Bachmann Belt Drive?

[Anonymous]

I was just looking at a NIB Bachmann Decapod on eBay and the description stated that it was a flywheel/belt drive. Pardon my ignorance but I was under the impression that belt drives were a thing of the past. I suppose it could be a new engine that has been sitting in the box for an extended period??

Karl

[trolleyboy]

Hi Karl no it is a new engine.When bachman brought out the 2-8-0 in their spectrum line and started the mrr world off in the good plastic steam age they used the flywheel plus a delrin belt drive.From what i understand they did this to lose the ugly gearboxes from earlier steam models that hun down below the loco frames this way you got the proper amount of "air" under the locos.Not to worry they work really well and if one doses go Bachman customer service is usually pretty quick about sending out a replacement part. I've got two of the 2-8-0's both from the first runs and I've had no problems with either/Like you I was concerned when I first heard about this bit of engineering but it does work. Rob

[rrinker]

After seeing pictures in the reviews with the boiler shells off some of these newer locos - this is definitely NOT the same thing as the old Athearn rubber-band "Hi-Fi" drives of the past. I think it's pretty clever how they designed the drive so you don't have the unprototypical and bulky gearbox spoiling the view under the boiler.

--Randy

[Anonymous]

Aha! That clears things up. I assumed (you know what that does) that it was the same technology as the old "rubber band" drives. And upon looking closer, it does indeed make the loco look more prototypical. Thanks, guys.

Karl

[Anonymous]

Is this actually a belt or a chain drive? I've seen delrin drive chains used on O-scale diesels over here - best was a Class 66 (real locos were built by EMD in Canada) which had two motors, drive on all six axles via the delrin chains, and could pull 100-wagon trains on a garden railway - there was a photo in the article of this being done. If this is a chain drive then you shouldn't have any problems - using this as an example of how robust they are!

[Virginian]

It's actually a timing (toothed) belt. The best of both worlds.