Rescuing a Bachmann 4-8-4 Northern...

[lester perry]

Ray
Not right now. This had got my interest again. I may try to get it into quarter again and glue the drivers to the axles. Might work. When it ran it was very smooth and quiet, not a bad loco by any standard. It also pulled very well. In fact when I get off here I might just go mess with it for a while. I can make it look a lot like the C&O class J. The well known 614 that has traveled around the Mid Atlantic staets for last 20 years but now in mothballs.
Les

 

[Ray Marinaccio]

Great tip Jim, I'll try that too.
Les,
No problem, I would like to know if the method I used to repair the split axles on the N scale version will work on the HO version.
http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=17162&page=1

 

[shaygetz]

Ray
Not right now. This had got my interest again.
Les

Rats...and I was gonna try ta twist yer arm fer the tender trucks...even more annoyin' ta know I'm the one who inspired ya ta keep 'em :cry:

Ray, the bearings on these HO ones are U-shaped with the bottom plate holding them in. The drivers are metal with plastic inserts for the spoke detail that are split on the axle with a nylon insulator so that the drivers pick up on both sides. The second driver from the front is spung (?). The valve gear is mounted with friction pins, not threaded ones . The drive as a whole is a bit sloppy but that no doubt is so that it can traverse 18" radius curves. It could easily be tightened up with some shim brass bearings.

 

[Ray Marinaccio]

Bob,
That sounds like the same type construction as the 2-8-2 I remotored.
I drilled the original drivers and installed steel axles with an insulator on one side and fabricated a worm drive. I want to find a better way to deal with the split axles on the HO models. The brass sleeve works great for the N scale models but I haven't tried it on the HO ones.

 

[Glen Haasdyk]

This has given me an idea for repowering the beastie, Tender drive. That tender is big enough to throw an Athearn diesel chassis underneath and as long as the drivers on the loco are free-wheeling enough to roll when the motor and gears are removed that could work.

 

[doctorwayne]

Lots of people look down their nose at Bachmann's non-Spectrum locos, but this one sure seems to be giving a lot of us a lot of modelling enjoyment.

Wayne

 

[lester perry]

Bob
The tender is of no interest to me, but in all fairness let me see if I can resurge my interest. If not Ray wanted it first he can have the whole thing. If I do get into it again you can have the tender. Now the hard part. Give me about a week or two, get in touch with me either through guage or e-mail to see what I am doing with it. I should be either encouraged or frustrated by then. It is not for sale if I don't want it you guys can have it.
Les

 

[lester perry]

OK guys I need some help. I have out the wheels in quarter on this loco before by twist & test run successfully before. Now I am going to disassemble it and pull wheels off axles clean & glue them on. Is there a trick to getting them in quarter. I think i can do it trial & error but if there is a trick it would be nice to know

Les

 

[shaygetz]

Bob
The tender is of no interest to me, but in all fairness let me see if I can resurge my interest. If not Ray wanted it first he can have the whole thing. If I do get into it again you can have the tender. Now the hard part. Give me about a week or two, get in touch with me either through guage or e-mail to see what I am doing with it. I should be either encouraged or frustrated by then. It is not for sale if I don't want it you guys can have it.
Les

Great, a week'll give the B&MC's Liability Removal and Aquisitions Dept. heads, Hyram and Billy Joe Ray Bob time to go meet Ray and convince him that he don't need no tender.... fence

As for the quatering of the drivers, I eyeballed it on my AHM Hudson and it worked out fine. Trial and error would probably be the best route as the side rods on this are held in by friction pins. Pop those puppies in and out too many times and you're asking for trouble. Ray's use of Loc-Tite would seem to be a good idea here if you had to go in.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

Northwest Shortline makes a tool for quartering drivers. I don't think it was very expensive.

 

[Ray Marinaccio]

Les,
I thought of a way to quarter the drivers.
Tape pieces of cardstock (with 90 degree corners) to the drivers as shown in the photo. The edges must line up with the centers of the axle and crank pins and the bottom of the card on the left hand driver must sit flat on the work area. Adjust the drivers untill the distance of each side of the card on the right hand driver to the work area are equal. This will give you a perfectly quartered set of drivers.
The crankpin on the right hand driver will be in the 9:00 position for a right hand lead locomotive (the one you want) or the 3:00 position for Pennsy left hand lead locomotives.

