HI,
I'm looking for a site that will have vintage Bachman instructions. HO Seeker doesn't have anything but brochure info. for the period I'm researching. Specifically, I'm looking for instructions for the 1975 Bachman 8-wheel drive diecast body EMD. These are the ones that have horizontal body parts, not the vertical ones, and have the pins that hold the trucks in place. Hope somebody knows of something because I haven't found a thing in the internet.
Just a couple of questions, is this an F unit, a GP, or a U36B ? And I'm not sure what you mean by horizontal and vertical body parts.
Mike.
My You Tube
HI, F9A. You remember that Bachman did that verticle frame split during the late 70's and early eighties? Take a look at Ho Seeker Bachman 0-6-0. The diagram shows the verticle split frame. If you remember, or not, the gears for the drive wheel on these were crap and would constantly split in half. You might not have ever seen these. But that is the frame type they went to after the one I'm looking for. Anyway, the one I'm researching has a cast main frame that the motor and dual driveshafts fit in and a top full length metal cover that holds them in place. The trucks each have dual pick-ups and are held in place by a large pin. She's also a 8 wheel drive unit. These were the engines Bachmann made in Hong Kong.
I do old stuff. There are even other earlier varients of this. Can't find instructions for them either.
These are a very nice unit and absolutely easy to clean and maintain. And still running after 40 years.
Thanks for asking.
OK, well, as far as know, and what I have on hand, the vertical split frame started with the early Spectrum name. I have some of those, which have the contact wipers on both trucks, both sides, and I have the "Bachmann Plus", before the Spectrum line, and were used in the "Hawthorne Village Collectible" themed trains, which have pick-ups on both trucks, but one truck will have pick-up on the left, and the other truck will have pick-up on the right, dual drive shafts, with the light board over the top.
So, I'm guessing you have the "Bachmann Plus". Any thing before has the pancake motor, which is part of the rear truck that drives, and the pick-up wires are on the front truck. The "Plus" models were in a silver colored box.
So any early Bachmann collectors can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.
If you determine you have the "Plus" model, I think I have the papers that came with them, and I can send you a copy.
The "Plus" models don't show up in HOseeker.
Mike
Gem(a brass importer) did make a cast brass F9A body and used a Bachmann drive under it. This was in the early 70's. I remember seeing them with the GN Big Sky Blue underframes when you turned them over!
Most of the Bachmann stuff back then was rather forgetable, and the F9A, GP40, and U36B were their main HO diesel models.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
The Gem N scale Bachmann locos I have use a formed sheet brass shell and are rather nice looking models.Noisey as hell till you rework the trucks where the gears rub on the plastic housings.I have F-9's GP-40's and U36-B's.Actually the plastic shells are very nice castings once you the overly thick dip style paint job stripped.
Yes, I know this has nothing to do with the OP's post but they are/were Gem/Bachmann products.
I actually got one of these early Bachmann F9 diesels in mint condition a few years back. Even though it had never been opened, there wasn't any sort of diagram or documentation included. It could be a fluke, but I've never seen exploded diagrams from Bachmann products this early, so it may not even exist.
I have the construction of this thing memorized as well as "Galaxy Quest", so if you need to know how to get into it, then by Grabthar's Hammer I'll help as well as I can.
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A split frame GP 30:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/60801.pdf
I've been doing some more digging around on this topic, and I have learned that the Spectrum line was released in 1988, wich had the split frame, with a small offering of a 44 tonner, and later adding more selections, and the Bachmann Plus line started in 1992, and later was discontinued.
I still believe that anything before the Spectrum, in the 70's, had the combination pancake motor/truck on one end, and the other truck was the electrical pick-up.
Bachmann actually had a good chassis in the early to mid 70's, which they used in the F9A, U36B, and GP40. The frame was metal with a metal top plate to hole everything in, it had a 5-pole motor, and some pretty durable gearing for all wheel drive. http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/72387.aspx
Wow Darth, that is great info. And looking at the thread, the two pins that the OP mentions that hold the trucks in place are visible. This is the F9 that the OP is asking about.
I appreciate the replies. It maybe appears Bachmann didn't supply an instruction sheet for this. Now to be honest, I am not a Bachmann fan. Too many busted ones in my junkbox with no hope for parts other than a virtual printer. However, I do like this particular type. 50 years old and still running. I have had 3 different versions of this particular engine. The cover plate on the oldest was humped in the center and not flat. The motor is not the pancake type, it is mounted mid frame, has 2 drive shafts, 8-wheel drive, solid die cast frame, each truck has dual pick-up, and it has a pin for each truck to hold it in place. It is really easy to clean and disassemble. It does resemble some of the Bachmann N Scale engines for construction. I have pictures, but still no luck posting them.
Did you go to the link that Darth had in his post? You have to copy and paste, but he has pictures. I'm 100% positive that this is your loco. Lets see if I can make it a live link:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/72387.aspx
It should work. It's from Aug. 8, 2006. I would also suggest the Bachmann forums, "Ask the Bach man", on the Bachmann web site.
EDIT: Nope, my link doesn't work either. Copy and paste.