Making Your Mechanism Run Like a Swiss Watch (Bachmann)

From Joerg Seiler
Wed, 14 Aug 1996

As promised here is the long awaited "What I've done with my Forney" dissertation.

Brick's lamenting that no one has filled the corridors of the HOn30 Mail Car with Forney talk prompted me to spend a few hours last week to start the project.

First I read the instructions thoroughly which is something I usually leave to last,..... makes projects more interesting!?!.

I have set myself up with a small loop of track on a 57" x 35" arborite covered desktop that I salvaged from a bunch of junk thrown out at work. On this I have an oval of Kato track. I bought this a while back when my father brought me an n-scale Atlas GP38 that he found at a flea market for $5. The motor was burned out. Not wanting to disappoint my father by telling him I was not an N-scaler I bought the track and got the little guy running. To cut an already long story short, I never thought I'd use it for anything more because I was into HOn30 at the time. Now I'll use it for Brick's rail truck!

I use this table top for run-in purposes and as a work table for tinkering with mechanisms, very handy as I can vacuum of the track and clean it thoroughly without having to worry about damaging scenery or missing trouble spots in tunnels. If there's something wrong with a mechanism, it's the mechanism not some track problem or dirty rails.

I started running-in the Bachmann 0-4-0 and like the Plymouth it ran a little rough at first. I noticed a slight wobble as well which didn't please me. I removed the siderods and still noticed the slight wobble. I suggest removal of the siderods for run-in on this mechanism so all other small problems can be cleared up before messing with the valve gear.

I let it run at around 5-6 volts for a few hours and noticed there were no problems with excessive current draw. I use a laboratory power supply providing me with pure DC and a maximum current control. That's really handy in the event there is a short, the current limiting saves the motors from damage. I strongly suggest a current meter of some sort to alert you to problems. Mine draws less than 100ma.

As the mechanism runs in it will loosen up and start to run faster. When this happens I reduce the voltage to keep the speed down and avert any destructive heat damage. I always run any mechanisms as slow as they will go reliably when I run them in, and continually reduce the voltage as they become smoother running. Usually this speed is around 40 scale mph to start and slows down to about 15-20 scale mph. That is without pulse. I do all of this over a several hours on a weekend or weekday evenings. I set the table and power supply up in the living room so I can keep an eye on the patient while it is running. This way I can work/read/relax/model at the same time. I will usually not take a mechanism apart until it has had a good 10-15hrs run-in time, unless there is something seriously wrong with it.

I added a little bit of grease to the worm and gear after the first few hours. I use Labelle #106 as it is the best grease I have found for plastics. I also noticed on the Bachmann mechanisms that the bearings in the motors become tight after prolonged running. I put a *tiny* drop of Remington Rem-Oil on each motor bearing. This seems to do the trick and has worked for both the Plymouth and the Forney Bachmann mechanisms. The speed has reduced dramatically now and the mechanism is running a lot smoother than at first . It does still have that wobble and if I reduce the voltage even further there is a distinct bind every revolution. Time to take the mechanism apart and find the real problem.

To take this one apart all the wheels have to be pulled off. Take out the little screw that holds the wheel pickups on, this also holds the metal plate to the body. I took all the gears and cleaned them completely. I took all the little bits out of the gear teeth by running the end of a toothpick through them. I found no problems with the nylon gears. I also cleaned all the wheels. These have the backsides greased at the factory so they run smoothly against the metal chassis plates. Again I found no problems with these wheels. You can chuck these in a dremel tool by their axle and rotate them slowly to check roundness. There should be no wobble and there wasn't. So where is the problem? The problem lay with the little metal side plates. The holes had burrs on them and the plates themselves were not quite flat. These plates are punched from sheet metal and therefore have a sharp pronounced burr on one side. I deburred the holes with a large drill bit twirled with my fingers. Always use a drill at least twice the diameter of the hole you are deburring, otherwise the drill will catch and cause more burrs. Then I lightly ran a file across both sides of the plates to make sure they were absolutely flat.

Now I reassembled everything and tested each gear as I put it in for smooth and easy rotation. I attached the side plates, pickups, and then the wheels, gauged them and again tested for ease of rotation. I did not replace the grease behind the wheels as there seemed to be no need for it after the plates were smooth and flat. Any grease here will only aid in the dust collecting process and that's not something we intend to do on purpose. The plates are a copper colour after the filing and will have to be blacked again using some paint or a black felt marker. At this point everything should be relatively loose and easy to turn with no binding. It is time to mount the motor. I had to add no shims to the motor as the mesh with the gear was acceptable. Too much space between the worm and the gear make it run noisy and too little will show up any imperfections in the worm and gear causing binding, and due to the extra stress on the motor, overheating and burnout. To get the optimum adjustment I will hold the chassis in my hand while it is running and adjust motor up and down until the I get the quietest sound. This is the optimum mesh for the mechanism. Then shim to keep the motor in this position.

I then ran the mechanism slowly with out adding any grease. Watching to make sure I put everything together right. Then I add a little grease. I add the grease again by holding the running mechanism in my hand and slowly adding the grease to the running worm gear. This will automatically pull the grease into the gear train without getting it all over the chassis. Remember the only place grease does any good is between moving parts, not all around them.

Next come the siderods. Again deburr the holes as these pieces are also punched. Make sure the wheels are properly quartered. Attach the connecting rod between the wheels only, one side at a time and test run to check for binding, then the second side and run and check again. An hour or two of running with the siderods on will not hurt. Then reassemble the cylinder assembly with the remaining rods. Don't tighten the screws too much here as a little slop is what's needed for this type of mechanism to run well. Sometimes I will get a little squeak out of the valve gear on my HO locos and will add the tiniest bit of Remington oil only if I have to. Normally I will avoid adding oil to these areas as this is also a dust and lint collector.

I found on my mechanism that the rod end at the crosshead hits the screw on the driver every time it came around. This caused a bit of bumping along the track. I found that the cylinder assembly rotates a little bit on the single screw holding it on. I twisted the assembly a little bit and found a spot where the rod just clears the screw. I suppose if this doesn't work you can file a bit off the head of the screws. Leave enough there so you can still turn it with the screwdriver.

Mine runs very smoothly now for hours on end at about 10 scale mph with out pulse power. At this point add some cars with a little bit of weight and let the little fella do some work. I used my newly built flat car with the Plymouth on it!

I will later on remove the plastic cylinder assembly and attempt to replace it with a scratch built one out of brass. This will eliminate the bulky look and hopefully produce a less finicky mechanism.

This concludes the first portion of my report and hopefully helps all of you tune your "Swiss watches". Next time, assembling the basic brass superstructure of the Forney and mounting on the chassis.

Please, all criticism, good or bad, is welcome. Ask questions if you don't understand something. It can only make me write better articles in the future.

Adios, Aufwiedersehen, Adieu, and happy modeling till next time

Joerg Seiler

HOn30 Co-op-Forney Kit-Pt. 1a

From John S.
Sun, 18 Aug 1996

Here's my two cents on what I've done with Brick's Forney kit so far....

I assembled the cab and tender pretty much 'stock' - fitting in the tender was a bit tricky... next time I might think about soldering the roof on before the tender. I not sure if that makes any difference or not, but at one point I was thinking that doing it in that order would make the cab a bit more rigid sooner and make adding the tender a little bit easier. As I think about it know I'm not sure...

I started with the running boards that came with the kit, but decided I didn't like the way they fit on the bachman's stock ones ( too high), and took them off. I'm now using a pair of extra running boards from the diesel kit (they're wider), and bits of shim brass to help hold them to the cab.

Instead of the 0-4-0 chassis, I used a docksider one because it has a nice tab at the back. I soldered a brass bar across the inside of the cab about even with the cab doors, and will drill and tap it for 00-90 screws to hold the chassis to the cab.

I thought about turning a new boiler from tube, but decided to use the bachmann 0-4-0 boiler anyway. I ground it down a bit on the inside back to give a bit of extra clearance for the motor. I'm not going to use the plastic part of the boiler but am going to just butt the cast boiler up against the cab front and fill in the gaps with putty. I made a support for the front of the running boards from bits of sheet brass and sq stock ground down into small Uchannel and drilled for the screw that holds the boiler to the chassis. The new bachmann chassis isn't all metal so as long as you're carefull about what touches what, you shouldn't have shorts.

Later, I'm say more when I get more done ( I've done with the cab and tender, rear truck and am working on those running boards and the boiler...

John Sh.

Brick's Forney (getting started)

From Kathleen Breidenbach
Tue, 26 Aug 1997

Since I just got started less than a year ago myself, I think I can answer this.

I built my first Brick's kit (the forney, probably not the best one to start with) a few months ago. It came out surprisingly well except: in cutting off one of the domes for the new dome, I took a nick out of the firebox (I think it's the firebox, I'm not real good at locomotive parts yet)

I should have soldered instead of CA'ing. I screwed up one side of the tender and had to re-glue and de-glue and re-glue and deglue and I even got my finger stuck to it. (Had to de-glue to get the fingerprint off!) In fact thanks to the advice and help of the guys in the group, I've nearly finished a home-made resistance soldering unit to do my next two kits from Brick.

The visor on one side of the cab does not have a clean bend because I bent it against a cutting mat, which gave under the pressure instead of producing a clean bend. Brick recommends, I think, platypus pliers or something like that. I didn't even try to find them (no doubt I should have)

the tender is crooked, but only if you look at it directly from above.

the most difficult thing for me was adding the rear wheelset under the tender, probably because I used a Kadee [Micro Trains] set with truck-mounted coupler. I stuffed the tender with coils of lead used for tying fishing flies. (As I said I was new to this, but hey, it worked. It's nice and heavy and runs well.)

