Good evening all. Amidst my constructing and painting buildings, I was struck with an idea while visiting my local hobby shop. They had a new Bachmann 0-6-0 locomotive in GN green and red. I thought, hey, let's take a look. The locomotive was fairly heavy, had "decent" details, and the price was right.
With my brain juices flowing, I wondered, would this be a good progect engine? I did my best to research and did not find much about the inside of this locomotive.
What little information I did find led me to develop the following plan.
Remove the smoke unit and fit an N scale sized decoder in its place. Upgrade the headlight to a LED if needed. Then, I would replace the Vandy tender with the prototypical slope back type. The last step would be adding some details to the locomotive and tender. Things like a more accurate bell and whistle, ect.
So, how does this all sound? My only hesitation is that I cannot find any photos with the shell off. The locomotive is NOT dcc ready, which in itself doesn't scare me, but the fact that so little information is available does. Any photos, advice, or experience would be helpful. Thanks in advance!
JJF
Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing.
Yesterday is History.
Tomorrow is a Mystery.
But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present.
I was able to find this photo from the bachmann website. I think it could be done.
https://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=12223
Just so you know, the Bachmann 0-6-0 is their version of the USRA switcher. Bachmann - USRA 0-6-0 Switcher with Vanderbilt Tender - Standard DC - Great Northern 58 (green, black, Tuscan, graphite) - 160-50709 (walthers.com) GN had none - their last 0-6-0's were the 2 A-11's of 1916, built before the USRA existed. The most numerous class of 0-6-0;s were the 71 A-9's which were ancient tea kettles dating back to 1889.List of Great Northern Railway (U.S.) locomotives - Wikipedia Of course, it's your railroad, you can just say, "In my universe, the GN bought USRA 0-6-0's" Another point of information is that the USRA engines came with the standard USRA small tender, not slope back, Of course you can arm wave that away by saying GN swapped or built new tenders for these locos - many railroads did either that or grossly modified the stock tender as it was not well suited to switching due to a lack of visibilty to the rear. Here's before and after photos of New York Central USRA 0-6-0's (Chicago Junction was purchased by the New York Central System in 1922 and its 14 USRA engines were the entire fleet of the NYC's USRA 0-6-0's) One last point, depending on where you model the GN, did they burn coal or oil - it makes a difference as to whether your tender has a coal bunker or an oil tank, Oh, and I'd hang on to that Vanderbilt tender, you never know what sort of kitbash it might be useful for - if nothing else, you can park it on the deadline in back of the roundhouse (perhaps with weathering to show it's a used tender) after being removed from it's original loco in a tender swap
BEAUSABRE Just so you know, the Bachmann 0-6-0 is their version of the USRA switcher. Bachmann - USRA 0-6-0 Switcher with Vanderbilt Tender - Standard DC - Great Northern 58 (green, black, Tuscan, graphite) - 160-50709 (walthers.com) GN had none - their last 0-6-0's were the 2 A-11's of 1916, built before the USRA existed. The most numerous class of 0-6-0;s were the 71 A-9's which were ancient tea kettles dating back to 1889.List of Great Northern Railway (U.S.) locomotives - Wikipedia Of course, it's your railroad, you can just say, "In my universe, the GN bought USRA 0-6-0's" Another point of information is that the USRA engines came with the standard USRA small tender, not slope back, Of course you can arm wave that away by saying GN swapped or built new tenders for these locos - many railroads did either that or grossly modified the stock tender as it was not well suited to switching due to a lack of visibilty to the rear. Here's before and after photos of New York Central USRA 0-6-0's (Chicago Junction was purchased by the New York Central System in 1922 and its 14 USRA engines were the entire fleet of the NYC's USRA 0-6-0's) One last point, depending on where you model the GN, did they burn coal or oil - it makes a difference as to whether your tender has a coal bunker or an oil tank, Oh, and I'd hang on to that Vanderbilt tender, you never know what sort of kitbash it might be useful for - if nothing else, you can park it on the deadline in back of the roundhouse (perhaps with weathering to show it's a used tender) after being removed from it's original loco in a tender swap
I appreciate all the information. For this progect, I am dispensing with being 100% prototypical. I've learned that for me personally, I don't mind small deviations from reality. Hence my splash at the bottom of my posts! Hint of freelancing!
But again, thank you for the information. I think I will switch to a short haul tender to keep with the URSA standard. Lest we deviate too far from the holy teachings!
Hi there. Sounds like a fun project. There were multiple generations of that engine. Here is one of them:
https://hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionbachmann/bachmanns060usraregulartenderpg2.jpg
The older engines, like the one above, have a rather poor motor. The one I have was quiet but speed control was awful. At the very minimum, try the engine at the hobby shop to see if you have good motor control in DC. If it jump starts, then you know what to expect. DCC will not fix that, and changing the motor will be difficult. Also, there was no power pickup from the tender - I would add that if I were you.
