I have an old Bachmann Reading 2-8-0 Consolidation and the motor died. This is long out of production of couse and while Bachmann will replace under the lifetime warrenty, I’d rather repower if there are parts out there. Does anyone know of any?
While I’m not at all familiar with the Bachmann Consolidation, I suspect there are a number of motors and parts on the North West Short Line (www.nwsl.com) site that would work. It’s a pretty info dense site and not real well laid out, but you should be able to find something that would work. Another possibility would be to check out anything your LHS might have. My guy has some motors meant for Athearns and so on that would probably work and your local guy might also. Maybe some drive line parts, a blob of silicone for a motor mount, a little solder, an’ yer good to go. When you get her fixed up, post some pics for us.
Lou
You can return the loco with a check for $15.00 and get a replacement 2-8-0, DCC ready without a purchase receipt. Go to the Bachmann site and click on Service. Seems much easier to me.
I did that with an older Spectrum two motor 44 ton and got a single motor DCC ready. For a diesel, it cost $10.00.
You can contact Dave at NWSL for re-motor advise. He does answer email.
Rich
Does your 2-8-0 have the flat pancake motor and double reduction gear drive? If so, there are only a couple options.
One is to find Bowser’s repower kit. It replaces pretty much everything except the shell, and it’ll run forever once it’s done. It will also be more powerful.
The other option is to find another Bachmann 2-8-0 and use the motor from it. I believe the motors were interchangable.
It may also be possible to use a flat CD drive motor in place of the original, but I’m not sure if that would be very difficult or not. You’d probably have to mill some of the frame out for it to fit.
Once upon a time; Bowser offered a chassis kit for the model:
http://bowser-trains.com/hoemrrs/mechanisms/351.htm
If you send you model to Bachmann (as suggested above); you will NOT get a Reading Consolidation back, because they do not have any, most likely they will send you one of the new 2-8-0.
Is yours a Plus version, or the original? The Plus has a can motor with a larger worm/flywheel driving a worm gear on one of the axles. The original has a sidewinder motor driving a spur gear train.
I would look for a new Spectrum 2-8-0 or the latest DCC equipped Bachmann 2-8-0, and perform surgery, if you want a Reading 2-8-0.
If you are not fussy about having a Reading 2-8-0 - sell it; there are many people who will pay top $ for a Reading 2-8-0 operating or not.