So it's not perfect. I used only Brick's own instructions in building it. Brick's instructions are very clear and I like that he includes both a drawing AND a photograph. You can see what it's supposed to look like.

I had, however, read thoroughly Brick's excellent book on modelling in narrow gauge. Buy it or, as I did, get it from the local library. It's really super for beginners and experts alike. In fact, of all the books on general model railroading I'd read, I found it the most helpful and the least intimidating.

I think you should just go for it. This was my very first kit other than a little plastic house and freight station. If I couls do it--more or less well--anybody can!

Kathleen

A few more Bachmann Hints

From Keith Wandry
Wed, 18 Sep 1996

Here's my experience with improving the Bachmann 0-4-0 running characteristics. Hope this helps!

My Bachmann 0-4-0 shifter didn't run so well when I first got it - rather sporadic - would run okay for a ways and then stall, etc... I took it completely apart - which is not that big of a deal as they don't have many parts.

First, I took the motor and hooked some alligator clips up to it and ran some power to it to see how it functioned. It did not run smooth and upon further examintaion, I found that one of the motor magnets had come unglued at one end and was rubbing against the armature. I glued it carefully back in place with some ACC and the motor then ran quite smoothly.

Next, I took the chasis with just the drivers attached and rolled it down the track some and then along my fingers to see if there was any problem with the gears. I noticeda slight bind in the gears once every so often so I examined things closer and found a small bit of plastic that was occassionally getting caught in the gears. I removed that with an exacto knife and things ran smooth.

I reassembled the unit after giving it a little oil and grease, but I did not put the side-rods on. I tested the loco on a loop of track and it ran 100% better than before - as smooth as I've ever seen a Bachmann n-guage run before.

Lastly - I added the side-rods back onto the loco and sure enough, it ran sporadic again. I took the unit apart and removed the motor so I could rotate the drivers with the side-rods by hand. I decided that it was binding on both side-rods so I took them off and ground out the screw holes in the side-rods a little larger so that there would be a little more play in them. For this I used a rat tail file.

I then reassembled the unit and the loco ran, to use someone else's term, "like a watch".

Working on the loco is very simple - there's not many parts and if you take it in sections - motor, gearing, drivers, side-rods - and get each operating smoothly, the whole thing should run smoothly when the thing is put back together.

And I'll tell you one other thing - when you get your loco running like this - it gets you even more excited about the rest of the railroad!

Good luck to all!

Keith

Shay Superstructures on Diesel Locomotives

From Keith Pashina
Thu, 06 Feb 1997 
>From my self-introduction:

> ...but my best power seems to be "fake" shays that are metal
> superstructures that
> fit over N-scale diesels - you can run double headers very easily....

Cal wrote: ...

>Can you tell us what N gauge diesels and what the mfg of the "fake" shay
>that fits the N gauge diesel, thanks

>cal
The "fake" shays are basically scratchbuilt superstructures that drop onto the N-gauge diesel mechanism. These came about because I had worn out the gearing of my Joe Works shays at shopping mall shows, where I'd typically run each locomotive for 4 - 6 hours a day on a club display layout. I was looking for an inexpensive locomotive that was designed to run and run. The diesel mechanisms run so well that they now form the bulk of my motive power. In the context of my layout, when the shay is running through the rockwork, trees and such, it just seems to look right, and the lack of moving gearing and drive shafts doesn't bother me.

I have used Life-Like SD18 and FA-2 mechanisms, because once you pull off the body shell and weights, the motor and gear towers don't take up much space. I have modified a Rapido S-2 mechanism, but that's the hard way to do it, because you have to cut away so much of the one-piece metal body shell and frame.

The shay superstructures are scratchbuilt of from masters I made and cast, using the centrifugal casting methods published by Bob Brown and Bill Coffey in the Gazette several years ago. I use a low-temperature metal alloy, and cast in RTV rubber molds. The finished locomotive is really quite heavy, and I can pull 5 and 6 car trains (most of my cars are also cast in metal) up 6% grades. I file off the sideframes and glue on shay truck sideframes; the wide body and its overhang help conceal the lack of any functioning gearing.

Precision Scale parts

From Mark Rollins
Wed, 08 Oct 1997

I have compiled a list of Precision Scale parts (mostly Shay, other NG interest), including price (if not listed in Walther$) and availability; (N/A = not available, at least currently).

I'm sure you'll agree that it would be great if PS re-released some of the Shay kits. Note that there will be an update to this, as although the Casey Jones Railbus kit is not available, some (all?) of the parts are.

Precision Scale
P.O. Box 288
Stevensville, MT 59870
406-777-5071
FAX 406-777-5074
VISA & MC
Can also order thru Train & Trooper

HO-3224      air tank 8' 6" Shay
HO-31836     bell W. Maryland Shay
HO-31835     blower pipe W. Maryland Shay
HO-3102      blow-off cock valve, Shay
HO-3223      box, tool, Shay
HO-3221      box, sand, rear, Shay
HO-31834     box, sand, rear, W. Maryland Shay
HO-31921     box, sand, rear, Westside #14 Shay
HO-3101      brake cylinder, steam jamb, Shay
HO-3233      brake cylinder, Westside Shay
HO-3001      brake beam w/shoes, Shay
HO-3002      brake beam w/shoes, HOn3 Shay
HO-3094      brake controls steam/air, Shay
HO-3130      check valve, flanged packing gland, Shay
HO-3412      check valve, Westside, Shay
HO-31851     check valve, W. Maryland Shay
HO-31931     check valve, boiler, Westside #12 Shay
HO-31442     check valve, Westside #14 Shay
HO-3132      coupler, link & pin, Shay
HO-31860     deck & boiler braces, W. Maryland Shay
HO-31897     engine, 2-cylinder, Class A Shay (attn. Brick Price!!)
HO-3250      engine cylinders, 12" X 15", Shay (N/A)
HO-31852     engine cylinder heads, Pacific Shay
HO-31889     engine crankshaft, W. Maryland Shay
HO-31853     engine crosshead guides, W. Maryland Shay
HO-31847     firebox, W. Maryland Shay
HO-31848     firebox ashpan doors, W. Maryland Shay
HO-3222      hatch, water, Shay
HO-31922     hatch, oil, Shay
HO-3234      hatch, roof, Shay
HO-31920     headlight, Westside #12 Shay
HO-31919     headlight, Westside #14 Shay
HO-3122      headlight, bracket, back-up Westside Shay
HO-3448      journal box lineshaft retainer, Shay
HO-3286      lubricator, Manzell, Shay
HO-31842     pilot beam, front, WM Shay
HO-31843     pilot beam, rear, WM Shay
HO-3241      pilot beam, front & rear, Westside HO/HOn3 Shay (N/A)
HO-31854     pilot beam braces , WM Shay
HO-31846     plumbing, engine oil for W. Maryland Shay
HO-3129      plumbing, steam, packing gland, Shay
HO-31858     plumbing, steam, lower steam pipe, WM Shay
HO-31861     plumbing, upper steam line bracket, WM Shay
HO-31845     plumbing, steam, exhaust pipe, WM Shay
HO-31850     pop valves on plumbing, WM Shay
HO-31859     power reverse bracket, WM Shay
HO-3285      reverse lever, 50-70 ton Shay
HO-31857     sander valves, W. Maryland Shay
HO-3125      steps, Shay
HO-3656      tender, etched brass, Shay (N/A)
HO-3284      turret, 4-valve, steam, 50-70 ton Shay
HO-10618     HO 20 ton wood Shay kit (N/A)
HOn3-10620   HOn3 20 ton wood Shay kit (N/A)
HO-10622     HO 20 ton wood/coal Shay kit (N/A)
HOn3-10624   HOn3 20 ton wood/coal Shay kit (N/A)
HO-10626     HO 22 ton oil Shay kit (N/A)
HOn3-10628   HOn3 22 ton oil Shay kit  (N/A)
HO-10630     HO 22 ton wood Shay kit (N/A)
HOn3-10632   HOn3 22 ton wood Shay kit (N/A)
PK-10028     HOn3 Mich-Cal Shay kit (N/A)
PSHO-3719    cab interior detail kit, Class B Shay      $34.00
PSHO-3786    cab interior detail kit, wood/coal burning Climax $22.75
PSHO-3787    cab interior detail kit, oil-burning Climax     $28.50
3732         cab interior details, #7 Westside Shay (N/A)
3733         superstructure details, #7 Westside Shay (N/A)
3734         cab interior details, #12 Westside Shay (N/A)
3735         superstructure details, #12 Westside Shay (N/A)
3736         cab interior details, #15 Westside Shay (N/A)
3737         superstructure details, #15 Westside Shay (N/A)
3753         cab interior details, 50-70 ton oil Shay (N/A)
3754         cab interior details, 18-20 ton wood/coal Shay (N/A)
3755         cab interior details, 26 ton wood HOn3 3-cyl Shay (N/A)
3756         cab/superstructure details, 26 t wood HOn3 3-cyl Shay (N/A)
3762         cab interior details, 24 t wood HOn3 2-cyl Shay (N/A)
3763         cab/superstructure details, 24 t wood HOn3 2-cyl Shay (N/A)
3800         non-powered Casey Jones Railbus (N/A)
PK-10034     HOn3 railbus kit (N/A)
HO-10900      inspection car, powered     $67.50 (kind of an open Fordtouring sedan from the 1920s)
HO-10910      inspection car, static (N/A)

A Pioneer 4-2-0

From Mark Rollins
Wed, 08 Oct 1997

This is a neat little 4-2-0 HOn3 narrow gauge, could probably be "trimmed to fit" HOn30. Note, since the boiler is not available, it's a pain in the butt, but anyone can scratchbuild a functional boiler. If anyone decides to, I've got an HO scale schematic of the boiler. 

