Bachmann Spectrum USRA 2-10-2

[jim currie]

hi fluesheet welcome to the gauge we all like pics here.

 

[doctorwayne]

Yeah, welcome to the Gauge, Fluesheet. I agree with the idea of casting a weight to fill the smokebox, as opposed to the easy method that I used. I'm going to do so when I modify my two most recent Mikes, and also retrofit the two originals. You may get yours a little closer to perfect balance by adding an air tank on the pilot deck, one made from lead-filled brass tubing. Does anybody know for certain if NWSL makes gears specifically for this loco? The catalogue that I have predates this loco, and there's no specific reference to such replacement gears on their website. While I've not yet had the seemingly common gear problem with mine, I have fixed a couple for others, using Athearn replacement parts. While I know that my already modified Mikes will run with the addition of at least another 10 oz. of weight (if I can cram it in somewhere), I wouldn't want to end up with the gears falling apart due to the added stress.

Wayne

 

[Fluesheet]

Thanks for the welcome Jim and doctorwayne!

<snip>You may get yours a little closer to perfect balance by adding an air tank on the pilot deck, one made from lead-filled brass tubing.

I've thought about that, or a toolbox.

Does anybody know for certain if NWSL makes gears specifically for this loco? The catalogue that I have predates this loco, and there's no specific reference to such replacement gears on their website. While I've not yet had the seemingly common gear problem with mine, I have fixed a couple for others, using Athearn replacement parts]

I've not had this problem either, and was completely unaware of it until poking around model railroad forums starting about a week ago. This model is already problematic - having a reliability problem on top of other issues makes me all that much happier!

While I know that my already modified Mikes will run with the addition of at least another 10 oz. of weight

That's a big hunk of lead - I'll be curious to see how close you get, short of recasting the boiler shell in lead

. If nothing else, the suspension will definitely work under a 25oz loco (a good thing)

Fluesheet.