Bachmann rail truck, anyone have any experience?

Martino

Martino

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One of the US on line stores is selling Bachmann rail trucks at $79. Not that this fits in with my English narrow gauge theme, but then there is a farm on the South Buckinghamshire and the farmer (based on the father of a mate of mine) had a tendency to canibalise old Bentlys to power harvesting machines and other farm machinery in the war and during the fourties and fifties, so my assumption is that had the local narrow gauge really existed, he may have gone down this route. I think I could butcher this truck into a Bentley look alike.

Has anyone any experience of running these on DCC track power and with sound? I've read George Schreyer's review and that sounds encouraging with the ESU Locsound 3.5. Just wondering what the thoughts were here?

I may even be open to doing a battery conversion, but I've no idea where to start with battery.
 
I found it impossible to make a decoder (non-sound) work following the wiring instructions with the railtruck. Maybe that's just me. I took all the internal gubbbins out and wired a decoder (Massoth XL) in traditional fashion between track and motor. It may well be that some of the internal gubbins controls the LEDs, but I am a bulb person and just wired in my bulbs to the decoder. I only used the chassis anyway for my railbus. There are two weaknesses in the chassis: the collar which holds the universal joint at the gearbox end can work loose and needs to be properly secured (the two little screws are sometime not quite right); and the prop shaft is a push fit at both ends (gearbox and rear diff.) leading to jerkiness when the load changes (incline, particularly downhill, or curve) I glued mine at both ends.
 
Try googling "bachmann railtruck tips". It's in my favourities, but not on this computer! It is a good site.
 
Thanks Phil and Ross, pretty much confirms George Schreyer's 'Bachmann Railtruck Tips'.

I think I may pass.

I fancy trying to make a rail born Land Rover instead, if I can find a suitable scale Land Rover!
 
WOW ! $79.00. The best I've seen is from Al Kramer, $109.00, on Evilbay. Where's the site ?
 
Hi Martino
I have one of the Bachmann Railtrucks and am as we speak fitting sound into it. I bought the railtruck from John Preston for £110 - and Im going to fit a Tsunami TSU 1000 into it. The sound decoder is already enabled with Flying Goose sound.
If you read the Goose instructions its says small decoders are ideal for this loco as they dont take much power.
I will keep you posted
Graham
 
Sorry to warm up this old topic, but...

As mentioned elsewhere, I bought this and a Davenport for $US180 + $50 postage to NZ. A real bargain, seeing Bachmann still list the truck for $400.

I followed George Schreyer's detailed instructions and fixed my gear box. Not only were the screws too long, one of them was completely loose and the other only finger tight. Putting the snow plough screws in is just the ticket, even 6 years later!

On my Davenport a screw from the front coupler housing fell out, luckily into the transport box and not onto the track. The other one had already partly come out, so the cover was askew. I checked all other accessible screws and found plenty more loose or very loose on both locos. QC at Bachmann seems non-existent.

Whether or not either of them surges on grades or not I will find out when I get my track laid. The truck not only has a lot of play in the drive shaft, but also in the gear box itself, lots of end float in the motor and the pinion shaft in the diff wobbles a lot.

Now I'm going to fit my Airwire Convrtr and Zimo decoder. Wish me luck, this is a first for me.

Kind regards,
Peter.
 
Putting extra grease, in the Davenport gearbox, helps only partially.
 
:) Well, I got me one from Trainworld for $US79.00 (along with a $US62.41 contribution to Uncle Sam's Postal service). The postage was probably inflated a wee bit due to the fact that the normal Spectrum box was packed into a larger 1" thick foam lined box. Model arrived in excellent condition. It ran well straight from the box, for a few weeks, then developed a bit of a stutter. I was aware of the generic problem these models have/had, so with the confidence of the Large Scale Tips solution, I took the model apart, and sure enough, the long, rather than short, screws on the gear collar were causing the gear misalignment. I put it back together, including the driveshaft, which had slipped out. It ran sweet for some time , then just locked up. I took the rear wheel assembly off, and ran things to see what the problem was, as the gear was causing the motor to mismesh. The gearbox was disconnected. Test the motor was housed properly (press fit), ran like a dream. Reconnect gearbox, without driveshaft, perfect running. Reconnect drive, then felt something go click in the universal... turns out I hadn't connected it properly first refit. Still ran just a tad hairy, applied a little lube to the driving wheel assembly, and presto.

The other evening/night she stalled again... oh s**t, I thought. But, no, dirty track. Well, not really dirty, but around 'dew' time in the evening, my track does sometimes 'clog up' a bit, so I just put more oil on the track, and resume running.



The Railtruck picks up power on all wheels. There is a switch in the cargo box that allows you to pick either polarity (essentially a reversing switch), and also power off, or no drive, but headlights on (good for photos). If you go into purchasing this with an open mind, and aware of the problems/solution, this (at the discount price) is good value. Having said that, not sure that I'd pay list price.
 
I have yet to take mine to bits but, taking all that has been said about them into account, I agree with you Gavin. At this discount price they are well worth it but, at the list price, no way!
 
trammayo said:
I have yet to take mine to bits but, taking all that has been said about them into account, I agree with you Gavin. At this discount price they are well worth it but, at the list price, no way!
Click to expand...

;) My advice on taking it to bits, is to read the Large Scale Tips on how to do it, then read it again, and, just to make sure, read it with your eyes open (and mouth closed).
 
Gavin Sowry said:
;) My advice on taking it to bits, is to read the Large Scale Tips on how to do it, then read it again, and, just to make sure, read it with your eyes open (and mouth closed).
Click to expand...

Like it! ;) ;) :D

If you read it, and your lips are moving whilst you do.. Then you have not understood it, in my book. :D
All good advice. ;D ;D
 
Gavin Sowry said:
;) My advice on taking it to bits, is to read the Large Scale Tips on how to do it, then read it again, and, just to make sure, read it with your eyes open (and mouth closed).
Click to expand...

Yes, very sound advice ;D I usually do the job first and then refer to the instructions as a last resort! I previously had a look at the Tips and, as usual, not all of it penetrated!
 
Thank you for the donation to our failing postal system, Gavin. The politicians are making sure that it fails, so that it can be privatized. Ben Franklin is rolling over in his grave, I dare say.
 
Standard note left in copier logbooks by service engineers, for sales rep to find, where the user has screwed up the machine by misusing it.......RTFM !
Max
 
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