Bachmann 4-4-0 Spectrum

[Eaglecliff]

I can think of several possibilities dependent on the loco version.
They could be chuff sensors if the tender was designed for a sound card or speaker wires if a sound card was intended to be fitted in the loco. Then again they may be for a backup light, not fitted on all tenders or additional power pickups.
If your loco doesn't have sound or a backup light and has adequate power pickup I suggest you ignore them.

Hi Neil,
Thanks as ever for your timely contribution. I've since printed off the 2-6-0 wiring diagram which is not much better but does seem to show connections to the chuffing arrangements, which as the saying goes, in my case I have not got, so I think you are right. Anyway, it's all back together and a preliminary check seems to indicate that all is well and the new gear does not spin on the axle when the wheels are under load. Pity it's so cold outside and getting dark...
Incidentally, there is a hilarious set of "how to do it" videos on YouTube; I think the guy was trying to film with one hand and do the job with the other, working on the carpet without a cradle. I used the top half of the polystyrene packaging. Most of what you see is his piece of kitchen paper protecting his Axminster - or its US equivalent! At the end of number three, just as he thinks he's got it all together, he drops the lot, emits an expletive, makes a hurried excuse and cuts off; by Part 4, he's got it back together but there's a bit of explanation missing...

 

[PhilP]

Did he have any bits left over?


If you do find a problem..
Will you be going to DEFine in a week or two? - Unless I break another car, I intend to go.
You could bring it along. Sure we could find somewhere to have a look.
PhilP.

 

[Eaglecliff]

Did he have any bits left over?


If you do find a problem..
Will you be going to DEFine in a week or two? - Unless I break another car, I intend to go.
You could bring it along. Sure we could find somewhere to have a look.
PhilP.

Thanks for the offer. Managed a running session this afternoon, very happy with the performance. Gradients from a standing start with a load on - great. Only problems now relate to fact that loco wasn’t new when I bought it; should there be a fall plate? There are little holes at the back of the footplate suggesting a missing pivot. Also, the bogie seems ready to derail at every verse end. Flip the loco over, the bogie flops about in all directions, the spring has no ... springiness... whatsoever and it feels to me as though there is altogether too much play available. Certainly seems to need extra weight. Suggestions? Otherwise, apart from build quality - bits keep falling off and discoloured handrails - I’m very fond of it.
Supposed to be going to Solihull - GSS West Midlands Area show - next month with Battenberg.

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Trouble with the front bogie is that it relies on the loco to transfer weight on to it to hold it on the track. The bogie itself is too light. What I, and no doubt others, have done is apply dead weight to the bogie/axles themselves. This will help with the tracking. And, before you go too far, make sure your track is good. Line, top, or twist faults are going to give you derailments every time.

 

[Eaglecliff]

Trouble with the front bogie is that it relies on the loco to transfer weight on to it to hold it on the track. The bogie itself is too light. What I, and no doubt others, have done is apply dead weight to the bogie/axles themselves. This will help with the tracking. And, before you go too far, make sure your track is good. Line, top, or twist faults are going to give you derailments every time.

English winter means lots of water, frost, snow, ice... all the things that help the track move about, as I noticed earlier today, so it’s already on the list, along with the subsidence, overgrowing greenery, possible layout adjustments... and sorting out some more weight for the bogie... actually, I glued some on a while back, before I discovered Gorilla glue. Wonder where it went?

 

[Eaglecliff]

Been a long time...
Currently working my Spectrum G scale 4-4-0 loco "Colonel Hodgkins" (don't ask) following a Minor Incident, which basically involves straightening a couple of bits and putting various dislodged items back in place, with small amounts of adhesive where felt necessary. And trying to straighten one of a pair of plastic bits, which is objecting to being returned to match its opposite number, causing the headlight to lean back rather than looking straight ahead. And I've come across a microscopic crosshead bolt in the big white box, with no immediately obvious home...
Query - is it my imagination, or is this loco "assembled" rather than "constructed" by Spectrum? Several components seem to be held in place by... other components, which in turn are held in place by... other components.. e.g. the cab windows, which seem to just float about...?
Just wondered... but I am quite fond of the model, looks impressive, and coasts along quite nicely...

 

[PhilP]

I do think there construction is a little 'to get to that, I didn't think I would have to start here...'

Don't look at anything too harshly, either..
Else you will be looking at it for a long time, as you try to put it back together!