HO-31365     pilot, Pioneer HOn3    $5.75
HO-31866     lead trucks, Pioneer HOn3    $4.50
HO-31871     frame, tender, brass, Pioneer HOn3    $2.50
HO-31872     frame, ,tender, plastic, Pioneer HOn3     $1.50
HO-31873     end beam, brass, Pioneer HOn3    $2.50
HO-31874     end beam, plastic, Pioneer HOn3     $1.50
HO-31863     headlight, Pioneer HOn3     $2.50
HO-31758     cylinders, Pioneer HOn3    $3.00
HO-31867     boiler, Pioneer HOn3 (N/A)
HO-31865     cab, Pioneer HOn3    $4.50
HO-31868     drivers, Pioneer HOn3     $4.50
HO-31869     delrin driver centers, Pioneer HOn3     $2.75 pkg. 4
HO-31864     bell, Pioneer HOn3    $1.50
HO-31870     journals, tender, Pioneer HOn3      $1.50
HO-31912     tender front deck, Pioneer HOn3      $3.00
HO-31776     pilot deck, brass, Pioneer HOn3      $3.50
HO-31777     pilot deck, plastic, Pioneer HOn3     $1.75

HOn3 railbus kit

From Mark Rollins
Fri, 10 Oct 1997

Precision Scale has the following "Casey Jones" railbus available, on a part-by part basis. There is no discount (kit price) for buying all the parts at once.

Also available at Train & Trooper. 

HO-3801       roof, Casey Jones Railbus HOn3     $3.50
HO-3802       sides, L & R, Casey Jones Railbus     $4.50
HO-3803       front & rear ends, Casey Jones Railbus     $3.50
HO-3804       doors, pair, Casey Jones Railbus      $2.25
HO-3805       end doors, pair , Casey Jones Railbus       $2.25
HO-3806       roof braces, Casey Jones Railbus        $1.75
HO-3807       rear step/stirrups, Casey Jones Railbus      $2.00
HO-3808       cowl, Casey Jones Railbus     $2.25
HO-3810       radiator, Casey Jones Railbus     $2.25
HO-3811       hood, Casey Jones Railbus      $2.50
HO-3812       steering wheel, Casey Jones Railbus       $1.75
HO-3813       brake lever, Casey Jones Railbus      $2.25
HO-3814       floor, Casey Jones Railbus       $2.00
HO-3816       driver's seat, Casey Jones Railbus        $2.00
HO-3817       gas tank, Casey Jones Railbus        $1.75
HO-3818       Delco(tm) battery, Casey Jones Railbus         $1.50
HO-3819       Cadillac© engine, Casey Jones Railbus          $5.50
HO-3820       pilot, Casey Jones Railbus       $2.25
HO-3821       passenger seats, Casey Jones Railbus      $2.50
HO-3823       lead truck, less wheels, Casey Jones Railbus      $4.00
HO-3824       lead truck wheels/axles, Casey Jones Railbus        $2.25
HO-3825       rear wheel pedestal L & R, Casey Jones Railbus
$2.75
HO-3826       rear wheels/axle, Casey Jones Railbus       $2.00
HO-3827       drive shaft, Casey Jones Railbus       $1.50
HO-3828       differential, Casey Jones Railbus         $2.75
HO-3829       chain & sprockets, Casey Jones Railbus       $3.50
HO-3830       brake shoes/rods, Casey Jones Railbus         $2.25
HO-3831       klaxon horn, Casey Jones Railbus       $2.00
HO-3832       headlights, Casey Jones Railbus         $1.75
HO-3833       broom & holder, Casey Jones Railbus         $1.75
Update:
I accidentally left out parts: 
HO-3822       rear seat $2.00
HO-3809       frame $2.00 (obviously very important!)
Now, if anyone wants to do me a favor...

Precisin Scale doesn't have directions for the kit (it was never relased, the parts fit a bit roughly, it's a craftsman kit, not a shake-the-box). What I wuld like is if someone has a copy of "The Rainbow Route" by Sloan(e). Please contact me if you could Xerox pictures of this railbus in the book, nd send me a copy.

Update:
Just got my order from Train & Trooper. Total price under $ 70; $ 7.25 less if you don't need the Buick engine and broom.

If you remember this was all the parts from Precision Scale to make a HOn3 /30 Casey Jones railbus. Besides the parts listcd earlier, you will need a small motor and a small NWSL gearbox, part 207-6.

Mark Rollins

Bachman 6-wheeler project

From Mark Rollins
Wed, 09 Oct 1996

Just started a small, easy-to-do project to construct a free-lance HOn30 industrial loco. Will post summary and photos on WWW (http://www.mrollins.com/rail.html) page when done. I've left out some detail, like lubeing mechanism and source of other detail pieces.

  1. start with Bachman 6-wheel N gauge industrial loco
  2. sand/trip/scrape off most N detail, such as front railings, light and coupler lift bars
  3. build cab from Chris Cardinale's HOn30 Forney cab kit (available @ Train & Trooper), modify to fit Bachman (does not need coal bunker!)
  4. add other details, such as bell, muffler, air tank, horn, new headlight, railings, etc.
  5. install constant light circuit
  6. add couplers of choice and paint
FYI, I'm almost done with #4 right now, and it's only taken about 3 man-hours.

Regauging a MDC Shay

From Tobias Giles
Tue, 19 Aug 1997
>I am interested to learn if anyone has modified an MDC (Roundhouse)
>2-truck, 3 foot Shay to run on HOn30" gauge.
>
>If so, I would be very interested in any specific modifications that
>need to be performed to make this work.  I have researched this and it
>appears that the conversion is possible.
Although I am upscaling the MDC HOn3 shay into a Sn3 shay (using a V&T conversion kit), down-gauging to 9mm *might* be a problem (and I'll check tonight). The housing, for the inner (and real) drive shaft & worm gear and truck axles & gears, seems to be about 9 or 10mm wide. If it is this wide, then it going to be tuff to reduce the width (not much material there). It's also made of Delrin.

There is also the metal electrical pickup plate that goes between the wheels and the side of (this) housing which adds to the total "thickness" of things between the wheels. Of course, the electrical contact plate could be redesigned and eliminated.

Later info as it becomes available.

Regards,
Tobias

Update:

Greetings gang,

I went home for lunch and took a few measurements. I'll have to correct myself. Technically, it's not a problem to narrow the "power truck housing(s)". The outer housing dimension is only 8.3 mm wide with the outer walls a thick 1.4 mm. The flanges roughly measured to .8 mm (add a little more for smooth running on curves), so by sanding down a little over .5 mm from each side, you could squeeze in the wheels. You would still have to forgo the kit-provided electrical pick-up plate, but from what I have read and seen, some (re-)work is required anyway.

I presume you know that this "narrow gauge" shay is just the standard gauge MDC shay with smaller trucks? This kit shay is a fair size beast even for standard gauge (I have the 3 truck NG version) and when place over or near a 3ft gauge track, it's just down right BIG. I found the visual difference laughable for 3ft. At the time, a friend had leant me his 2 cylinder, 2 truck brass shay (joe works?). It "looked" right for the gauge. The MDC was a whale. Period.

Although visual appeal is subjective (and to each his/her own !), you may have a center of gravity problem. The boiler is solid metal and you may not know for certain until you build it. If you do get it to work, please tell me (and the list) about it.

On this project, I will have to wish you "best of luck".

Cheers,
Tobias

Update:

>I did regauge one HO Shay to Sn3.  Tobias, I think this would be easier than
>starting with the HOn3 model.  You do have to cut off part of the "ears" on
>either side of the main truck center piece that holds the gears.  I seem to
>remember that for HOn3, the "ears" would have to be completely gone, so HOn30
>may be a problem.
>
>Dave Heine
You are correct in remembering the "ears" (for the rest of you on the list, these are stand-off spacers that hold the truck frames out to the correct spacing depending upon the gauge) for the HOn3 are completely gone. As per the instructions from V&T, one needs to remove 1/32 (or 1/16? can't remember now) from the standard gauge housing spacers. Actually, according to the V&T kit instructions, one needs to start with a standard gauge kit. In my case, I order two power truck housings and a standard gauge frame (all of about $14.00) to bring my original NG shay kit back to a standard gauge kit. 
>Brian
>
>I am currently building (the project that lasts forever) somewhat slowly the
>MDC shay as an Sn2 model.   It would be estremely difficult to modify this
>model to HOn30 as the truck gear box casting which delivers power to the
>axles is too wide to allow reducing the gap between the wheels.
Humm, if Brian is talking about the vertical gear assembly (and it's housing) that drops down thru the cab floor, he may have a point. But I think everybody on the list now knows this shay might (again, to each his / her own) be too big for this project and we're talking trival now. . . .

Cheers,
Tobias

MDC and Keystone Shay comments

From rec.models.railroad 

Article: 7705 of rec.models.railroad
Path: sdcc12!network.ucsd.edu!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!utnut!wave.scar!manitou.astro!harper
From: harper@manitou.utoronto.ca (John Harper)
Newsgroups: rec.models.railroad
Subject: Re: HO Shay kit questions
Message-ID: 
Date: 24 Jan 94 17:25:49 GMT
References: <2hf430$jg5@uudell.us.dell.com>
Sender: usenet@wave.scar.utoronto.ca
Organization: Dept. of Astronomy, U of Toronto, Scarborough Campus
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In-Reply-To: bills@dellgate.us.dell.com's message of 17 Jan 1994 22:39:28 GMT
Originator: harper@manitou.astro.utoronto.ca
Nntp-Posting-Host: manitou.astro.utoronto.ca

(Apparently this never made it out from my site)

In article <2hf430$jg5@uudell.us.dell.com> bills@dellgate.us.dell.com (Bill Smotrilla) writes:

>Has anyone had any experience with either the Keystone or the
>Caboose Industries HO Shay locomotive kits?  What is the quality
>like, how do they run, etc?  Also, is the Caboose industries kit
>the same one that used to be put out by Model Die Casting?  I'm 
>interested in a powered model, not static display.  I'm also curious 
>as to how tight a curve they can negotiate, how they handle grades,
>and
>any gotcha's to look out for with either of these kits.  Can anyone
>out there help with these questions?
>Bill Smotrilla    bills@dellgate.us.dell.com
and
>I made an error in my previous post on this topic.  My questions
>referred to a kit by Caboose Industries.  I meant to say Roundhouse
>Products instead.  Sorry if I caused any confusion.  Bill Smotrilla
>bills@dellgate.us.dell.com

I have built both the MDC Class C Shay (70 ton three truck) and the
repowered Keystone Class B shay (20 ton, two truck). Both are somewhat
of a challenge to get running well, and how well they run depends on
how much effort is made. Mine run very well, I have heard of others
that don't.

