Bachmann has redone the drive mechanism on the 2-8-0 consolidation and made it part of the standard line. It’s using a BELT DRIVE mechanism.
Why would Bachmann institute on old drive system that was abandoned years ago because of it’s problems is beyond me. They claimed it was so they could hide the drive gear.
Any ideas?
Get the old ones while you can.
I been told here at the site a few years ago there belt drive is very reliable and strong. It has teeth built into the gears and belt so it will not slip. Plus a belt will absorb vibration. When I was building my Blower Motor that when in to my Charger I found out I did not have to run my Harmonic Balancer, the Blower Belt would absorb the vibration. I still ran my Balancer.
Cuda Ken
There is nothing wrong with a belt-drive, if the belt is made of quality materials and has got “teeth”. In former times, the belts were made out of rubber and had a tendency to slip.
I am not quite sure about Bachmann being able to make quality belt - drives.
The Spectrum 2-8-0 I bought over 4 years ago has a belt drive.
When I got it the gear/pulley that holds the belt was slipping on the motor drive shaft.
I had to disassemble it and superglue them together.
Bachmann has been using the cog belt drive for some time. Where have you been?
They are now calling some of the Spectrum line, Standard line… Join the Bachmann forum and keep up with things. There is also a diagram page with PDF dcouments of the drive systems. Quite a few of the steamers use the cog belt drive. I have the cog belt drive in the Spectrum 4-4-0 and 4-6-0. It is a very realiable drive system.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php
Rich
Like Rich said, where have you been?
The 4-8-2, 2-8-0, 2-10-0, 4-4-0, 4-6-0 all have cog belt drives that work great.
The 2-8-0 has been moved to the regular line but is no different from when it was a Spectrum loco. They did not “redue” anything.
This is part of Bachmann’s continuing quality advancement program. Same was done with the GE 70ton diesel. It was re-released with a better drive but was actually moved from the Spectrum line to the Standard line.
The newest Standard line locos are equal or better than the first Spectrums years ago - and they all keep getting better.
I have about 30 Bachmann locos, mostly Spectrum, mostly ones with the belt drive. They all run great.
Sheldon
My nine USRA Heavy Mountains, eight 2-8-0’s and two 4-6-0’s all run great. Do you own any to be a judge or just going on all the Bachmann bashing of products from over 30 years ago?
And not one of them cost me more than $120 - Quality and VALUE.
In fact I will put the Bachmann Spectrum USRA Heavy Mountain against any loco at any price in terms of running quality, detail and pulling power.
Sheldon
You must have just crawled out from under a rock – Bachmann has been using a cog belt drive for several years and no one but you has ever complained about it. I and fellow club members have close to 50 Bachmann Spectrum locomotives with cog belt drives and not a single one has ever been a problem.
You are all quite right.
I’m a little red faced right now. I thought it was a return of the rubber band drive system that was used from years past. I didn’t realize it was a cog drive belt.
My appologies for any confusion is might have caused.
I also have a Spectrum 2-8-0 and 2-10-0. Both of them have Bachmann’s cogged belt drive, and both are some of my smoothest and quietest steam engines. Bachmann’s been using the same belt drive in their 2-8-0 since they first released it in the late 90s, and I’ve almost never heard of a belt failure of any kind.
Bachmann’s a completely different company than they used to be. Give one of their belt driven steam engines a try. You’ll love it.[:D]
Gotta agree on the mountain–One great train
Belt drives in model railroading (and other areas) got a very bad rep in the '50s and '60s because of poor implementations. The Athearn Hi-F - aka rubber band drive - was an example. Poor quality belts or bands, poor bearings, cogging motors, and insufficient RPM reduction were just some of the problems. Truth be told, a good belt drive requires as much engineering as a gear drive.
Lawn tractors haven’t used gear drives for the mower deck since the days of Gravely. Lower torque helicopters use belt drives for the tail rotor to save weight over a gear transmission. Many automobile engines use belt drives for the cam shaft instead of timing chains - again to save weight. And look at the serpentine belts used for all the accessories on your car engine.
Belt drives have come back into being in model locomotives for several reasons:
Its basicly the same as a computer printer drive or xerox machine. Those use lots of cogged belt drives in them and run till the machine is so outdated that it cant be used anymore, rarely do the belts fail. Now if Bachmann can get the cogged pulleys to stop splitting like the gears in so many of these Chinese sourced models we will be doing good. They have definatly come a long ways since the Bachmann trains of my youth.
I have a 1996 Gravely 16G complete with telescoping drive shaft and differential to drive the one belt on the 50", three blade mower deck - a real machine of the highest quality, one of the last of its kind!
It just finshed pushing the two 30" snowfalls we had over the last two weeks as well.
They don’t build stuff like that anymore. Gravely tractors and Checker automobiles, two things that were truely built to last.
Sheldon
I have to agree. Min was wired backwards at the factory, and I had to replace the drive. It ran great at the club, despite dragging three arms of its drive rods on the ground due to the num-dum holding the throttle losing the side screws, and one of the valve arms on the left side…