There are other options. The re-tooled Bachmann 2-6-0 is a sweet little engine. My old MDC 0-6-0 (with can motor) runs way better than my old Bachmann 0-6-0. Old Mantuas can be tweaked to run OK, with a new motor. They can be found easily on Ebay. I have a bias towards MDC, but my Mantua 2-6-2 runs fine after I tweaked it (there was too much friction on the axles from the frame).
Simon
An update!
The 0-6-0 arrived in the mail today. It is a sharp locomotive and a fine starting point for some additional details. Under DC power, the locomotive ran extremely well at slow speeds. It was quite suprising how slow it could move being a budget model and all! I have removed the shell and inspected the insides. The engine has two halves of the frame that each conduct electricity to the PCB board. The two halves are seperated by a plastic divider. I see no problem with just cutting the traces on the PCB and installing the decoder over top. Any suggestions are welcome!
Well, a bit of progress has been made.
I picked up a bachmann short haul tender for $17 on eBay. Best I can make out it is from their "collectors series" 2-8-0. It worked out nice because it was already decalled for GN. It even had the water hatch area factory painted red! Talk about a time saver. It's very glossy so I'll probably spray it with some matte coating but other than that it is good to go cosmeticaly. I gave it a thorough cleaning to remove the dust from the coal load as well as from its other nooks and crannies.
I did have to file down the pin that connects the tender to the locomotive. I also did a bit of work on the coupler box so that it accepts a knuckle coupler instead of the horn-hook that came with it.
I'm contemplating adding an led to the tender, but it is sort of tough to eye up. There is very little material to drill through. Any ideas are welcome!
You. Hold also put it on a small mounting bracket. And use magnet wire Which would give you a very small hole to drill. Could always mount it on the back of the tender instead of on the deck too.
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
JDawg Well, a bit of progress has been made. I picked up a bachmann short haul tender for $17 on eBay. Best I can make out it is from their "collectors series" 2-8-0. It worked out nice because it was already decalled for GN. It even had the water hatch area factory painted red! Talk about a time saver. It's very glossy so I'll probably spray it with some matte coating but other than that it is good to go cosmeticaly. I gave it a thorough cleaning to remove the dust from the coal load as well as from its other nooks and crannies. I did have to file down the pin that connects the tender to the locomotive. I also did a bit of work on the coupler box so that it accepts a knuckle coupler instead of the horn-hook that came with it. I'm contemplating adding an led to the tender, but it is sort of tough to eye up. There is very little material to drill through. Any ideas are welcome!
snjroy JDawg Well, a bit of progress has been made. I picked up a bachmann short haul tender for $17 on eBay. Best I can make out it is from their "collectors series" 2-8-0. It worked out nice because it was already decalled for GN. It even had the water hatch area factory painted red! Talk about a time saver. It's very glossy so I'll probably spray it with some matte coating but other than that it is good to go cosmeticaly. I gave it a thorough cleaning to remove the dust from the coal load as well as from its other nooks and crannies. I did have to file down the pin that connects the tender to the locomotive. I also did a bit of work on the coupler box so that it accepts a knuckle coupler instead of the horn-hook that came with it. I'm contemplating adding an led to the tender, but it is sort of tough to eye up. There is very little material to drill through. Any ideas are welcome! Hi there. Sounds like you are having fun! About the tender, from what I can see, Bachmann produced various versions of these. Can you post a picture? Otherwhise, is there presently a rear light on the tender? Is it one of those fake lights that Bachmann made on some of these? Simon
Hi there. Sounds like you are having fun! About the tender, from what I can see, Bachmann produced various versions of these. Can you post a picture? Otherwhise, is there presently a rear light on the tender? Is it one of those fake lights that Bachmann made on some of these?
I am unable to post photos on the forum. I have a link that takes you to a site that show the tender as well as the accompanying locomotive. But I am only interested in information about the tender of course!
https://rockwellantiquesdallas.com/vintage-bachmann-great-northern-ho-scale-train-set/
Ok, well that works. So I guess you want to put an LED into the existing light casing? I assume the existing light is fake, so you will need to drill a hole into the casing. Using a pinvise, I would start by drilling a small hole. That hole needs to be well positioned as it will serve as a guide. Then I would gradually use larger bits to enlarge it until the LED fits in there.
Thanks the the tip. I have already drilled the lens part of the headlight out. I just did a 1/16 pilot and then the final bore. I will be at minimum adding a clear lens to it. It was just black plastic before. The problem is getting wire to the LED. The edge of the light only slightly overlaps the back of the tender. If I had too I could bend the leads of the LED through the bottem of the lamp and then paint them black. I don't know, it would be nice for them to be totally hidden.
JDawg Thanks the the tip. I have already drilled the lens part of the headlight out. I just did a 1/16 pilot and then the final bore. I will be at minimum adding a clear lens to it. It was just black plastic before. The problem is getting wire to the LED. The edge of the light only slightly overlaps the back of the tender. If I had too I could bend the leads of the LED through the bottem of the lamp and then paint them black. I don't know, it would be nice for them to be totally hidden.