Bachmann rail truck, anyone have any experience?

Madman said:
Thank you for the donation to our failing postal system, Gavin. The politicians are making sure that it fails, so that it can be privatized. Ben Franklin is rolling over in his grave, I dare say.
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:) So far, USPS has been good to me. I've mailed stuff back home to the grandkids when I've been visiting America. My mail order dealings have been spot on, can't complain. I was in Sioux City when they shut the mail processing center there, and moved it to Sioux Falls, some 80-90 miles away, and caught the local feeling on that move. Believe 8 days from New Jersey to New Zealand is better service than some 'across town' deliveries I've heared about with their new 'efficiencies'.
 
;) End of the day, if it weren't for the USPS, we would not have had the prototype Railtrucks to make models of. Yes, it was Postal contracts that railroads were keen to keep hold of, the ultimately led to the developement of the Railtruck.
 


This picture courtesy the thread on Taita Gorge Railway, in G Scale Pictures.

8) 8) Touch wood, she's still humming along quite nicely. Some advice I'd like to share on this, don't push the truck along the track if it stalls/stops, the final drive is delicate, and the diff could jump out of mesh. If it does stall, due to dirty track, lift the rear up off the track, and roll the truck forward with the front truck/bogie still on the rails until the rear wheels start running again, then gently lower the rear back onto the rail. Also, when handling the railtruck in and out of storage, pick it up by the cab roof.... do not hold it from underneath, you could dislodge/upset the drive line.
 
Gavin Sowry said:
:) So far, USPS has been good to me. I've mailed stuff back home to the grandkids when I've been visiting America. My mail order dealings have been spot on, can't complain. I was in Sioux City when they shut the mail processing center there, and moved it to Sioux Falls, some 80-90 miles away, and caught the local feeling on that move. Believe 8 days from New Jersey to New Zealand is better service than some 'across town' deliveries I've heared about with their new 'efficiencies'.
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Non-understandable isn't it. The USPS seems to get the mail through, no matter what. And as far as I can remember, has always done so. And at reasonable rates. Forty Seven Cents for a letter to anywhere in the country. Think about is this way. You have a small package that needs to go across country, literally, 3000 miles. A small Priority box has a flat rate of $5.95. You can place any amount of weight into it, up to 70 pounds. Try doing that yourself!
 
Madman said:
You have a small package that needs to go across country, literally, 3000 miles. A small Priority box has a flat rate of $5.95. You can place any amount of weight into it, up to 70 pounds. Try doing that yourself!
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When I started G scaling back in 2006 you could have USPS items sent by sea to UK. The shipping costs were lovely and low and although it took six to eight weeks it made buying stuff from the USA rewarding.
Now everything has to go by air and unless the item can fit into a flat rate box, it can cost a whole heap of cash for fully insured and tracked service. Even International Priority has become pretty expensive and it was the cheapest for large items. ...and that is before the 20% VAT on the item value + postage cost.
Of course you can find ways around this, but sometimes it is best to have cover especially expensive items....ask me how I know... :o

Ironically our own postage/courier to USA is almost twice as expensive as USPS to us.
 
;) Another member of our local group has taken advantage of this bargain... he got a red flavoured one. Must have that 'Galloping Goose Shoot' on the Taita Gorge Railway soon.
 


Photo courtesy Taita Gorge Railway (G Scale Pictures)

;) I've replaced the rather fragile bar cowcatcher with the snowplow that comes with the model. Top of the cowcatcher/snowplow is attached to the truck frame with two screws, these just need loosening off for the top of the cowcatcher/snowplow to come free.

There are two options for the stay bars... you can unclip them from the bottom of the catcher, or unclip them from further back on the truck frame. I had trouble trying to disconnect from the truck frame, and found it easier to release the stays from the bottom of the catcher.
 


:o Well, we had the Goose shoot, and bagged these two.

Interesting thing, we were running both together on the same track, and Phil's brand new red one was a tad quicker than my silver 'slightly used' truck (I suspect a bit of gunge on my wheels).
 
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