 

[Glen Haasdyk]

I think I saw this method in an old MR using steel rulers and small machinists squares?

 

[shaygetz]

Mine are quartered bounce7 Spent last night running it in with and w/o the boiler shell on to ensure that the pilot trucks cleared the pumps. Once I fabricate a set of steps for the pilot beam, it'll go to paint.

 

[shaygetz]

Meanwhile, the tender shell revealed a pleasant surprize---it's rather undesirable weathering job was water soluble and easily removed with some warm soap and water balloon6 On the other hand, one of the corner steps was very weak and ready to break.

 

[shaygetz]

By forming a piece of .020 brass wire into a J shape that extended up nto the body shell, I was able to reinforce as well as straighten it.

 

[Ray Marinaccio]

Looking good Bob. :thumb:
Billy Joe Ray Bob does nice work. hamr hamr

 

[lester perry]

OK if this is a repeat message Im sorry. I posted this and don't see it now. Bob that looks realy good. I think I may have a second tender for this loco as I have 2 locos. I have no use for the tenders. I will look for it and let you know.I have succesfully ( I think) quartered one axle.. I sort of used the system Ray suggested. Three more to go.
Les

 

[shaygetz]

Thanks, Ray, I appreciate that coming from one of the kings of salvaging :thumb:

Lots of people look down their nose at Bachmann's non-Spectrum locos, but this one sure seems to be giving a lot of us a lot of modelling enjoyment.

Wayne

I meant to get back to you on this, Wayne. When I started out on the hobby, I was using paper matches cut to shape for paint brushes, a scale ruler cut from a magazine and a straight edge razor for a modeling knife. While I have all the tools now, I still get the greatest pleasure in this hobby from projects just like this. However, there is still that unsated desire for a Bachmann Spectrum Climax now that I've seen one.... jawdrop

Thank you for keeping me in mind, Les. The search is half the fun if only for all the folks you get to meet :thumb:

 

[modelsof1900]

I think there are no differences with quartering of loco wheels - 2 cylinder engingines! In all cases right wheel runs 90 degree before left wheel.
Or in comparisation with the clock - when right wheel stands on 6:00 then left wheel stands on 9:00 if you turns the engine. If you would look "through" the engine, left side wheel has 3:00 position.
Or a third time with other words. Look on a steam engine in running direction - forward or back. In all cases right wheel of running direction runs 90 degree before lefthand wheel. Confusioned?

Bernhard

 

[petey]

Bachmann 4-8-4

I have read shaygetz's writings here, for some time. Always impressed with his mechanical skills.
So I was surprised to read that he was doing work on one of these. When I read further, he explained his motive for this effort.
These show up at train shows and on eBay, some of them brand new. However, even if new, they have by now been sitting around for decades.
These locos have what I have named "The dreaded Bachmann Eight Coupled Disease", however this also applies to their 2-10-4s, of the same vintage. "The Chugger" and other variants. They are good looking and reasonabley accurate for the SF. By my reckoning, the 2-10-4, using the Northern boiler, is still passable, and only about nine inches shorter than prototype.
The drive system is extremely fragile and the problem is located at the insulating center sleeve of the driver axle.
The driver has a shoulder and a metal stub on the inner face. This stub is a friction fit into the plastic center piece. Well, after very little use, or passage of time, the plastic center loses it's grip on the stub.....instant out-of-quarter.
When this happened to the third loco I decided I would fix it. High quality CA to the rescue...it didn't rescue. So I glued all the drivers on both sides, keeping them in quarter, by the way. Initially worked well, but after adding a few cars...instant out-of-quarter. Decided I needed a more positive hold on the drivers, so...got my Dremel, made small pins, in readiness...and drilled down through the plastic center and through the metal stub, and pinned those suckers.......eight times! It looked great, felt solid, it was ready to go!.........However, inspite of all the times I had maintained it previously, and even though checked repeatedly, I somehow lost quarter on the Fireman's side. It went, but it sure has a nasty hop!!
Moral of the story...they look good...get a used Bowser chassis, and slap that shell on it.