Suitable loco for US 0-2-0 chassis

[clanky]

Bought at a local exhibition , I have a N guage US style outside cylinder 0-4-0 ( in British wheel arrangement ) . Manufacturer unknown , the colour is black and lettered B&O on the saddle tank sides , numbered 99 .
Question , is there a suitable loco body to fit and if so how easy !!!! ? .
Any help will be very welcome .

[Hobby]

If its a Bachmann several will - can you get a piccy of it for us?

[JulienW]

Both Bachmann and Atlas produced an 0-4-0 saddle tank in B&O livery, and  there are (at lest) 2 versions of the Bachmann 0-4-0.

I have not seen enough Atlas locos to know how to confirm that they ARE an Atlas chassis.  There are not (to the best of my knowledge) any 009 body kits designed to fit this chassis, and whilst there may have been something made in HOn30 for the American market the chassis is probably quite old so such kits would be very difficult to get (and expensive if you found one)

If it is a 'mark one' bachmann it will have very good looking black plastic Walscherts style valve gear.  Unfortunately, this type has a motor which is fixed to the body and not the chassis. If you check out Nigel Lawton's website he has some notes on fitting one of his Bachmann re-motoring kits to this type of chassis which may solve the 'loose motor' problem.  Because the original motor is fixed to the body, and the chassis block is different to the "mark two", most (if not all) the body kits designed for the Bachmann 0-4-0 will not be any good because they need the 'mark two' chassis.

If it is a "mark two" bachmann it will have pressed metal valve gear, but this will be a simplified version of the Walscherts.  This is the type that will fit all those body kits that say they use the Bachmann 0-4-0, as the "mark two" was the only type of Bachamann 0-4-0 in production when all the kits were designed and sold.


To look at the problem the other way around, if it is a mark two then getting a body to fit will be easy as the kit (and there are a lot) will have been designed with that chassis in mind.  The Atlas chassis MIGHT fit, and the same goes for the mark one bachmann, but you will need to modify the chassis, body or both in some way in order to get a running locomotive, and even then such conversions may not be possible.

Sorry to pass on bad news. :(

There is a plus side though - hopefully you have a running chassis bought for an acceptable amount of money.  If you do, why not use it as the start of scratch building project.  Just building a new cab in keeping with 4 mm scale from sheet plastic (or cardboard) to fit over the N scale one will give you anew 009 loco, and if you wanted to go further you could use one of the Dapol OO gauge styrene Pug kits for parts to make up your own loco, or make more parts yourself to make a side tank (as opposed to a saddle tank) loco.

It may not seem as easy as building a kit, but once you have decided what you want to make it is just a case of making the parts to you own kit, then building this kit.  I usually draw these ideas on paper first, as it is easier to make changes with an eraser then to alter cut plastic parts, and don't forget that as plastic sheet is quite cheap it is better to cut a new part that is right than to try to work with wrongly cut out or broken ones.

At the end of that you will have a loco different to anyone else's and will be able to say that you did it all yourself - particularly when some asks whose kit it is! ;D

[MickT]

............Manufacturer unknown , the colour is black and lettered B&O on the saddle tank sides , numbered 99 .

I have a mark 1 Bachman - but the body is long gone so I can't confirm the markings on the saddle tank,
a mark 2 Bachman which is lettered for Santa Fe and is number 116
and a Rivarossi (Atlas) that is the same as the one quoted - ie B&O number 99, so unless the Bachmans had a variety of liveries/or the mark 1 includes a B&O no. 99, then I would guess that the loco is a Rivarossi or Atlas depending upon which part of the world Clanky is in? (I'm guessing not UK as you used the 0-2-0 wheel descriptor and referred to it being an 0-4-0 "in British wheel arrangement")

If it is a Rivarossi, the wheels are slightly smaller than the Bachman and there are metal coupling rods and very simplified metal valve gear. The body is held on with a screw half way along the saddle tank and if you remove the body you will find that the saddle-shaped weight is one-piece integral with a square shaped weight around the rear mounted motor - the Bachman only has the saddle-shaped weight.

I think Julien's suggestion is your best option - to use either kit components for a new cab or scratchbuild one from plastic card and in its simplest form, you can use the saddle tank from the original body or even just the saddle-shaped weight to emulate the boiler and superglue larger dome, chimney and safety valves onto it and hey presto a simple but effective and original 009 loco!

Simon Wilson of the Sussex Downs Group has just about the simplest conversion of one of these dock tanks that is possible - just the boiler weight with an 009 chimney on it and an open cab at the back to make a quarry type engine - very effective it is too. Charlie Insley has gone one further and clad a square tank shape around the boiler weight and with new chimney and open cab at the back he created a very effective looking Neilson box tank.

Mick

[JulienW]

Thanks for that Mick - I knew that someone other than Bachmann had done one of these but not what the differences were.

[clanky]

Gents , thanks for all the info , sadly I've discarded the body so the simple solution is a
no no . Lots of research to do , I must admit to thinking of a scratchbuild option .
By the way ' Julien W ' it is a mark 2 .
Again many thanks to everyone .

[noah43]

Thanks for the useful information and ideas.  I picked up an unidentified  Bachmann American 0-4-0 quite cheaply at a local toy fair, a good runner as well.  Only markings were the number 98 on the front.  This has now identified it as a mark 2, and given me a few ideas as to what to do with it.

Robert

[clanky]

Sorry for the delay in answering , busy with scratch building sheds etc .
Managed to salvage what remains of the loco body but of no use , thanks to my constant companion Willie Rekit ! ( still he means well ) ..
Can confirm that it is a Rivarossi , it looks like it's been run on the carpet ! full of bits and bobs .Not sure if I can clean the main gear and motor , looks like a solid block , tempted to use wd 40 ?. cheers clanky .

[vulcan]

Hello there,
Not sure what it may be called in your neck of the woods, but for safe cleaning of electrical/electronic items I use Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) - should be available at electronics stores (Radio Shack?).

Hope this helps & good luck

Ken

[noah43]

Isopropyi alcohol can be obtained from some model shops or electronics suppliers, can be expensive.  Your local pharmacy MIGHT be prepared to let you have some.  If you use WD40 it is advisable to clean it of within 48 hrs or so as it can adversely affect some materials over a period of time.

Robert

[Graeme Dunbar]

Sadly it is getting harder to buy "raw" chemicals. There was a time when it was easy to buy stuff but now it is difficult (at least in the UK). I am sure it is partly Health and Safety, but a lot has to do with "value added products". There is no profit in selling raw materials.

For cleaning, if it is difficult to buy plain (is "reagent grade" the correct term??) isoproyl alcohol then places like Maplin in the UK and presumably Digikey in the US sell it "tarted up" in aerosol cans with or without additives, e.g.:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/searchtemplate.asp?criteria=SERVISOL%20SWITCH%20CLEANING
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=28994&C=Froogle&U=28994&T=Module
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/48745.pdf

The upside is that should say a visiting youngster try to drink the stuff, with all the information that is provided now, the hospital can find the appropriate information quicky.

I was going to say that the model railway retail supply industry fails to provide this information and instead has cryptic messages on its labels, but I thought I had better check my facts and noticed that on one bottle I have, the numbers 205-634-3 appear. I Googled Health and safety 205-634-3 and lo and behold the EC regulations appear and it turns out to be 1-5% Oxalic acid. Hence it should be possibly to find out what is really in all the bottles that appear in the trade stands in model railway exhibitions. Another quick check to confirm it was not a fluke and I find that similar pattern of numbers appear on the tiny bottle of acetone I bought from Super Drug.