Converting New Bright and being new to 'G' Scale

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I want to build a logging tramway in the back garden which I intend to base heavily on New Zealand logging tramways. The back garden/courtyard area isn't very big so tight curves and interesting timber bridges will be the order of the day so that the right of way can proceed over and around the various obstacles in the courtyard. I don't have a great deal of money (sound of a melancoly violin playing), but I do know how to make most railway items due to having done scratchbuilding in the smaller scales. Rolling stock doesn't worry me because it's all mainly timber built and mounted on inside bearing wooden trucks with curly spoke wheels. BUT locos are another matter. I can build locos, I've got some lovely coarse scale '0' gauge tank engines based on English practice that are all handbuilt save for the wheels, motors and gears. It's just that 'G' is soooooooo big and I once had a go at building a 16mm scale Barclay saddle tank from scratch in steel and the magnificent beginnings of it are still sitting on the shelf over my workbench (sigh).
Which brings me to New Bright trains. (another sigh) Yes I know they're considered to be junk, but I imagine it would be possible to rebuild them with 1:20 scale cabs as well as laying in some very careful weathering over grimy black and/or Russian iron. All the photos I've ever seen of bu***ramway locos show them festooned with lengths of chain and wire rope, buckets, odd tools, oil drums & etc; - again all this is not hard to do. But I guess the big problem is those 6 'C' cells in the tender that have to be dragged around by a rather lightweight loco. If I ended up with a fine looking light axleweight Yankee bu***ram lokey it would break my heart if it couldn't get out of its own way (sigh).
Does anyone know if the batteries can be moved into the boiler so that their weight sits over the driving wheels instead? I do really need to know because I've only just finished scouring e.bay and I've purchased an embarasing number of New Bright locos (blush). What I would like to do is make a logging Mallet loosely based on one that worked here in New Zealand and I'm sure New Bright locos would make for a good source of parts for the conversion. I wouldn't mind some kind of single Farlie/Mason Bogie type of loco either to tell the truth..
I have purchased a later model Bachman 10 wheeler as well, but a 'big' ten wheeler is not really the most ideal logging loco. I did try bidding on a diecast Buddy L loco as well, but some rotter dared to bid against me and I lost it :-/ But then on reflection I guess that it wasn't so ideal either. I did bid on and win a nice black 'Heritage' ten wheeler with No: 8 on the cabside, but I must admit I've never heard of this make of 'G' scale trains before.

Cheers,

Annie

[Anonymous]

Wish i could help but I no nothing of the New bright stuff other then what I've read here. Vsmith and a few other have experence with bashing the type of small locos you speak of. Kovacjr has a mason post here you maybe able to use as a reference. I have not I must admit heard of battery/ Rc being done in one these. Battery /RC would cost more then the loco I would think.

[vsmith]

Annie...

Heres what to do if you want to convert a New Bright engine...




Forget It!

The boiler insides are taken up with a large circuit board, the smoke machine, and the r/c controls. even if you could relocate the boards I dont think there anywhere near enough room for the 6 batteries. They are a great source for parts, the eventual fate of my Echo/Scientific loco that I had. If you already have a bunch of them then try to work with what you have by repainting and adding details like chains etc. But rebuilding with internal batteries would be problematic. Besides even if you did, it would still only have two speeds, off or on. Better bet would be to add weight inside the boiler area, auto shops often sell self adhesive lead wieghts to balance wheels, these weights come in 6oz strips that can be seperated into smaller 1oz pieces its the fastest way to add weight and would go along way to helping make the engine a better hauler.

The "heritage" loco you mention may be from the same maker of the Buddy L engine, Heritage Express uses the same 2-6-2 engine that was recently used for the Buddy L lineup. these are about the same quailty level of Bachmann Big Haulers and are likely a good starting point fro a garden RR. Both the Buddy L and the Heritage are pretty close to 1/20.3 scale. If your looking for a smaller logging engine then Bachmann Industrial Mogul, Bachmann's 0-4-0 Saddletanker, or a couple LGB Toytrain line 0-4-0 Porters all are potential sources.

