Spectrum C40 is correct), but it will only be 2mm short, which is fine by me ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
Alan, you do work in metal. How about taking a spectrum frame and machining it to fit kato parts? Sounds good as maxwell said. God Bless. Dave
