I recently picked up to vintage locomotives over the past week. One is an old Rivarossi 0-6-0 switcher(I picked that up for $11.00), and a 1960s Bachmann UP Diesel(No Link at this time). I picked up the old diesel for a collection, but I plan to run the Rivarossi, and maybe even the Diesel sometimes.
Now, for my question. I want to know what I should first do for the steamer and maybe for the diesel. I know about cleaning wheels and such, but I don’t know how you really clean steam wheels, or single truck pickup… I’d also like some help about lubricating it up and such.
Hello I also like vintage locos and such I just tear it down and clean the holething and lube all moveing parts as far as cleaning wheels i use a q tip and 90% alkhul.and that seams to woek fine for me most of my vintage stuff ix from the 40s-50s dads old stuff.hope this helps frank
As 0-6-0 said, best thing is to disassemble the loco and clean it up and relube. Most times this is all you need.
As too the diesel, just because its a bachmann, don’t discount it. If it really is from the 1960’s there is a good chance this has the mechanism that consisted of a large heavy frame, with an adequate 5 pole motor, RP-25 wheels, 8 wheel drive, solid pickups and a reputatioin for quality. For a time bachmann supplied AHM with a model of the EMC/D FT locomotive. The mechanism in this loco was so robust it was used without alteration under several importers brass locomotive shells.
For the Rivarossi, clean all the old grease out and re-oil it with some better quality light oil for the bearings and grease for the metal gears. The wheels can be cleaned with alcohol, or Goo-Gon, or an abrasive block. Only use a block if the dirt is really thick. After that, it should be a very nice runner.[:D]
Bachmann actually didn’t sell any engines until 1970, and their first one was the F9A. The GP40, which is what you most likely got, came out not much later. If you get the 8 wheel drive version, you can tell how old it is by the color of the frame. On the oldest ones, the frame is green on the bottom and sky blue on top(or the other way around). Later ones are all black. The wheels can be cleaned the same way as on the Rivarossi 0-6-0, and the gears can be greased. I don’t think the old Bachmann 8 wheel drives came with any oil anywhere. I bought a mint in the box F9A (8 wheel drive), and the gears didn’t have any grease or oil at all.
Carey said:For a time bachmann supplied AHM with a model of the EMC/D FT locomotive. The mechanism in this loco was so robust it was used without alteration under several importers brass locomotive shells.
Carey,Which brand of brass engines had that drive? The only diesel drive I can recall brass diesels having was the old KMT drive-except the Tenshodo diesels.Tenshodo had their own drive…
Quite correct there Darth, both an F and a GP unit, but I believe that Bachmann made trains for several companies as well before they were sold under the Bachmann name. I remember reading a history of the company several years ago and IIRC, it stated that long before Kader ever bought the company, Bachmann was a manufacturer of, but not a retailer of “several lines” of trains.
From what I remember(The link is on my mom’s computer), it resembled something like this. I haven’t paid for it, so I don’t expect to get it any time soon…
Alright…I got my little steamer. It’s actually pretty nice! Like I expected, it needs some work, but I’ll do it at my grandpa’s house. I took pictures and a video of it running with my digi camera…just trying shit out. THe quality of the video sucks though…I’m going to try to do it again.
Start with removing the screw on the bottom of the frame between the cylinders. The challenge is undoing the slot and tab above the rear coupler without damaging things. It may look like a screwdriver could be used to pry the body shell over the tab, but this strategy is certain to leave marks in the plastic or even crack the body. As far as typical maintenance goes, all gears are accessible by simply removing the driving wheel cover plate.
I found that not too long after I posted my Help reply, I found the tabs and used two minitaure flatheads to pry it off(After I removed both screws on the bottom of the chassie). Thanks for your help though. BTW, I didn’t scratch, knick, or break/bend!
I did find out that the body is very bad, as far as paint goes. Aparently, the body must have sat out of the box, under the harmful sun(UV Rays) and once I put the body under hot water almost all of the paint(Including the black) came off. I removed to little spots of paint using a que-tip and some nailpolish remover, and am planning to totally repaint the whole thing, and add some nice details to it, as well as change the road name and number to my prototype.
Under the body all is well, just some cleaning would be nice. I’m thinking of replacing the light wires(Cut and split) and the LED, as well as cleaning up the pickups and wheels. I’m also going to TRY to fit a decoder in there, so it runs on DCC.
Now, I have experiance with motors, and want to clean this one. Now I’m having a hard time getting the motor out. Is there an easy way to do this, and how can I clean THIS motor(I’m used to high-preformance brushless motors). I’m also planning on adding Kadee Couplers.
Thanks,
Spit
EDIT: I’m also having trouble getting the part in red on the part in blue, and if I don’t do that, the red part drops and it comes out of the cylinder. I can’t find any logical way to put it on, nor any grooves. Help would be appreciated!