Sorry for the bad news, Vic

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice Vic. So the 'Heritage' loco could be based on the same 2-6-2 mech as the 'Buddy L'. I did wonder about that at the time actually. I liked what I saw of the Heritage loco in the pictures online and I'm hoping that it will prove to be as useful as it looks. My logging tram is never going to be very long and the train lengths are going to be fairly short, so the cheaper locos like the 'Big Hauler' ten wheeler and the 'Heritage' 2-6-2 should be fine and should hopefully last a long time as I look after my locos and believe in proper maintenance.
As to the New Bright locos I can see that they would be a great source of fittings and bits for conversion work. I always liked the cab on the Echo loco I used to own a good while ago as well as the crew figures and I wonder if I should look around for some dead Echos that are going cheap to help rebuild the New Bright locos. I had wondered if I could turn up some new tyres for the New Bright wheels from steel to improve things too. The stick on lead weights from the tyre shop sound to be a particularly useful idea for weighting the boiler since my hopes of an empty boiler that could carry batteries seems to have been dashed (sigh). I suppose that spending time to make sure the New Bright locos' tender wheels are revolving freely in their bearings would reap benefits too since they have to carry the weight of 6 'C' batteries.
Has anyone purchased and constructed the Northeast Narrow Gauge loco kits by the way? I was wondering about buying their little Porter loco kit.

Cheers,

Annie

[vsmith]

For the money. I would take a LGB Porter anyday over the NENG engine, I haven't built a kit personally but have been told by others that the powerblocks are troublesome, heres a pic of my LGB porter, Curly.

[Anonymous]

Curly looks delightful Vic. Ok I'll write myself a note to keep an eye out for an LGB Porter. I had noticed that NENG seem to use a hybrid worm drive/belt drive system on their locos and I had wondered about how good that might be. I suppose that it being a kit is what attracted me since it meant that I could assemble it how I liked.

Cheers,

Annie.

[toenailridgesl]

Annie,
think about joining this group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nzgardenrail/
& this one
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ozLSgroup/
Both are LargeScale Yahoo e-mail lists, emphasis on Oz & NZ modellers.

[yellowducky]

Annie, you might try using modeling clay. It can go in spots where the lead can't, even though it's not as dense. I had much improved pulling power on my New Bright.
Suggest reworking the drawbar, as mine lifted the rear engine wheels on the slightest track imperfection.
Suggestions (concerning the C's) would be to mount them in a box car, as a couple of piles of lumber on a flat car, or in a tank or "water" car to follow the bashed engine. I might try to make a tank engine out of one of my 5, and put them camo on the outside (tanks) and back (bunker). Extra "Thomas" face anyone?

[Anonymous]

Several years ago, I took a New Bright 2-6-2 that someone had given me a couple of years earlier as a gift, repainted it, redecaled it and made it into a Santa Fe 4-4-0 for use on my Tombstone gunfight at the O. K. corral layout-not that the info is of any use to you, but just thought I'd share the story. That's the only experience I have with that scale. Sorry. I'm leaving now...

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have about a dozen New Brights and only take them out of storage to go around the Christmas tree. New Bright makes electrics but they are harder to find. I have one of the older ones. They did a Christmas 4-4-0 in 1986 that was track powered and the pick ups were on the lightweight tender. If you can find one of these tenders the plug can be swaped to fit one of your 4-6-0 locos. I used a Lionel GP Power truck kitbashed into a New Bright tender to increase the pulling power. The fit worked well and the combination can pull several animated cars with ease, but it looks odd with two tenders. The newest Christmas series is track powered and plentiful on ebay but the look is kind of cheesy if you ask me. Another option is looking in Boy Scout supplies and getting some pinewood derby stick on lead strips that could be added to the outside of the loco. If you stay with battery power, you can cement some wide rubber bands to the drive wheels to improve traction.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Red Baron for the tip about the 4-4-0 tenders, - I'll keep an eye out for one, - though I do wonder if an ordinary plastic wheeled tender could be converted by fitting metal wheels. I guess the latest Christmas series could be pilaged for parts to upgrade the older locos. I'm not that thrilled about Christmas trainsets and I've always looked on them as being a parts only proposition. If I want a train around my tree I much prefer to use my 'normal' locos and rolling stock..
Thanks for the all the other tips everyone. I had wondered about arranging the tender drawbar so it added the weight of the tender to the rear wheels to improve traction. Of course the best way to do this would be by actually converting a New Bright loco into a single Farlie/Mason bogie/Forney type of loco which are all types I like a lot.
Another question I would like to raise though, - 'Does anybody know where I can order motor blocks with wheels, or even just loco wheels by themselves online?' I've tried e.mailing various dealers in the US and so far nobody has bothered to answer (sigh). Garden Railway Specialists in the UK have some lovely loco wheels, but the exchange rate between the pound and the New Zealand dollar is a bit horrible for too many regular purchases from the UK.

