Hello all,
I have been progressing well with my layout and came to run my scratch built 0-4-0 steam loco, the one shown in my posts a short while back and found the chassis reluctant to run. It has an improvised pick up on the platform side but that appears kind of ok. I should like to contact Ian Turner with a view to a possible overhaul. If Ian reads this or anyone with his details could kindly pass the following e-mail address on to him i would greatly appreciate this. mastergriff1@hotmail.co.uk. Thanks all, Mike.
Just had a look at the photos - is it a Bachmann 0-4-0 chassis that you used?
If it is they are not the best engineered beasties. One of the main issues is that the metal wheels have stub axles on the back that fit into a plastic axle muff that incoporates the gear and due to a problem with the tolerances the stub axle often splits the axle muff! You could try to repair the muff but that is not too easy - the plastic does not take superglue too well (though a thourough de greasing in meths may help), it is an odd size to fit a collar too and I have only had limited success with 'welding' the joint with a fine tipped soldering iron. Getting spares from Bachmann for these older chassis is near impossible, but alternative parts might be useful. N-Drive Productions' chassis use a similar (but better engineered) set up and I understand that the axle muffs are interchangeable into the Bachmann chassis, and another alternative is to use gears from the Bachmann Plymouth diesel (I think) chassis.
The other option is to replace the chassis. You could go for another Bachmann 0-4-0 (ask Brian Guilmant to keep his eyes open), but there is a likelyhood that you'll end up in the same situation somewhere down the line sooner of later. The better option in the long term would be to go for a new N-Drive chassis, and nevell does a Bachmann replacement that should fit into your loco, but bear in mingd that your loco's body may need a little modification.
Hi guys n gals;
Thanks all for your help with this, Ian has contacted me through the bush telgraph, i had already sent the loco off the previous evening to a doctor in the UK and am awaiting results as the doctor said to the parent.
Julien, thanks for your info, i shall leave the thread up for others to see. meanwhile lets just cross our fingers and hope the little mite pulls through.
Thanks again for your help all. Mike.
Hi again, with ref to the above, deceased chassis. I sent my 0-4-0 and a farish DMU chassis to B.R.Lines in the UK. I recently contacted them for a progress report.
They recieved my chassis 29th July and entered them in the que, at this date there are 200 approx. in front of mine and a target of 10 weeks, give or take, to attendance.
I,d better do some landscape so!
Mike
Hi Mike
I think that it should be pointed out that the Bachmann 0-4-0 chassis were a very cheap unit. They were sold for