MDC
(Roundhouse and MDC seem to be the same company. Can anyone else
clarify the exact situation?).

For the MDC get the NWSL gear upgrade (replaces some plastic gears
with brass, and also provides slant cut gears) and also the universal
shaft upgrade (which gives you much smaller U-joints).

The quality of some parts is somewhat poor, I should have replaced the
plastic air-compressor with a brass casting. I added a bunch of other
detail, so it still looks pretty good.

The kit itself is relatively straightforward. I did find a number of
things that needed attention (also, there was a pair of articles in
RMC a couple of years back about getting the mechanics of the
two-truck kit working. I used those ideas; I can find the exact
references if anyone is interested.)


1) The spring metal wiper contacts from truck to frame can't be made
to work reliably. Replace them with wire couplings, and run the wire
in a loop around the truck so it has enough give to allow the truck
free motion.

2) I replaced the motor with a Sagami, and got 1 flywheel on the end
(details here depend on which MDC kit you're interested in).

3) Any misalignment of motor shaft and gear shaft will cause binding
and poor running. Use a pair of sockets with the short Cardan shaft
between to couple the motor shaft to the gear tower.

4) Trim the gears off the wheel face on one wheelset in each truck.
It's way too hard to get everything aligned properly with all gears
present. 

5) Check everything for flash, clean all gear teeth.

6) test run each truck separately with the line shaft in place (but
not the actual model drive worm shaft). You should be able to push the
truck lightly and have the line shaft rotate. Check the plastic
snap-on shaft covers and make sure they aren't too tight. The
line-shaft is the hardest thing to get right. Too tight and it will
bind, too lose and it will jump gear teeth.

7) Use enough thrust washers to take up the play when you put in the
worm shaft.

Keystone 
For the Keystone, NWSL makes a power kit (which cost more than the
model itself: this gives you a small Sagami can motor (about the size
of the end joint on your little finger), new wheel sets, worm gears,
and line shafts, gear tower etc, plus a good set of instructions). I
used the left-over parts in a scratch-built dummy shay of identical
design.

The Keystone is the harder kit to make. It consists of white metal
castings which they suggest you glue together. I drilled 0.02 holes
and used wire pins with ACC to ensure the cab will not fall apart.

You cannot repower a built model, so get it altogether before you
start. There are mods. to be made to the kit, such as digging a hole
in the frame for the gear tower, drilling and tapping some holes for
ball joints etc.

The quality of some of the parts is low. I had to chuck and turn down
the smokestack to make it round. Some other parts are too weak for a
working model, such as the cab steps. I replaced those too.

The trucks are tricky. The NWSL kit provides beautiful line shafts
with brass gears, and wheel sets with one gear set cut down to make
life easier. I would not glue the shaft covers on (since I did not
believe I would get it right first time, and once on you are pretty
much committed to things). I used a loop of 30 gauge soft brass wire
around the line-shaft to hold it in place. I tested this for smooth
running, then glued the covers in (which now have great clearance and
will not cause binding).
 
I also left the truck "flexible": when screwing the side frames to the
cross-member I did not tighten the screw all the way (I think the kit
wanted me to glue this too).

Much of the same procedure for the MDC can be used here.


In addition to the above, both my kits have scratch-built working Shay
engines, with moving rods etc. (not just the piston rods). They look
very nice (but as might be expected, are noisy: so were the real ones).

As for radii: both of mine will negotiate 18". I modified the MDC so
the tender ran closer to the rest of the engine (the default spacing
looks way too big). This requires care with the line shaft sleeves etc
to avoid binding on the inside of a turn, or disconnecting on the
outside. 

Since I don't have a layout :-( I can't say about grades, but both are
quite heavy models for their size (which BTW is only about 3 inches
long for the Keystone) so I expect they will do ok. I doubt they will
pull 30 boxcars or loaded hoppers up a grade.

Hope this helps.
John
-----------------------------

John Harper    "There's someone in my head, but it's not me" -- Pink Floyd
Dept. of Astronomy, U. of Toronto, Scarborough Campus
harper@manitou.astro.utoronto.ca

(Updated 12-Jun-2000) More information here: http://www.mrollins.com/keyshay.html
(Updated 24-Oct-2004) More information here: http://www.datamasta.co.nz/hon30/nwsl_keystone.htm

EASY/Cheap Loco Project!

From Keith Wandry, keith@swdc.stratus.com
Wed, 13 Jan 1999 17:13:57

This picture show the shell as it looks after the side-skirts have been shortened and the paint wire-brushed off. For comarison, the engine behind it is my version of the Hayden/Frary Minitrix Fairbanks-Morse conversion. As you can see, they look great together.

Well, I had a few hours free time the other day and ran across the Life-Like SW1200 Switcher I had bought several months ago. I also found the "Mavis" deisel locomotive I had purchased from the Thomas The Tank Engine die-cast collection. Many months ago, Mr. Bauers mentioned this loco in one of his postings. I saw them several days later and bought a couple. For those who haven't seen them, they are PERFECT for using as a conversion. They are very similar in size to the brass kits being offered. The body shell is cast metal and provides great weight. A brief summary of what was done is as follows:

  1. Dissect the Mavis locomotive.
  2. There are 4 mounting posts inside the shell. I used a Dremel to cut into the base of each of these where they met the shell. I then used a pair of pliers to break away the posts. After this, I used a different Dremel bit to grind down the rest of the posts.
  3. The sides of the locomotive shell extend down and and actually look like skirts. You could leave them that way and have an interesting locomotive, however, I used a cutting disk to raise them up so I could see the trucks. I filed these cuts and sanded them smooth.
  4. Strip the paint from the shell if desired - I used a wire wheel on the Dremel...
  5. Remove the cab from the SW1200. Leave the hood on the frame.
  6. File down the stacks on the hood, the headlight fixture, and the handrails on the sides of the hood. (I did this with the Dremel).
  7. That's basically it, folks! The shell fits firmly onto the hood and the thing runs like a watch!!!

I did forget to mention removing the plastic face, but that's your option. I left the end sills with the couplers on the frame for now, but will be cutting them off and rebuilding them. I am also coming up with a radiator to cover the hole where the face was and adding a smoke jack, some headlights, and other miscellaneous details. This is a great and very easy conversion with just a Dremel tool and a few bits. I will try and finish it up this next week and then will post an image.

As for the time spent on this? It took a little over an hour!
I also purchased some other locos from the series and am looking at using them on som esteam loco chassis.
Another project is to cut a Mavis down and use it on a Kato Pocket Line chassis.
If you haven't got motive power - this is a cheap and extremely easy project.
Give it a try!

Any questions - feel free to ask!

keith

Update:

From: TOM, tom760@funtv.com
Subject: Picture of Mavis and Friends
Tue, 19 Jan 1999 18:10:42

Mavis is here:
http://www.thomasthetank.com/ertl/4001.html
No pictures, but pretty good prices.
http://www.waldenhobbies.com/

TOM

More Mavis

From Charles Hansen
16 Jul 2004


The body on all my critters is a simple press fit and this shows how I build up the chassis with styrene strip for this.


I believe I used a winterization hatch for the front of the hood, with the radiator screen in place. It was a bit higher and wider than the Mavis hood, so I used putty to bulk out the existing "corrugation" on Mavis.


I like the CN style exhaust, although it's no doubt overblown for a small critter like this. There's a bit of chain laying on the walkway. Cab steps were added. I didn't bother grinding off the cast-on grabs and replacing them with wire. I suppose I should add a piece of thread going to the cab as a bell-pull.


The headlights are on the large side and I may replace them at some point. I forget who makes the footboards, but I like them and used them on most if not all of my critter conversions.


There's no justification for the large tanks on the right side, but I thought they helped funkify the engine.

Charles

Tweaking Performance of a Bachman 0-6-0/Chivers 2-6-2

From Paul Brozowski, paulb@jazz.moneng.mei.com
15 June 2000

I recently purchased a Bachman 0-6-0 for use in the Chivers 2-6-2 Prarie. It ran poorly in reverse just as others have experienced. The good news is that I was able to get it to run extremely well!

1. One part of the side rod mechanism was hitting another of the stationary parts. I was able to adjust the mechanism with a needle nose pliers to prevent this from happening. I do not know the correct terms for the parts; the part I adjusted is attached to the rear driver and sits furthest "outside". By slightly pinching and re-shaping it 


(from   "__" to "__   "
          /        |
         /_        |_
I was able to reduce the distance the part traveled in the direction required. This improved the performance only by a little bit. (Still confused? email me and I'll do my best to draw an ascii diagram to help locate the exact part)

2. The greatest performance improvement was found by performing the following.
In my unit the worm gear of the motor was pushing down hard on the associated gear of the rear driver. I didn't remove the parts and measure with a caliper but my guess is that the gear was slightly mis-formed. There probably was not enough clearance for the gear to rotate. With the Bachman mechanism there are two metal pieces which help hold the motor in place and also provide electrical continuity between the pickups and the (?) stators. I adjusted the metal piece on the left (fireman's) side so that the motor could sit higher. I then placed a sliver of cardboard between the chassis and the clear plastic insulator sheet which sits between the chassis and the motor. I located it in front of the of the screw hole for the screw which attaches the motor to the chassis. (It took a couple attempts to get a piece with the correct height; the one I used was approximately the height of 3 pieces of paper)
The end result is that there is greater "space" between the worm gear and the gear of the driver. The front of the motor is now tipped up a little bit.

