Hi friends If you have contact problems with your Bachmann 2-8-0 try using a Kato 2-8-2 tender with it. I tried it on my 2-8-0 and the overall pickup is much better and if your installing a Soundtraxx decoder in yours you will find that not only is the track pickup better but its much easier to get inside the tender as well. On the outside the two tender look just about the same but when you look at the contact strips the Kato tender is higher quality which makes for better track pickup. This conversion makes a really good locomotive even better.
Wow, you cannibalized a Mike for a Consolidation. Brave guy!!!! I have an extra DimiTrains Vandy Tender (Rivarossi) and am toying with the idea of powering both trucks on opposite sides and connecting it with a Mike. First I have to muster up some courage to put the tools to a Mikado. Ken "Steamguy" Willaman
You can get the parts from Kato to make up a replacement tender for about $20 US. That's about half the price Bachmann charges for a complete made up 2-8-0 tender. I've just bought a bunch of Kato tender parts to use in my steamer kitbashing works. I'm wondering what Daylight99 used for a drawbar when he put a Mikado tender on the 2-8-0. The 2-8-0 drawbar? I have just installed a winter cab on a Spectrum 2-8-0 and it was necessary to extend its drawbar 5/32 " (4mm). This meant making new spring connector wires out of piano wire for the extended drawbar. Much to my surprise I immediately noticed that the 2-8-0 ran much better and as smooth and slow as any of my Mikados. Daylight99 is correct in saying that there can be problems with pickup on the 2-8-0 tender, but I didn't think it was the pickups in the tender that was causing the problem. So I scraped the black paint off the 2-8-0 spring pickups at the cab end and the split frame post under the engine cab and found better performance immediately. Maybe a little whal oil on the outside of the posts might help too. The unpainted and springier piano wire that I put on the extended 2-8-0 drawbar seems to give better contact also. I think the answer may be that Kato uses a better quality copper/bronz wire than Bachmann and doesn't paint it. As for using a Mikado tender on the 2-8-0 both are USRA tenders and look almost identical except for the rivet work, the hatch covers and the 2-8-0 tender being 1.5mm narrower. Good for Kato giving us resonable prices on parts to make up such a great tender. Dayligt99 certainly has the right idea in that good tender pickups can turn a sows ear running engine into a silk purse one.
I ordered a extra Kato tender for this job and what I did for the drawbar is splice the tender half of the Kato drawbar to the locomotive half of the Bachmann drawbar keeping the completed size the same as the stock Bachmann drawbar. I also retained the Bachmann pickup wires. The pickup improvement is so good that its well worth the time and extra cash to do it.
Good kitbash on the drawbar, Daylight99, and one more question. When you spliced part of the Mikado drawbar to part of the 2-8-0 drawbar, what did you use to hold the splice together? I used a Home Hardware Super Glue when I extended the drawbars on my 2-8-0s, did you use glue?
I have 2 Bachman 4 - 8 - 4 Northern's. They both have the same type of tender 8 axels. One of them has the pick up in the tender with the curent traveling through the drawbar to the engine. The other one runs just fine by itself without the tender. Did Bachman make these on different runs? Other than the pickup they look identical. I bought them on Ebay for $30.00 each so at that price I really have no complaint. They both run like a dream. I bought them from different sellers, they both have CB&Q and both have eng. number 5605. I couldn't figure out why they have different pickups
I cut the two drawbars so one would overlap a little on the other and even with this overlap the final finished drawbar came the same as stock. I first tried super glue but the bond broke easy so I held the two halfs in place with super glue and then coated the joint with epoxy. So far this has held up well.
Hi Bob, I ordered some of the smoothside kits from Kato last week, and was going to order a couple tenders but I could not tell from the descriptions which all parts I need to order for a complete tender. Could I trouble you to list all parts needed for a complete tender... tender body, trucks, electrical pickups, ect..? Thanks, Robert
You need: tender body detail kit w/ladder (forget the number, don't have a copy of the new parts catalog that I just finished before I left) front truck rear truck drawbar truck screws That's it. All the pickups, weight, etc. are part of the tender body. Charlie
TENDER BODY....935010 DETAIL KIT.........933010 ladder, whistle. bell FRONT TRUCK....941032 REAR TRUCK......941042 DRAWBAR.........937010 COUPLER SET....923170 c/w Kato & Rapido coupler if you want to use either TRUCK SCREWS.900020 2 X 4 ea.
Telegrapher, I bought one of the first run 4-8-4's by Bachmann and, as I remember it, the tender provided electrical pick-up from one rail and the loco the other. Both trucks on the tender had wipers on the inner two axles and were electrically connected by the metal weight. Later editions have sole pick-ups in the loco so the tender just went along for the ride. I have rewired two of mine ( from the later productions) so that each truck on the tenders also pick up electricity, running the wires from the tender to the motor. Performance improved somewhat.
Dick, If you've got one of the early tenders, there's no problem with flipping the wheels around in one of the trucks so that the insulated wheels are on the opposite side from the other. But, don't forget to cut the metal bar weight in half and insulate the rear half from the front half. I raised the weight off the floor of the tender, above the screws holding the trucks and wires to prevent the grounding out instead of cutting it. Good luck.
Thanks Dick. I thought of getting a mini plug to connect the tender to the motor and not depend on the draw bar.
I guess I've been in this too long, Dick. Never thought of a mini-plug.... I still think of such jobs as a direct wiring project!!! Got to get with the times, I think. Now that I've retired, I'll have more time for improving my knowlege and skills. Good luck.
Thanks Charlie, and Gary, for the rundown of tender parts needed for a complete unit, I'll get my order right in. I received my smoothside passenger kits from Kato, but they came with no truck screws in the kits, so I have to make another order anyway.
My baggage car from Kato also came without truck screws. What do you think of using the Kato kits as a core for brass sides?
Slightly less convenient than a core kit... (sanding sides, cutting windows out, modifying underframe details) However, much better ACF/PS style roof detail like rivets (coach) or panels (sleeper) assuming that the molded in detail works out with the car you are trying to produce. An extra bonus is the inclusion of an interior to modify for your new car. I'd say its worth the extra effort to use if you need more than the plain smooth roof that is included in the core kit. [ 26. July 2002, 19:44: Message edited by: Mike Skibbe ]