Annie

[Anonymous]

Converting the tender could be done but it would take some work.
Ridge Road Station has this powered truck from Aristo-Craft. It's designed for a diesel but could easily be adapted to just about anything. It is very similar to the Lionel unit that I used on my booster tender except the Lionel has two motors mounted vertically.
http://www.rrstation.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=25529351%21255&csurl=%2FiStar%2Easp%3Fa%3D29

[Anonymous]

I'm still patiently waiting for the first of my New Bright locos to arrive; - well I tell a lie because I'm starting to feel more than just a little impatient. It's about as bad as waiting for Christmas when I was a kiddie. (sigh)

New Bright loco, - wanted! Crime, being too slow to arrive :-(

There was a rant here, but I'm feeling better now and I've deleted it.

Annie

[GP-9_Man11786]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LocoAnnie

T
I suppose that spending time to make sure the New Bright locos' tender wheels are revolving freely in their bearings would reap benefits too since they have to carry the weight of 6 'C' batteries.


Cheers,

Annie

I have an 11 year old Echo engine which ran fine on the level "carpet central" but on the grades of my garden railway, the weight of the 6 C batteries became a problem. To solve this I converted the engine to use a single 9-volt battery. They put out the same voltage as 6 C's but with a fraction of the wieght.

The conversion is extremly simple. The conectors are sold at Radio Shack for about $1 a piece. In an Echo engine, hook the contector up to the power switch in place of the leads from the battery compartment. In a New Bright engine, this is even simpler. All you have to do wire the conector to the leads that conect the battery compartment to the teather to the locomotive.

As for the batteries themselves, 9-volt batteries can be expensive. So I chose to use an Raovac NIMH recharbable 9-Volt battery and charger available from Home Depot or Target or Wal-Mart or Best Buy.

I also have a crude looking industrial diesle switcher, which is powered by an Echo mechanism. Hope this helps!

[markn]

I'm about to do the same or similar thing-how about putting them into tank around the boiler-like the photo of the LGB model above

[Anonymous]

Hi Annie, I found an old pic of my track powered New Bright. It is labeled Santaland if you want to try to find one.

[Anonymous]

Santaland ....... (makes careful note) Thanks Red Baron. I have a feeling I've seen one before, but didn't recognise it for a New Bright loco. Could be a nice loco to have in its own right, - only I don't think very many timber/logging tramways would've found a use for an American 4-4-0 (sigh).

Annie

[Anonymous]

Um, I thought I'd have a play around with a New Bright image in MS.Paint to see what it would look like if I did modify it to fit in with my 1:20.3 scale ideas.



I think it's got definite possibilities myself. Of course it's going to need painting black and weathering and being festooned in coils of rope and chain and old oil drums and bits of timber &etc.
Thankyou very much by the way GP9 for your suggestion about using 9 volt batteries, - I will try your method out :-)

Annie.

[Anonymous]

Sorry all. i had some New bright once, also had some M-80’s and about 60 seconds of delight. I do understand your point of keeping cost down though. Most of my equipment is the lower end Bachman stuff. I have 2 high end spectrums and 3 USA. It comes down to time and money and welp the M-80’s where worth it.

Sorry…..

[Anonymous]

Um Phantom...... wot's an M-80?
I guess cost is a big factor for me at the moment since just getting the 'Heritage' No:8 loco, as well as an Aristocraft 0-4-0 switcher and a Hartland HLW 0-4-0 loco (which are still on the high seas) has cost me quite a slice of my pocket money budget for the year. No:8 is going to get quite a bit of detail modification, - much of which will be handmade, - as well as a full paint and weathering job. Both the Aristo and the HLW locos are going to get modded so heavily that their makers wouldn't recognise them even in a good light.
The only trouble is I look at No:8 in all her pristine glory and I feel terrified to even make a begining (eek). What the New Brights will enable me to do is get the feel of 1:20.3 scale and being daring with a razor saw. If I totally mess up a New Bright I can simply toss it all in the scrapbox and chalk it up to experience, - if I mess up No:8 I'll cry (sniff).

Annie.

[Anonymous]

Welp do not use the M-80! Its a 1/8 stick of dynamite. I gues it would be good to work with "New Bright" as a test.

[Anonymous]

Ooooooo....... Oh dear! (giggle) I guess it would've been fun though. :-P

Annie

[Anonymous]

Hey Annie, One of the New Bright electrics is on eBay CHEAP! The seller only ships to USA but if you are interested I could forward it. If you are not interested, I might get it for parts.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4149&item=5972209199&rd=1

[Anonymous]

Going... Going... GONE! The final bid went higher than I think it's worth. Oh well...