Good luck!

PhilP.

 

[Eaglecliff]

Trader, eh? Well, having just passed my 80th, I suppose the Eaglecliff Logging and Lumber Railroad isn't going to run forever, especially if we decide to decamp Up North, so what is the market like from your point of view? I have realised that model shops are getting like hens' teeth, and a recent appeal, albeit half-hearted, to my local G scale group produced no response whatsoever, apart from an old acquaintance who asked after me, but only runs clockwork or somesuch... My 4-4-0 is still available, new, from the US, at around $1500, but the current range of new stuff over there otherwise appears to be approximately zilch. Am I sitting on a small fortune in rarities, or is it "buy one, get three free?"

 

[PhilP]

I am not really a 'trader of models' * but obviously worth more if it has the metal rods and valve-gear. - See, I don't even know which range is which.

As with everything, it is worth what someone is prepared to pay on the day. - You just need to find a richer, more desperate, person.


*Though I do have the odd one or two pass through my hands.

PhilP.
(I did not ask for the 'Trader' banner, it just appeared one day. - I have been called much worse!)

 

[maxi-model]

Trader, eh? Well, having just passed my 80th, I suppose the Eaglecliff Logging and Lumber Railroad isn't going to run forever, especially if we decide to decamp Up North, so what is the market like from your point of view? I have realised that model shops are getting like hens' teeth, and a recent appeal, albeit half-hearted, to my local G scale group produced no response whatsoever, apart from an old acquaintance who asked after me, but only runs clockwork or somesuch... My 4-4-0 is still available, new, from the US, at around $1500, but the current range of new stuff over there otherwise appears to be approximately zilch. Am I sitting on a small fortune in rarities, or is it "buy one, get three free?"

Is that the 2-6-0, close relative (an alternate version, in fact) of your 4-4-0, as used in your icon ? I have 2 in that guise, they are both sometimes referred to as "Centennials", as a generic term.

I have an "RGS" liveried original mk 1 from around 20 years ago the other the improved mk 2 version in the "Glenbrook" livery. That latter mk 2 was bought from ANA Kramer on Ebay (a US close out specialist) about 5 years ago. I think I paid £400 for that. $1500 sounds like one of Bachmann's loopy RRP's. One of my favourite locos. Loved they were so diminutive in real life that a lot of people think they are 1:22.5 and not the "Spectrum" standard of 1:20.3 for nearly all their D&RGW, and logging, stuff. Pop an Accucraft J&S on the back can appear odd but is prototypicaly accurate.

Well made locos. Yes, plastic construction for body and chassis, with metal motions, valvegear, wheels and other details. They can be fiddly if assembly/disassembly needs doing. Their scale Stephenson valvegear is a nightmare, untill you get the knack of how to do it. Clever design throughout, with the sliding cab windows (is that what you mentioned ?) held in by the cab roof on their top edges, cab sides lower.

The earlier version had a reputation for the main axle drive gear splitting. Which requires the disassembly of that valve gear to get to - which is how I got the knack. Wheel nuts under caps on wheel hub. Both Bachman and NSW made replacement gears, at some point - brass (which I used) and Delrin respectively.

Main 2 differences between the Mk 1 and Mk 2 -
1) The later version had revised electrics that used their standard Plug & Play (PnP) PCB board, mounted in the tender, instead of the basic PcB's in main loco frames. This revision made conversion to R/C, battery, sound (Mk 1 has axle chuff triggers) and DCC operations a much easier proposition than the very basic set up in the Mk 1. My "Glendale" is due for the RC/battery/sound conversion. My Mk 1 has been converted to RC/battery with sound - avoiding using the chuff triggers.

2) The biggest, and most beneficial, change on the Mk 2 was change to metal gears in the transmission. This gets round the, terminal for some users, transmission maladies. Otherwise, from what I can see, most detail and superstructure parts - motions, cab, tender trucks, valvegear, etc' - are interchangeable between mk 1 & 2. Although there are limitations between 2-6-0 & 4-4-0 for rods and transmissions. There may be some mounting modification on major chassis/superstructure moldings to cater for the modified transmission and electrics between mk 1 & 2.

Post pictures of what you want to fix and I'll se if I can advise. Max

My mk 1 2-6-0. Pictures from around 18 years ago. Ezzie passed in 2010