The loco no longer binds and runs equally well forward and backward.

Hope this helps!
Thanks to all who previously contributed tips/ideas.

Paul Brozowski --

Building the Brick Price FM diesel kit

From Dave Frary, Fri 17 Apr 1998

You may wish to ACC the model together if you don't like to solder. I would really stress that soldering produces a sturdier model that will better withstand life as road engine. Soldering is a skill that definitely improves with practice.

Remember, I built the pilot model without written instructions or diagrams. I did have a color snapshot of Brick's pilot model. Instructions and a photo will be included in the kit.

THE TOOLS I USED:

PREPARING THE PARTS
I started by cutting all the major parts from the surrounding brass with the scissors. (Whatever you do don't try to remove the parts by bending them back and forth.)

With the flat mill file I smoothed the all the edges to remove the brass "sprues" and to reduce the knife edge that's produced by the etching process.

At this point I had to study the parts to determine where the bends were (all bends have a groove etched on the opposite side of the part). I bent several of these "tabs" in the wrong direction and had to bent them back after the part was assembled. This is not fun! And, the more you bend the brass the greater the chance of the tab breaking off.

ASSEMBLING THE CAB
I started with the cab because it's the easiest. I bent the tabs on the bottom of the cab sides inward with the square nosed pliers and folded the four corners to make the box. I also folded the engineer's arm rests down and the rear frame up.

Using the towel on my hand as a heat shield, I held the cab square and the joint aligned. I applied a thin bead of Flo-Temp solder to the inside of the joint with a toothpick. Using the soldering tweezers I tacked the joint in several places and held the joint together until the solder solidified. To cool the cab I plunged it into a can of water and dried it with the towel.

Because Tix solder melts at a much lower temperature than Flo-Temp I used it to finish the joint. Holding the cab with the towel I applied the Tix flux to the inside joint and laid several small bits of solder into the flux and heated the joint with the tweezers. The Tix flowed to fill the seam.

This "tack and fill" technique was used on the rest of the model so I won't describe the steps again. The tweezers really speed up assembly by giving me another hand. I can hold the parts together, apply heat, after the solder flows I shut off the heat, and hold the parts together until the solder sets. It actually took longer to write about how I assembled the cab than it took to build it.

I rolled the cab roof over an X-acto knife handle to form the curve. I bent it too much but it sprung into place with I pushed it down onto the cab sides. The roof hatched was added after the roof was soldered on all 4 sides.

On the rear of the cab is a rectangular box. On the real FM's this is used for sand or batteries. On the model it allows extra room for chassis with large motors or body weights. This has three folds and is attached to the middle of the cab rear. It sits on the rear frame section.

On the bottom of the rear frame section I soldered the end sill. It has a step which must be bent outward before its sides are folded in.

The cab magically became very sturdy at this point. All the finishing it needed was a little dressing-up with the jewelers files.

FITTING THE FRAME
I chose the Life Like SW-1200 as the chassis. To prepare it I had to remove the cab and hood but leave the plastic frame and running boards in place. The frame contains the contacts for the wheels and they are best left in place to assure proper pick-up from both trucks. I did snip away the end sills and steps to make the frame shorter. Be careful here -- if you cut too close the frame will become two pieces. Remove only enough of the end sills so the brass frame clears them and sits flat on the plastic frame.

Brick's brass frame is a tad too narrow to drop over the SW-1200 motor and weights. Some of the brass on the inside of each side of the frame has to be removed. Brick has provided two etched grooves running the inside length of each side of the frame. I cut away two slivers of brass on the inside edges of the frame using the grooves as guides. This widened the frame enough to let it drop over the motor and rest flat on the plastic frame.

BENDING THE HOOD
The top of the diesel hood has to be shaped to fit the curve of the front grill. This means slightly rounding the outer top edges of the hood before folding the sides down. I used my fingers to roll the brass over a fat X-acto knife handle. I tried to roll it evenly working the brass with my fingers. The hood should be shaped to fit the top of the front grill.

The tabs on the front and rear of the hood should be bent inward.

There's a tab running along the length of the bottom edges of the hood. To fit the SW-1200 these have to be bent outward. These tabs will be soldered flat onto the frame so that the inside edge of the hood is flush with the inside edge of the frame.

I tacked the front grill to the U-shaped hood being careful to keep the rounded shape at the corners. When I was satisfied with the fit I flowed Tix all along the inside seam.

Tix is also a good gap filler and was used to fill the opening at the top of the radiator where it met the top of the hood. I put a fat blob here so I could file it to the correct shape.

Last, the top radiator vent grill was soldered in place as was the front sill.

FINAL ASSEMBLY
It was time to attached the body to the cab. I wrapped both pieces in the towels, checked the positioning, and tack-soldered them together. At this point I checked to see how the engine sat on the frame. The fit looked good so I finished soldering the pieces together.

There's no headlight included with the kit so I used a Cal-Scale #327. It was the only one Charles Ro had in stock that looked like the headlight on the original FM diesel. I mounted the light on the front of the hood making sure it sat square.

Brick told me that the grab rail holes etched in the body are spaced for staples to fit into. This is a good idea! The staples I had on hand were a little fat and didn't quite fit but I'm sure a thinner wire would work. I made my handrails from brass wire and soldered them in place.

FINISHING
I gave the engine a good scrubbing with a toothbrush and a little Ajax cleanser. I rinsed it with plenty of water and let the body air dry. I never touched it with my fingers until after it was primed and painted.

I primed the body with flat black auto primer from a spray can. The next day I airbrushed the diesel a light green (bad choice of color -- it blends into the scenery). After several hours I gave both sides a light spray of Dull Cote, waited about 20 minutes and applied the decals. Later that day I gave the sides another light dusting of Dull Cote to seal the decals. Weathering was a wash of burnt sienna in mineral spirits and the usual dry brushing with white after it dried. I added the clear styrene window glass last using Testor's new cement that dries clear. It's made for airplane modelers but works as well on structures and rolling stock.

I added four little styrene blocks on the underside of frame to align the body with the chassis. At this point I haven't added couplers but it looks like there's plenty of room for them.

Total assembly time was 3 hours. Plus another hour or so for painting, adding decals, and weathering.

Have fun!

Additional note, 25-Oct-2001
I use the soldering tweezers for everything. I own the probe but have never used it.

To install a headlight -- tin both surfaces with a thin coat of paste-type solder, set the headlight in place, and place the tweezers so that one tip is on the headlight base and the other touches the boiler. Then apply the heat -- it can be adjusted while the current is flowing. After the solder melts and the flux boils out let go of the foot switch while still holding the part in place. When the solder changes color (sets) you can remove the tweezers.

I hope this helps,
Dave

Re-gearing Joe Works Shays

From Al Sandrini, 21 Mar 2002 

Bruce Clifford wrote:

> Hi All,
> I have questions regarding the Joe Works Shays. I see the re-gearing
> kits available from B&F and am not sure which shay it fits. My original
> shay was a kit that I bought in 1980. The worm gear on the motor is a
> single screw and this engine will really crawl, even with the 3 pole JW
> motor.
> My second shay is a Mich Cal #2 that came built up. It does run well,
> but is a little fast.
> So, which one is the Joe Works shay that is frequently referred to?
> Bruce in Northern Colorado (Caboose Hobbies Country)
>
Bruce,

There are several gear sets for the JW Shay. To the best of my knowledge, they will fit both of the mechanisms. I have only seen one of the early "T" boiler Shays of Joe Work's, but I understand that Keith Pashina (a frequent writer in LID, has these gears in his early version of the Shay.

The main problem with the JW Shay is that the original gears are brass on brass. This is a terrible situation. If you are satisfied with the running of the engine, but are worried about the longevity of the worm (it isn't the worm gear that wears out, but the worm), you can purchase the first gear: NWSL 1077-6 Joe Works Shay Replacement Worm Gear. .....Exact replacement worm gear made from Delrin to give long lasting wear. May be used with factory worm gear. This simply replaces the brass worm gear with an identical, delrin gear and the wear problem is eliminated.

If you already have a problem with the worm wearing, you need to replace the worm and the worm gear at the same time. There is no replacement for the original Joe Works Shay worm. NWSL combination of worm and worm gear will mesh correctly with the factory spacing of the motor shaft and the worm gear shaft. By manufacturing a larger diameter worm gear, it has more teeth and thusly will change the gear ratio. Fortunately for us, the new gear ratio reduces the top speed of the Shay by 54%. This will allow the motor to run at about 25% higher RPM's and still give you a much slower speed. Net result: less stalling, smoother running and better pulling power. If you are interested in this set, you need to order: NWSL 1078-6 Joe Works Shay Replacement Gear Set. .....These matching worms (steel) and worm gears (delrin) are designed to replace the two brass factory gears. The addition of these gears will reduce the top speed of the Shay by 54%. These gears will allow the Shay to run much smoother. This worm gear can only be used with the enclosed worm.

