I’ve been out for a while, busy with work, finishing up some old locomotives, doing some detailing etc., but im back now. I’ve taken on many more locomotives in the past year and plan on doing some extensive work to make them decent. One such locomotive is a Bachmann 2-10-4 “Texan”. I know what you’re thinking, “why would you get a bachmann” or “Its not worth it to re-do it”[%-)] but I just don’t find buying a locomotive and running it out ofthe box very entertaining; and besideds this, the newer 2-10-4’s are just so expensive. Being the guy I am, I did some research into remotoring a bachmann. I found a video by DarthSanteFe on a 4-8-4 Nigeria locomotive, but it seemed very brief and I want to make sure i’m doing it right. I want to remotor the 2-10-4 and possibly equip it with DCC in the future as the exterrior of the locomotive is, in my eyes, quite exquisite and beautifully detailed. If those in the community could please give some suggetions or ideas, it would be much appreciated.
You didn’t say witch Bachmann Texan you have, the pancake or Spectrum. My experience with the Bachmann pancake motor locomotives has been very poor. Its not just the motor, the drivers are terrible! The only thing useful in a Bachmann pancake motor locomotive is the shell.
I really like restoring locomotives too, out of my fleet of over 70 locomotives only 6 were bought new, they all run as good or better than they did new. I re-motored over 30 locomotives over the last 10 years.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
The one I’ve got is the vintage pancake motor. I too have also heard of bachmann’s poor drivers, but have personally not experienced any failures with the ones I’ve had for at least five years. would you have any ideas for driver or gear replacement choices?
The only Bachmann steam locomotives I’ve had problems with were the GS4s with the pancake motors. All the drivers literally fell off, all seven GS4s. I tried several patches, all failed. As long as Bachmann had parts I did my best to repair them because they are a good looking locomotive. I tried to use some Spectrum wheels on the pancake locomotives but that was a waste of money. I put a lot of time into making a brass frame and using the Spectrum wheels. It worked pretty good but it wasn’t worth the all time or money invested.
I’ve built two brass frames for Rivarossi artidulateds that work better than the originals.
I think if you can find some drivers that would fit (not Bachmann) you might get it working although the side rods might give you a hard time.
My thing is doing the same as you on locomotives. I would rather sit at my workbench and overhaul or kitbash an older locomotive than run my trains. But not the pancake Bachmanns.
I tried searching for some new 63" drivers but was only able to find some under a company called “Boxpox”, who were charging $18 per axel, not to mention they dont have any geared drivers. I would look at my locomotives wheel conditions, but im away from it right now. I do know the gear is plastic, so I do want to change the gear to extend its use, but I don’t know how. I’m thinking I might try one of Rivarossi’s gears, as they’re metal and can slide off the axel, but I don’t know if its the same for the Bachmann.
I think you will find the plastic center coupling axle has square ends that plug on to the metal axle from the wheel. The plastic serves as an insulator and the short metal axle from the wheel is for power pickup to the frame. The Bachmann frame is split in the center lengthwise, one side right rail the other left rail with insulators between the frame sections. Not an easy fix using a solid metal axle.
I really don’t like sounding negative but the pancake motor Bachmann isn’t even up to toy standards. The only fix for the drivers is the plastic center axle. I tried replacing the plastic but you have to be exact or the wheels won’t be quartered correctly.
If you go with a regular axle (metal) with one wheel insulated for one rail power pickup then the tender wheels can be used for the other rail to pick up power. You will have to isolate the power in the chassis to prevent a short.
I put way to many hours and $$$ into trying to make pancake Bachmanns run and finally ended up selling them on eBay for parts.
My two cents: if the engine runs, enjoy it while it lasts. I also think that remotoring will likely lead to disapointment. I tried to fix the gears on an old Bachmann 2-8-2 with broken gears, and I also dug myself into a hole. Use it and keep it for parts for your other projects when the driveline fails.
I’ve examined the drivers, and they appear to be just fine. I haven’t found any cracks or splittings on them and the gear looks fine. With this info I would say that the wheels don’t need replacement in the immediate future. I did notice however that the geared driver has a very thin gear. This worries me because i don’t want the gear to break during operation. Would it at all be possible to change the gear for another or add on to it? I can’t tell from looking if it can be removed and i don’t want to break the driver finding out. If it can’t be removed, then I have a problem with finding a replacement. After comparing the supposedly 63"wheels with some 68" wheels, i found them to be bigger than the 68’s. This confuses me to some extent, but I’ll look into it more tomorrow.
My self I wouldn’t attempt to change the gear, the old saying is “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it”.
