What's this in my Bachmann 4-4-0 box?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hey guys. I’m new at this train stuff and just bought a Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0 American (Modern). I was kind of surprised when I opened the box and there were no instructions inside, just an exploded view drawing of the engine. Anyway, there is a little bag with black powder stuff in the box. I was thinking it might be used to better replicate the coal in the tender. Does anyone know what this bag is for and how I use it?

Thanks.

Jesse

2

If it Is a small bag about 1" long and made of a paper material it is probably a desicant to absorb any airborn moisture and prevent rusting.

3

If yours is similar to what I had in my Spectrum Shay box then it is designed to be used as a coal load in the tender. This bag of coal was placed in the tender and with a 1:1 mixture of white glue/water (with one drop of liquid detergent added as a wetting agent) the coal was glued in place.

Wayne

4

Definitely not desicant.

My tender has molded on coal. So I’m assuming that I brush on a 1:1 mix of water and white glue onto the molded on coal and then sprinkle the “coal” in the bag over the molded on coal. Is that correct? It’s only a little bit of “coal” in the bag. Not enough to fill the whole tender.

Jesse

5

What I did was sprinkle the coal on top of the molded coal and then applied the white glue/water mixture. One drop of liquid detergent is added to this mixture which aides the spreading of the glue mixture evenly throughout the coal layer. It won’t take much glue, just a few drops here there, and you should be able to see the glue mixture spread. One can touch up any disturbance in the coal layer before the glue dries. This is very similar process to applying and gluing ballast to the track.

Wayne

6

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Jesse

7

I just bought the Spectrum 3 truck Climax and the instructions were under a paper lining in the bottom of the box. The lining was printed like the inside of the box and was hard to see.

Jim

8

Jesse,

You’re welcome glad to help. Sometimes I use isopropyl alcohol as a wetting agent instead of liquid detergent. I’ll use a small spray bottle of the alcohol to pre-wet the ballast before adding the white glue/water mixture. This would also work with the coal but one needs to be careful about getting the alcohol on the locomotive as it can attack the paint and lettering. So, to be on the safe side you may want to only use liquid detergent as the wetting agent for gluing the coal on the tender.

Wayne