In addition to the two gears previously mentioned, there is a third gear. This gear is used to replace the idler gear found in the transmission which allows the crankshaft to turn on the side of the Shay locomotive. This gear (the center of the three gears) sometimes will bind. The delrin gear goes between the two brass gears in this alignment to east the binding and allow the engine to run smoother. If you would like this gear, you would need to order: NWSL 1094-6 Joe Works Shay Replacement Idler Gear. .....Delrin idler gear for the transmission which transmits the motion to the cylinders and the Shay's side drive shaft.

I have all of these gear sets in stock and can ship them out immediately. I have replaced the worm and worm gear on one of my JW Shays and it has made a world of difference. I also changed the idler gear on the engine and it did not seem to make any difference. Perhaps the original idler was not a problem, but I figured that as I had the engine disassembled, I might as well make all the changes. It may have been hard to tell as the other gear change made so much difference it would be difficult to tell if it made any difference at all.

I worked with NWSL to produce these gears for the Shay owners and they have gone over very well. I have probably sold over 75 sets of these gears. Until 6 months after I had been selling the gears, I didn't know that they took it upon themselves to produce the idler gear. I found this out from one of my customers.

Presently, I am trying to get them to make replacement gears for the trucks of these locomotives. These are also brass on brass gears and if you are fortunate enough to have an engine that runs well, you will then wear out the truck gears.

Al Sandrini
B & F Hobby Shop
Bakersfield, CA

Bachmann 2-8-0 Conversion

Wed 11 Feb 2004

After all these months of fear and procrastination, my conversion of the Bachmann N 2-8-0 to HOn30 is complete. Check out the photo on the group site: Bachmann 2-8-0 Conversion. It is my first attempt at a conversion, and it shows... at least close up. To explain the somewhat sloppy effort, I offer the following story:

THE SAGA OF LOCOMOTIVE #18

On the Dragon's Lair and Ravenroost Railway

Number 18 did not start out as she now appears, either in form or number. Delivered as a lovely but diminutive 2-8-0 from Baldwin, she was numbered #13. The engineer (driver) assigned to this beauty, O'Flannigan, nearly quit on the spot when he saw that unlucky number on the side of the cab. But, having a large family to support, he gamely took the loco on its first run, Muttering all the while about impending misfortune and doom, he and his fireman started down the rails.
Despite his misgivings, the Irishman had to agreee that the loco was the smoothest running he had ever driven, and his fireman noted she was easy to stoke. But as they speeded around a rather sharp curve, O'Flannigan's predictions came to pass - they ran head on into a tree fallen over the track. The pilot was instantly ruined, and the poor engine proceeded off the rails and turned upside down.
Fortunately the crew escaped with cuts and bruises, despite the cab being nearly crushed. The domes and stack took a beating as well, O'Flannigan, in the true Irish manner, stood looking at the wreck and delivered a round of swearing that could have curdled fresh milk. His fireman, after a few beers, was later known to relate how the air turned red, birds fell dead from the sky, and the locomotive itself cringed and trembled at the onslaught of foul language. At any rate, the locomotive was eventually hauled back to the shops, where the railroad inspector declared her a total wreck..

O'Flannigan and the shop foreman thought othewise. The foreman saw at once that the running gear and the boiler were in fine shape, and said so. O'Flannigan was unwilling to give up such a good runner, and thought of a plan. He and the foreman had a private talk, and then proposed to have the loco running again in a week. A furious argument with the inspector resulted, and the outcome could have been bad news for the engine. But as fate would have it, the president and owner of the railroad happened by. Being a man willing to take a chance, and also being unwilling to scrap a brand-new, if somewhat damaged locomotive, he sided with O'Flannigan and the foreman. So the foreman and his crew worked furiously, day and night, and in five days the locomotive was ready to go. Her original pristine appearance, however, was gone forever. She had a rough-and-ready cab, a beam and steps in place of the original pilot, a used air pump from a standard gauge loco that was too big, and the sand dome had a permanent list to the front. But it all worked. They hooked the fixed loco up to a train, and summoned the inspector and the president. While these two gentlemen were being found, O'Flannigan disappeared into the repair shed and returned with a can of paint and a brush. With no hesitation, he quickly added some paint to each side of the cab, turning the '13' easily into '18'.

No more unlucky numbers for this Irishman! The president took one look at it, and to the delight of all, fired the inspector and then gave the rest cash bonuses out of his own pocket. Number 18 is now the pride of the railroad, and is kept in supurb condition by its crew and the men in the shop. O'Flannigan's only regret is that they would not let him paint her Emerald Green. It is rumored that the inspector is now a salesman for a company making diesel locomotives, and O'Flannigan and the others have vowed to lynch the rascal from the nearest bridge if he ever shows up on their line!
...
Sam, and others interested -
The boiler is the original boiler, scraped and sanded clean. I added boiler straps and did a homemade smokebox front that was more in scale. The original boiler accounts for the slope of the sand dome - I could have sworn I allowed for this when I was fitting it, but once glued on, it sloped. Hence the story. The cab was thrown together with styrene, took me two tries. I looked at various small locomotives in NG&SLG for inspiration. The tender is original, but with a wrapper to make it wider and slightly higher. The coal is real coal. Domes (C-16 modern), air pump, headlights, bell, and whistle are from Cal-Scale, and the stack is Keystone. I left the mechanism absolutely untouched - I do NOT trust myself to monkey around with one. If I had it to do over, I would obviously set the sand dome vertical, and would use a real pilot; I ran out of money at that point. I am pleased with the result, although it really is diminutive. Could use bigger wheels on the pilot truck. It does run very well.
...
Another thought about the minimum radius of the 2-8-0. I took a close look at mine, and I am pretty sure it will not go around a 10" radius because the cab is longer than the original. If you want the tight radius, be aware of this and adjust accordingly.
...
A note on the cab construction of my 2-8-0 conversion. As I mentioned in a previous post, it is sheet styrene. I made the roof using a technique from an old Gazette; I made the roof piece, then put it in the oven which was preheated to 150 degrees F. After about 2-3 minutes the plastic is soft. I placed it immediately over a drink can, which was the radius I was after, and taped it down. When it cooled it was permanently curved to the proper radius. I experimented first with scraps before doing the final roof piece; oven thermostats are not dependable.

Jim Scott

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:A (maybe) last note on the conversion. It is difficult to be too enthusiastic about the mechanism. It runs quiet and smooth, and pulls hard. I ran a train of 9 cars plus caboose around my dual gauge loop, and even at very slow speed it performed beautifully. My cars average about 1-1/4 oz. I recommend this mechanism to one and all.

Jim Scott

Tuning tips for the Bachmann Plymouth

14 Jan 2005

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd share a few tuning tips that I used to tune my two (new version) Bachmann Plymouths.

I received my new gems from Big Al/B&F yesterday. I test ran the first and was pleasantly surprised at how well it ran right out of the box. For a $25 locomotive and one that has no flywheel, it ran very smoothly with no breaking in.

Being ever the curious mechanic, I took it apart this afternoon to examine "the guts" of it. I erroneously told Al last night that the gear ratio was about 40:1 based on the gear layout on the instruction sheet. Well, upon disassembly I found I was incorrect, or at least the graphic representation of the gearing in the instructions is wrong. The actual gear ratio is about 24:1, which given the small driver size is not so bad.

I pulled the motor out of the frame and reassembled the frame to assess the smoothness of the gears. I noticed a very minor binding in the gear train, so I disassembled the mechanism again to try to find the bind and fix it.

I found that the two "pegs" or cast shafts for two of the gears, that are integral to one half of the frame, had some burrs on their ends. This is a minor problem because the shafts are shorter than the thickness of the gears, which produces a very slight drag on each gear. I removed the burrs on each shaft using a very fine needle file to file a very slight chamfer on the ends of each shaft. You must be very careful NOT to slip with the file and score the shaft!

With that done I looked for more sources of binds and found that the worm gear (the double gear that mates with the worm on the motor shaft) still bound slightly when rotated with my finger. By pressing on the side of the gear I figured out that the gear was ever so slightly catching on the flat surface that it was contacting (the side of the gear). A few careful swipes with the needle file chamfered the sharp corners and eliminated the bind.

The last step was to chuck a stainless steel wire brush in my Dremel tool and polish both shafts and any surface that they run against on the metal part of the frame. Check the gears on their shafts again to ensure they run smoothly. Mine showed a noticeable improvement in smoothness over the "stock" condition.

I gently cleaned both frame halves and the two gears with some denatured alcohol and a stiff brush, then after blowing them dry, I reassembled the mechanism. To my disappointment the mechanism barely ran. After some troubleshooting, I realized I had re-installed the delrin frame spacers that the coverplate screws into, upside down. This effectively lowered the coverplate, tightening up and binding the axles against the metal chassis.

After fixing the problem, I test ran the mechanism ran better, but still not as well as it did... A little more troubleshooting showed that the bottom cover plate MUST be a little loose to allow the wheels/axles to turn smoothly. So, I tightened the screws up tight, and then backed them off about 3/4 of a turn. Back on the test track and the mechanism ran EXTREMELY smoothly!!! Even at very slow speed. The improvement in running quality over "stock" was noticeable. My mechanism crawls so slowly you can count the ties with ease and no sense of urgency. After a little test running, I applied some Labelle plastic compatible gear oil (the thicker version). It's now been running for about an hour at minimum speed pushing a few ore cars and a Minitrains coach with no sense of hesitation or binding.

As a benchmark, I test ran the Plymouth against my LL SW9 mechanism, and the Bachmann Plymouth's performance after tuning was BETTER than the LL SW9, and that engine was heavily broken in!

Hope that helps...

Jeff

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A few more things on tuning the new version of the Bachmann N scale Plymouths...

The gear oil I specified in the last message was Labelle #102 "Gear oil".

I also used some (lighter) Labelle #108 "Lubricating Oil" for bearing lubrication. I lubed the motor shaft bearings front and rear, as well as lubricating all the axle shafts.