I wouldn’t disturb the wheels if they’re OK, that is the weakest point in the pancake locomotives. Every single axle on my seven GS4s broke over time. Some hadn’t been run in months and fell off sitting in my display cabinet, some fell off while running.
The very early pancake locomotives had round ends on the plastic axle, when they come loose you will need to re-quarter them and they will easily slip even using CA to glue them together. That is why I sold all seven of my GS4s for parts on eBay, too much trouble.
I kept the shells, I used the GS4 shells to kitbash Rivarossi Cab Forwards into AC-9 Yellowstones.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
Thanks for the info, one more question though, have you expereinced the gear itself breaking or the axels. I wonder because the gear looks dangerously thin and I dont want it to break, as I am still thinking of fixes for different scanarios. If the gear is strong despite its size, I’ve found an old worm gear I pulled off a cannon motor some years ago that fits the teeth almost perfectly. If the gear can suffice, then I plan on removing the Pancake motor, modifying the chasis, inserting a new motor (proably a cannon of some sorts) and using the worm gear for a Mantua or Rivarossi type gear transition to the wheels. I am also considering looking at some newer gear boxes provided by companies like NSWL, which seem to be perfect for this kind of job.
Well, in my case (one Lionel GS-4 and one 2-8-2, both with pancake motors), the gears connected to the motor were fine. The axle gears were the weak links in the chain. They break or become loose. The GS-4 also had a valve linkage issue, but that’s another story.
OK, a couple of things come to mind. 1) and very important . . . remember the frame is two pieces that are insolated, left and right rail. 2) the Bachmann plastic is the main issue with the pancake motor locomotives. The Wheels themselves work OK, it’s the plastic axle insulator that causes all the problems.
The plastic gear portion shouldn’t be a problem, it’s the plastic axle. The plastic will crack easily if any stress is applied to the driver. Remember that plastic isn’t a spring chicken, its old and old plastic cracks easily.
The plastic used in the Bachmann pancake motor locomotives wasn’t the best brand new. I’m pretty sure the locomotive you have will be approaching 25 years. I junked out all of mine in the 2008 with cracked axles.
I think that someone good at 3D CAD could draw up the plastic insulator and have it printed with a 3D printer using a high grade material that would be permanent fix for the Bachmann axles.
&
I see…I’m going to put some thought into th locomotive tonight. I’ve got a couple of Ideas on the axels themselves, but for now I am going to see how long they last. Should a driver break, I plan on utilizing the leftover parts sheets I have from my model building hobby. The sheets have circular bar like construction and are extremely strong (I had one crushed under my desk for years before it was moved and the part still kept its origional shape with little deformation). Using a small box the size of the drivers, I could insert one driver, insert the axel, and insert the next driver in the required position. The box would make the drivers aligned and prevent them from angling or moving while the bonding agent (I’m not sure what to use) could solidify the wheels. I only plan to enact this repair if and when the wheels break, but I hope to get an elongated use out of them. As you’ve said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”[(-D], so I will attempt to retain the origional parts unless otherwise needed. Since you’ve said the gear is resiliant, I don’t plan on replacing it, rather, I think I will use the origional drive mechanism with an added NWSL gear for better contact with the new motor gear. Any recomendations or changes to the peramiters I’ve laid out would be great, as im only hypothosizing this right now. I proably wont begin the remotoring process for a month or so as I’m still gathering funds after the locomotive’s purchase.
If you need any help the guys at NWSL are great and their products are excellent.
It takes a lot to ding me when it comes to my trains but the pancake Bachmanns made it happen. I’ve restored a bunch of locomotives, over 60, and the only non successful ones were the pancake motor Bachmanns.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I appreciate the help. I’m going to try my idea of using a small box to correct the drivers on a new axel with some Mantua or Rivarossi drivers before I move onto the bachmann ones. If the process works, then there is now a new and (if all goes to plan) easy method of fixing the bachmann drivers. If not, I’ll have to find another way of either repairing or replacing the drivers. Should the process work, all I would need to do to finish the conversion is (possible) order one of the NWSL gears I was looking at (I think the regular gear system might be just high enough over the weight to use the origional), Isolate the motor chasis from the two weights, and insert the motor.
The motor should have plenty of space as the shell is mostly empty beyond the motor, and if I can position it right, the worm gear on the motor should be able to operate with the new or origional gears. This is highly hypothetical and I will spend some time viewing the locomotive and seeing what works. If anyone has any suggestions for what to use or how to do something, please let me know, as i’m used to working with older, simpler locomotives and not the strange, multi-geared bachmanns.
