Oh. I never knew about the intermediate version, I thought the plus line/spectrum line was the same as the first production types.
You learn something new everyday!
Charles
Thanks steam freak. i was starting to feel interagated… the engine is excatly how you say it. except it looks like the previous owner put metal wheels for the tender or these are in fact the ones you are speaking of. i think they are the origanil wheels. trainman… you need to relax and not assume that i am wrong sir. you know what they say about the word assume… now that we are back on track… pun intended… lol. what could be causeing the no.4 driver to do this? i already know that i need to open her up to put greece in the gears and oil the motor. and is this fixeable?
sorry, for going overboard!
But I was just asking to know what version you had, because they all had different methods of opening.
Now that thats over…
Im still extremey confused.
You say you had the most recent version, now you say you have the version that STEAMFREAK said, which is the 2nd most recent version…
So which one is it?!?
Since I have no clue which version you have, I guess I’ll tell you how to open all 3 verions
Bachmann standard: cheap, made before 90’ white box with clear front
1.Find screw under the rear trailing truck. Unscrew
2.lift shell over chassis.
Bachmann plus: version that steamfreak described. Oversized white box.
- See Bachmann standard
Bachmann standard line: DCC equipped, blue box, most recent version with no plastic axles. with wires connecting the engine to the tender
-
Locate the 2 holes near the trailing truck.
-
Inside the holes should be screws. Unscrew.
-
Located hole/slot near the leading truck.
-
There is a screw deep inside that hole. Unscrew.
Well good luck!
Charles
Split center gears. Contact Bachmann and send it back for repairs. I will tie in to engine repairs with out a worry. But drive wheels of a steam enigne is another story! Very few folks here at the site have the tools or skills to repair steam drive wheels.
Cuda Ken
I agree with Ken, the Bachmann warranty is probably the best bet. Though still in their standard line, the modern version is superior to the original one you have. The $25 for a replacent would be well worth it. I’d probably quarter it if it were mine, since I’ve repaired quite a few of their Reading 2-8-0’s. I guess I’m stubborn. [swg]
Charles, the Plus line was short-lived, but was their first step away from pancake motors. They came in a gray presentation box with a foam insert. The Reading 2-8-0’s also got square keyed axles, but to my knowledge the Northerns never did. Go figure.
I have another version which opens differently, yet again. Mine is Bachmann item 50205 American Freedom Train with DCC. You can get confused by the diagram because there are posts on the underbody used to support the DCC chip and to locate and support the two weights, but there is only one post on the top of the shell. As you describe, there is a hole on the bottom of the underbody just in front of the rear truck and the screw is deep (there is a hole in the circuit board through which your screw driver must go to reach the screw!). If you remove this one screw, then spread apart the top of the shell where the toolbox is modeled (there is a small lip on either side), a gentle tug will separate the two. Be careful! There is a protrusion in the underbody that fits into a slot on the shell at the front of the tender near the drawbar pin. So if you need more force to remove the underbody, push on the truck from front to rear to slide lip on the underbody out of the slot in the top of the shell. Finally, the shell is still connected to the underbody via the two wires from the circuit board to the LED in the rear of the tender. These wires are long enough not to be a problem, just take care!
This is easier to do than it sounds. The circuit has a standard 8 pin plug and I plan to put a tsunami decoder and speaker in the tender.
Dave
This thread is a year old if you did not notice.
Rich