The combination of a better motor, smoother gearing and more weight make this a great running little critter mechanism. I was very surprised it ran as well as it did, and it does it WITHOUT a flywheel!

I encourage any of you guys out there interested in having a good running critter to purchase one (or more) of these locomotives if you haven't done so already. They are a bargain and great value, and Big Al has them in stock, for a very reasonable price.

On another note... I spent some time looking over my mechanism with an eye toward making it four wheel instead of the stock six wheel. It would be easy to do, but yet it wouldn't be. To make the conversion, you only need to remove the wheels from the axle gear. Therein lies the problem! The wheel and stub axle are all one unit. Pressing them out would be interesting... The other issue is that the axle rides in the frame/mechanism on the metal stub of the wheel/axle assembly. To make this a four wheeler, you'd have to remove the middle axle, somehow separate the wheels/axles from the plastic gear "muff" (in UK modeler parlance), turn off most of the wheel itself, then reinstall. Not so easy!

For now, I plan to leave mine as 0-6-0's...

Have fun!

Jeff

Slowing Down Nigel Lawton's Bachman Remotoring Kits

From Matt Coleman
13 Nov 2005

A few weeks ago there was a discussion about whether or not you could slow down the speed of the Bachman 0-4-0T with Nigel's improved motor conversion kit. Nigel had suggested that someone try with various resistors to see what works.

This is not a definitive engineering study but I have tried the following resistors (all from Radio Shack) with the following results. All resistors 1/2 watt.

My recommendation is for the 47 or 82 ohm resistors. Radio Shack product code 271-1105 and 271-1107 respectively. The resistors are $0.99 for a pack of five.
This really makes the locomotive with the upgraded motor a superb runner with a reasonable top speed and good control even with a cheap throttle. Again, Nigel has done a great job engineering the drive and I hope that others can upgrade those old Bachman chassis' to modern standards.
Also, if you find that some of the gears have split, just 'weld' them back together with a very low wattage soldering iron and a quick, deft touch. I have done four gears like that and they are like new.

Cheers!

Matt

---

I always feel stupid responding to my own email messages but I did a bit more work with the motors and resistors yesterday and would have to say that the 82-ohm may be the better choice. I think the limitations on power I experienced were because I was using a very cheap, very small, very old powerpack. When I retested with my somewhat less ancient MRC pack, both the 47-ohm and 82-ohm resistors provided equal pulling power, with the 47-ohm resistor giving a slightly higher top speed.

Just a bit more info for those who care.

Cheers!

Matt

Disassembling an AHM 0-4-0 Baldwin

I am sure to some of you this is a dumb question, but I would rather be careful. I have an old AHM 0-4-0 Baldwin that I want to take apart. Is the body clipped on or do the screws hold it on?
Has anyone ever tried mounting the body on the Life-Like 0-6-0 chassis? Couldn't find any of the Bachman tank engines, so I am going to try this one.
---

There is a single screw just between the stack and the bell. Once it is removed, just pull straight up on the body.

---

I have mounted the old AHM shell on a Life-Like 0-6-0T chassis. You need to glue the Life-Like weight to the front end of the chassis - or else mount it in the front end of the AHM boiler - to get the balance and weight right. I built a wooden frame to attach to the chassis and hold a nut on its top. A flat head screw went through the screw hole in the AHM shell into the nut on the wood frame. Very simple and it runs well. I did have to trim a tiny bit off each side of the lower cab front to fit over the Life-Like motor.
Ed Cass
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As you have probably read from the postings, the screw behind the stack holds the bodyto the chassis.
If you are interested in remotoring and regearing the original AHM loco, this is also possible as we have sold many of the AHM Diesels and Steam Locos, with new gears and can motors.

FIRST ARE THE GEARS

Most of the original gears split. Sometimes the crack in the gear is hard to find as it is down deep in the bottom of the teeth and usually covered with black gease. The gear which splits is always the gear(s) on the axles. As the axle was pressed into the plastic gear before they cured, the plastic shrunk around the shaft, and when it shrank to the point that it could no longer fit around the shart, the gear split. It is rare today to find one of the original units without broken gears.

Northwest Shortlines (NWSL) makes a replacement set of gears for these engines (which use nearly identical drive mechanisms). The gear set replaces the worms, which are pressed on the longitudinal shaft, and the gears on the axles. The large gear on the motor and the gear it drives are not changed, they do not seem to create the problems of the axles gears.

THE MOTOR

A small can motor can be mounted on a silicone pad to drive the rear gear. A bushing may be necessary, or boaring the hole in the gear may be necessary. This depends on which motor you use. Soldering wires to the original brass (bronze?) motor contacts and then to the motor leads is very simple. Make sure that you get a good gear mesh between the gear on the motor and gear it turns. The motor we used in our repowering projects was the Faulhaber 8mm motor with the 4:1 gear reduction; a bit costly, but a great running motor. A small Sagami or NWSL motor would also work for the conversion. I don't know of anyone using an open can motor, such as the Mashima, as mounting it in silicone would/could be a problem.

OTHER SUGGTESTIONS

---Adding Weight
Adding weight to both the steam loco and diesel will improve their pulling power and help make better electrical contact with the rails.
---Repairing the Frame
If you unit has run in the past and you have a few hours on it, you may need to repair the bearing box, on which the long drive shaft rests. A piece of thin shim brass, cut to fit in the bearing box, will bring the shaft back to the original position and help the gears stay aligned.
---Making clearence for the New Gears
When/If you do install the new gears, the gears are not the exact size of the original gears. There are no exact replacements. You must change the worms and the gears on the axles. The new axle gears are slightly smaller in diameter than the originals and the worms are a bit larger than the originals. Together, the total of their diameters are the same. With the new gears, the top speed is slightly reduced. n One thing you will need to do when installing the worms on the long shaft is that the gear cover plate will rub against the new worms. There is a channel in the bottom of the gear cover, where the worms are located. You will need to cut rectangular openings in this gear cover, to expose the worms. By opening this hole, the worms will not rub against the cover.

Al Sandrini
B & F Hobby Shop

Ideal Starting Locomotive(s) for HOn30?

Are there any locomotives that would be considered as an ideal starting point for someone wishing to enter the world of HOn30?
So far, I have seen mostly kits/conversions that involve (in my experience) rather touchy mechanisms like Bachmann 0-4-0 and MDT models.
Are Fleischmann 0-4-0 mechanisms worth looking at?

I'm leaning towards the following:
Roco 0-6-0T or a Railway recollections 0-6-0T (with the lifelike mechanism) or perhaps the Railway Recollections Climax kit.
Any other suggestions for a quick/easy start with a new gauge?
I haven't picked a setting yet, I'm merely interested in acquiring some equipment at this time.

regards, Markus
---

Other than the fact they stall on some turnouts, the new Bachmann MDT chassis is a good runner.
I have a RWR 2-6-2 Baldwin I plan to build this weekend. I haven't had time yet to really mess with it, but the kit looks great. I'll post up some pictures when I get it finished. I think this will be one of Barry's best kits.
Kel
---

In the HOn30 Locomotive Handbook, Chris highly recommends the Erie Limited mechanism. While it may be hard to come by it is suppose to be a great starting point to build a Forney in HOn30. I recently found one on ebay, I think I paid about $75 for it. It is sitting under my bench awaiting the "winter building binge". I'm probably like most, in that I will end up with a very high engine-car ratio. BUT!! what's the sense of having a bunch of engines that don't run well?? Also, I believe that someone made a re-motoring kit of some kind for the Bachman engine, but I haven't seen one.

Harry
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My experience with the Roco 0-6-0T is that it is a nuisance to keep running. The exposed gears on the side of the frame pick up tiny bits of grit or ballast, then jam. I have to put on the optivisor, get a sharpened toothpick, and pick out the bits.
The Bachmann 0-4-0T (out of production now) has two lethal faults. One is that some of the main gears (the worm gear) have not filled properly in the mold, and the hole in the center is way oversize and irregular. This type of gear will eventually jam the mechanism. THe cure is to bore out the hole and glue in a brass bushing that fits properly on the plastic spindle in the frame. That's a lot of work and requires some precision machining.
The second Bachmann problem is that over time the plastic gear hubs that mate with the drivers will split. I have not tried to fix that, theoretically it could be done.
The Life-Like mechanism seems to work just fine. The Fleischmann "Piccolo" 0-4-0T runs very nicely and can be converted to go in a small railbus, for example. It is more expensive (about $85).
---

I would only suggest you buy my Climax if you have or can get an older Life like GP-18. The Old GP-18 has the plastic frame, the new has the split frame. The new one will not work. I do have plans to re-power it when I have the time.

Thanks Barry www.railrec.com
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The MDC/Athearn N-scale 2-6-0 is an excellent mechanism for conversion into a small, freelance HOn30 mogul.
HOn30 superstructure conversions are available from Cliff Darrow (via Al Sandrini's B&F Hobby) and now also by Miniatures by Eric in Canada (thanks to Pieter Roos for this info!)

Pieter wrote:
I was in the internet at lunch, and happened to check the Miniatures by Eric page. He has added two new HOn30 loco conversions, check them out.
http://www.miniaturesbyeric.com/itmidx6.htm
I also like the LifeLike N-scale 0-6-0 saddletanker, for which Barry McClellan's Railway Recollections has several excellent HOn30 superstructure conversions.

Have fun!

