Bachmann Restorations

[Riograndad]

I have been promising myself to get to a roundtoit job for some months,2 Bachmann cars that really have seen better days,they looked like cars on a heritage line that had sat for years in a siding yearning for a little love and affection,they were in a terrible state,paint flaking and faded,glazing cracked and frosted and the toplights had gone out of shape and broken,the interiors were not too bad and just really needed a tidy up.
I decided to do one at a time although both have been rubbed down to remove all the loose paint, broken windows and so on and while the first car was stripped down a freshen up of the seating and passengers sorted out,the weathered trucks I left as was just to give the impression of some use so now one car ready for lettering and numbers,new window glaze in,brush on colour then sprayed with a coat of satin varnish, a second coat for the letter board to go on once lettered,the toplights were beyond repair so I decided to fill them in with some styrene sheet and then painted to match the body colour,I will have to see what state they are in on the second car but might just do the same to match as they will run together anyway.Pics show progress so far,considering the state of them when I stared out the first one is now at least presentable and can join the varnish stock again,now on with the second one

 

[dunnyrail]

Oh dear, what a shame I love the tatty look, just the thing for a backwoods short of money line. Oh well never mind each to his own but the Malcolm Furlow look was to be be admired,

 

[Riograndad]

Oh dear, what a shame I love the tatty look, just the thing for a backwoods short of money line. Oh well never mind each to his own but the Malcolm Furlow look was to be be admired,

I did actually like the tatty look but they have to run with other cars so painted up to look pretty!as for old and worn out,my Lil` Hauler cars look that way as different railroad which reminds me another roundtoit as they need relettering

 

[Riograndad]

Both cars now about done,lettered and numbered,pic is of the second car,now ready for service,I managed to save the red toplights on this one.

 

[Riograndad]

Just as a follow on,the next job is to re bash a bash of a combine to drovers caboose back to combine,the car was retired after getting the Piko item and been sat in the garage ever since so now time to revive the car,the cupola to come off and the steps and internal detail to be stripped out,I should have some roof section left over(somewhere) to repair and replace the original roofline.The combine I had,an old LGB item is now out of service as damaged body so the new build will take its place then back to 10 cars on the passenger fleetAn old pic before it was retired,

 

[Eaglecliff]

I'm glad I've still got enough undercover storage for my rolling stock. (Locos live indoors.) But you never know...

 

[Eaglecliff]

I'm glad I've still got enough undercover storage for my rolling stock. (Locos live indoors.) But you never know...

Referring back to this admirable project, I have messed about with several of my own Bachmann coaches. However, having disassembled them for respraying, I have never troubled to reassemble the interior lighting which I find unnecessarily awkward. Has anyone come up with a somewhat easier, possibly PP3-powered, system, which is what Bachmann started with? And does anyone else reduce the number of pickups making contact with the wheels, which seem to me to achieve little more than excessive drag?

 

[JimmyB]

I assembled two of these, the first using the pickups which proved a problem, the second I ran wires rom the roof pickups to the floor and had far fewer problems

 

[Riograndad]

Referring back to this admirable project, I have messed about with several of my own Bachmann coaches. However, having disassembled them for respraying, I have never troubled to reassemble the interior lighting which I find unnecessarily awkward. Has anyone come up with a somewhat easier, possibly PP3-powered, system, which is what Bachmann started with? And does anyone else reduce the number of pickups making contact with the wheels, which seem to me to achieve little more than excessive drag?

I didn`t use any lighting on these cars as too the bashed bash from drovers caboose to normal combine,neither has my pay car bash but do have various other cars that are lit in various ways,my private car(every railroad tycoon should have one)is track powered with LGB marker lights added,two V&T cars are stock Bachmann PP3 battery powered,my Post Office car,my full baggage car are fitted with battery led desk lights and my Sierra cars(4) are now led striplight with round flat batteries that were made for 00 coaches but fit well in the shorter roofs, in these I used the off white LEDs for a vintage effect,the switches are in the toplight window above the WC.The extended Bachmann car bashes have stock battery lighting units,Doozie has the stock Delton unit,track powered. As a footnote,this section of track in the pics has been torn down and rebuilt. couple of old pics.

 

[Eaglecliff]

I can see I shall have to do some work...
Just as an aside, was there any "standard" way of arranging different passenger and baggage vehicle types within a rake? Such as, baggage van, or baggage end of a combine, always coupled to the tender? Passenger cars with an observation end and illuminated what's-it's-name at the rear, obviously? Did US railroads include e.g. boxcars or other vehicle types, within a passenger train? If so, where? Or was everything ad hoc, especially on more "backwoods" routes?

 

[Greg Elmassian]

For the USA there were definitely rules and conventions as to arranging cars within a "train" (assume rake is the equivalent)

For passenger trains, it was pretty much by function, although earlier trains were not as sophisticated as more modern trains.

From the head end (usually, and someone more knowledgeable correct me)

I'm not an expert here, but have researched consists of Santa Fe passenger trains a bit.

locomotive(s)
US Mail
Baggage
(combine) - this is the half baggage half passenger type
sometimes a box car with food for the passengers on long haul trains
coach cars - mostly seating
restaurant car(s) - these vary sometimes swapped with diner
diner
sleepers and 1st class
observation / lounge

This is a typical configuration... the sleepers were on the "other side" of the eating cars so that people going to eat did not walk through the people sleeping
likewise the 1st class cars were on the other side of the diners to help keep coach passengers away from 1st class.
Often the end car with the windows on the end was reserved for 1st class only.

Rarely were there combinations of freight with passenger cars other than short lines with very little traffic. (backwoods).

Greg

 

[Eaglecliff]

Thanks, Greg. Helpful as always. Now I can carry on running short, mixed trains through my own backwoods without too much worrying!

 

[Greg Elmassian]

I think mixed trains for short lines were not all that unusual..

Looks like the passengers were usually at the end.