Because I am handy’ but not handsome, (tip o’ th’ hat to Red Green), I get many orphan MR items submitted to me for surgery. A friend handed me an old N&W Bachmann “J” that he said he purchased off e-bay and said it was DOA.
Apparently one of those 60’s or early 70’s models. It was clearly marked, made in Hong Kong. This was when Bachmann was doing battle with Model Power for the honor of the worst manufacturer of HO steam locos.
Symptom: Motor runs after a fashion…No wheel motion. I removed the two screws that held the body shell on and the motor and gear box are an all-in one, white plastic affair. I stopped right there, assuming gears slipping on shafts or the like.
Anyone ever see this setup or problem? Probably not worth the time and effort on such a feather weight model.
I hate to give up on things but sometimes those older engines are better being used as display queens… I’ve got the exact same model and the motor is good but the gears went bad in it after only a few hours of run time so it now sits on a shelf out in my train room. About all you can do is try and find a replacement for the motor by buying a junker that has broken rods but a good motor that can be salvaged. You’ll find these quite often on ebay for just a few dollars…
Symptoms of split axles on the main drive wheels. Bachmann’s very poorly designed drive system on those models was to use plastic sleeves into which the drive wheels with the eccentric crank were pressed. The sleeves look like nylon, which no glue will stick to, and the metal axles on the drive wheels are rather short.
If you remove the side rods, the wheels will probably just fall off the model.
I believe North West Short Line and maybe even Bowser made replacement gearboxes and/or a new chassis for that model, but they cost more than the original and may no longer be available. In my opinion, it’s not worth the cost of repair.
Thanks for the tips and advice. I sort of arrived at that conclusion, but thought someone might have had this happen and apparently it is as common as the sea sickness with these Bachmann, Model Power and Life Like models of the late 60’s and 70’s.
Like so many things of that era, they died along with disco, mirrored rotating ceiling balls and lava lamps.
My friend may try and get his money back. Note: He is not an MR and just thought it was cool. Perhaps it will wind up a mantle queen as suggested.
Those early “train set” type locomotives was to be avoid…Bachmann’s “pancake” motor got top honors of being the worst motor ever produce…Its life expectancy was in hours.
Just for fun…A lot of us would buy the Bachmann “white box” GP30 and toss the drive and put the 30 shell on a Athearn GP35 drive.We ended up with a decent GP30 for around $20.00(street via mail order)—recall there was no P2K locomotives back then.