Tom H. in Toledo
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The original Bachmann MDT Plymouth model did not run very well, but the new version runs very well. It has good speed characteristics and Micro Train couplers can easily be added.
The N Scale 2-8-0 Consolidation mechanism, first built by MDC and is now an Athearn N Scale kit (Since the purchase of MDC by Horizon Hobbies, who also owns Athearn) is a great running mechanism, and has a flywheel for great slow speeds. The convesion kit by Cliff Darow (Small Scale Logistics) makes it very easy to convert the loco to HOn30. The domes and stack twist off of the loco and the cab goes together very easily. The tender deck is replaced by a one piece resin casting to create the new fuel bunker and the addition of a white metal air tank completes the conversion. The boddy is never removed from the loco or the tender for the conversion. I have over 100 hours on one of the locos and it runs just great.
There are several more conversions, including the MDC/Athearn 2-6-0, which uses the same conversion as above. Railway Recollections has just released their new Baldwin 2-6-2 conversion, which used the new Bachmann 2-6-2 mechanism. If you have not tried any of the new Bachmann split frame mechanisms, you need to do so, they run great.

Al Sandrini
B & F Hobby Shop
www.bnfhobby.net
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I vote for the new Bachmann 2-6-2, it runs great has a great conversion fro Barry McClelland .

James
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I like Fleischmann 'N' 0-4-0 Black Anna They run extremely well and tolerate tight turns.
I have 3 of them and I love them.
But they are not cheap.
Right now, one has an HO-sized cab stuffed on top. In my dreams, all will eventually be HOn30 or 4mm models.

Bim Bousman
Honolulu
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If you don't mind starting with a diesel loco, which usually track better and have fewer pick up problems, try this.....
Purchase two unpowered plymouth switcher bodies from Furnaro @ Camerlengo, price anywhere from 8.00 to 12.00 dolors each.
Carefully cut the hood off of one of the Plymouths. Try to save the cab as well because you can use the cab for another loco rebuild following Bob Hayden's article of years ago.
Take the hood you cut off and carefully cement it to the other Plymouth body giving you a nice Center Cab loco. You will have to do some minor cutting and fitting but there are several N gauge mechanisms that will snuggly fit under the new shell and you are ready to run.
Bob Hayden"s N scale conversion is even easier. You just take the cab from one F & C Plymouth and cut/fit it over a the end of a N scale diesel. Add some new running boards and a few other details and you are off and running.
I think I still have a copy of Bob's article and if Bob has no objections I would be happyu to send yoy a copy.

Sam Parker
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I honestly think my easiest steam locomotive to build is the new Baldwin 2-6-2. It's list price is $65.00, $10.00 more than the Porter 0-6-0.

Thanks Barry www.railrec.com
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Having just last week built both superstructures, I agree. The 2-6-2 is a breeze, even for a beginner.
The Porter requires a bit of fiddling. It's not hard, just a bit frustrating at times to get everything aligned and some experience helps.

--Jim
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For a starter HOn30 loco conversion, I really can't go past the Life Like SW1200 for either a small diesel of Class A Climax conversion.
Examples of the breed can be found here http://www.geocities.com/loggingloco1/BVT
Hope this helps,

Happy Modelling, Aim to Improve, Professor Klyzlr,
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Add the cab from the F&C copy of the Minitrains Plymouth to the above or to an Atlas RS1 and you're done. THe Atlas can be bought with MT couplers already installed.

-Jim
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Nigel Lawton offers a precision remotoring kit for the Bachman 0-4-0T that cures most of its running problems. He also offers the same kit for the older 0-6-0 however with the new Bachman N scale 2-6-2 and 2- 8-0 on the market, it would seem to be a bit of overkill to try and remotor the older 0-6-0s.
If you go back about a week or so in the messages you will find some from Nigel that give his website if you are interested. There really isn't another four-wheeled mechanism with the drivers large enough to do a reasonable Forney except for the Bachman so if you are leaning that way, give Nigel's offering a look.
The Fleischman 0-4-0T is excellent but the drivers are a bit small for a "Mainer" Forney.

Matt
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The new Bachmann 0-6-0 or 2-6-0 or 2-6-2 run very well also the diesel switcher 0-6-0.

Regards, JE
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You didn't mention if you were looking for kits or ready-to-run, and yes they do exist if you look around.
As far as mechanisms go, you can't beat a diesel mechanism. They have a lot less problems, gears, flyrods,etc, than steam ones. I have a Railway Recollections Climax that is built on a GP18 diesel mechanism and runs great. I was really surprised that in spite of no flywheel, it runs excellently and I like slow runners. Anything than can only run at medium to top speed is not a great runner.
Ready-to-run: talk to Big Al at B&F Hobbies; he has some that are really already built kits. There is also Tom Price of "pricelessmodeltrains.com". I have bought a Dunkirk and a Center Cab diesel from him. Actually mine came from his occasional sales on ebay. They each cost more than $100, come in a great storage box, and run great. A Dunkirk is similar to a Climax-Shay but with no mechanism visible and like them runs on a pair of trucks like a diesel. (Actually the Dunkirk company was the first maker of Heislers.) Some people consider any loco over $100 to be overpriced but wake up and look at HO prices these days. And maybe some beginners have more money than time to put in 30-40 hours building a kit.
Of course now I have 4 engines and 2 cars. What's wrong with this picture?

Alan Cushing
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The ideal starting loco is the Car Works #23. Already built and you can even get it painted.
---

I just want to express my thanks at the tremendous amount of responses my query has received to date. I currently have an MDC 2-8-0 and the 0-6-6-0 Japanese mallet that I'm tempted to use for HOn30 conversions.
I'll probably try to find a Bachmann Industrial diesel and Life Life 0-6-0 as starting points. (I'm not keen on destroying an expensive unit at this stage of the game). I'm encouraged by the variety of options out there (at fairly reasonable prices).
Thanks for all the links and suggestions.

regards, Markus

Adding Couplers to Roco's new 0-6-0's with Tender

Hi Guys,

I have been asked seveal time, what coupler do you use on the new Roco 0-6-0's with tender. I was told by someone that the 1128, 1129 or 1130 couplers will work... with the 1128, being the shortest; the 1129 a medius and the longest would be the 1130.

THEY DON'T WORK.

I have been suffering with some new leg problems (not in the leg in which I lost feeling last year, but my right one). After taking some time off my feet, I decided to tackle the coupler delima.

Here is how I converted mine in about a hour of easy work. (Instructions for Roco 33230, 33231, 33232 and 33233 and similar locomotives)

Items Needed

The Conversion

THE TENDER

  1. Get a soft towel and lay the tender upside down on it so as not to damage the top while working. Carefully insert the small flat blade of your screwdriver between the underframe and the tender top. Carefully pry outward, so as to loosen the top from the bottom. You may need to insert a toothpick in one sport, to hold the side away from the frame, while you do the other side. Once the top is removed, set it aside.
  2. Remove the weight from the top of the frame to see what you are working with. Once you understand the construction of the frame of the tender, you can either put the weight back in or leave it off for now.
  3. Pull outward on the existing coupler and it will pop off of the post inside of the coupler pocket. The post, in the pocket is going to be removed. I used the Xacto keyhole saw blade, holding it in my fingers and sawed the post from the frame. I then filed the pocket smooth with the large Xacto file.
  4. I used the Dremel tool, with the 196 cutter, to enlarge the length of the coupler pocket. The pocket need lengthening, so the coupler mounting screw hole is completely inside of the coupler pocket At the slowest setting, I put the flat bottom of the cutter in the pocket and started working the pocket towards the center of the tender frame. I only lengthened the pocket about 1/16", but that was all it needed.
  5. I now sanded everything again, to make a smooth platform for the 1023 coupler.
  6. Use the large file again and file the bottom of the opening ONLY ENOUGH SO THAT YOU CAN SLIP THE 1023 COUPLER INTO THE COUPLER POCKET.
  7. Mark and drill the hole to mount the 1023 coupler throught the frame. Once the hole is drilled, then tap the hole with the MicroTrain tap. Now, you should be able to insert the couper mounting screw and tighten it carefully, as to not strip out the threads in the plastic.
  8. (OPTIONAL) Cut some pieces of square plastic square stock to fit in the notches between the 1023 coupler and the underframe of the tender. Glue these in place sparingly, you may need to remove these if you damage the coupler in the future. These can be painted to match the loco you have.

THE LOCO

  1. Using the loco's box for a work tray, turn the loco upside down and insert the loco so it is protected and stabilized.
  2. Remove the front coupler by pulling it out of the pocket, as on the tender.
  3. Don't attempt to use the keyhole saw on the pin on the front... IT IS METAL and you will get tired after awhile... I did. If you do attempt to cut it this way, you will saw for about 20 strokes before you see the silver metal beneath the paianted posts. If you loco is red, 20 strokes... if you have one of the silver/gray ones, you may not see it for an hour.
  4. Use the thin rail nippers (which look like sprue cutters) and go though the front of the pilot and cut off the post.
  5. Once you cut off the post, you will need to carefully remove the two phillips screws, which hold the bottom of the axle cover plate on the loco. I suggest you poke a couple of tiny holes in the box foam and press the screws into the foam so they don't get lost. Carefully lift the front of the axle cover plate and remove the post from the coupler box. Now, put the screws back into the cover plate.
  6. There isn't enough room to file flat with a normal Xacto file, so use a miniature file, so you don't file away the frame's opening to the coupler pocket. It will take you about five minutes of filing to get the pocket smooth, but it needs to be done to get a flat mount.
  7. File the bottom of the pocket opening in the frame, as you did on the rear of the tender. Do this very slowly and keep testing the coupler in the opening. When you can force the coupler into the coupler pocket, your are done. You may elect to glue it in place, but it isn't necessary. The pressure of the screwd down cover plate will hold the coupler in place. If you do attempt to glue it in place, use Walther's GOO. It can be removed later if necessary. I PULLED 10 MICROTRAIN LOG CARS UP A 2% GRADE BY THE FRONT COUPLER AND IT NEVER MOVED.
  8. Turn the loco over, put it in the box an go to bed. You're done. And so am I.
Good Night,

Al