4-4-0 Conversion Part 3

I have been asked to get on the ball and finish this conversion. My deepest apologies, I had sent the body off to be painted after I narrowed it and then the hard drive that the pictures were on crashed, so I haven't done anything with the conversion articles. Back to work on it then.

Now that the locomotive had been disassembled, it's time to narrow the body before it can be painted.

To do this you need a MicroTrains Z scale gauge, a set of calipers, a collection of #11 Xacto blades with handle and a Dremil tool with a sanding drum. I did my first one using only the MT wheel gauge without benefit of calipers, but the calipers do make this job a lot easier. I had to narrow a couple of sets of drivers for my first one because I melted the plastic on one set and destroyed the drivers, and on the second set I didn't chamfer the axle ends and destroyed the drivers trying to put them back on the axles.

To shrink the body down you squeeze the drivers in on their shafts until they fit the Z scale MicroTrains wheel gauge (or until they are .205" back to back). Be sure that the gear is centered between the drivers and then mark the ends, slide the drivers off and then cut the axle stubs off (you want to remove 0.050" from each axle end). Chamfer the axle ends to install the drivers back on and quarter the drivers (this is how I usually do it to prevent damage to the drivers). The axles will be 0.375" long when you are done.

It's easier to take the drives off and chamfer the axle ends when you are done, but pushing the drivers in and grinding/filing off the axle stubs does work. To do it this way I push the wheels in to fit the MT gauge, making sure the gear is centered between them, then mark the axles with a black magic marker. Push the wheels all the way in to the gear and cut the marked ends off of the axles. Work slowly and let the axle ends cool between cuts so you don't melt the driver centers. Quarter the drivers when you are done.

Next take a file and file the bottom plate, removing 0.050" from each side, to reduce it's width to 0.185". The rule of thumb is to file until half of the lettering is removed from each side. Now you can reinstall the worm gear and bottom plate into the loco shell and use it as a guide to narrow the locomotive wheel wells. Work slowly and carefully, you will open the tops of the wheel wells into the cavity where the worm gear resides but this is OK. A combination of #11 Xacto blades and the large sanding drum for the dremil tool works very well for this, but use a variable speed tool set to a low speed setting to prevent overheating and distorting the plastic shell. Remove the bottom plate and worm gear, install the narrowed drivers and make sure they turn freely. Remove material as necessary until they do.

For the pilot truck, cut the plastic bars that hold it to the cylinders at the ends of the slot the truck rides in, the front bar at the right side and the rear bar at the left side, to make two L shaped pieces. Pull one wheel from each axle to remove the axles from the truck, reinstall the wheel and squeeze the wheels to fit the MT gauge and cut off the stub ends. File each side of the pilot truck 0.050" to fit the narrowed axles. Reinstall the axles and wheels into the narrowed truck, making sure they turn freely.

Now to narrow the cylinders (this is optional but it does make the loco look better). Trim the bottom of each L back to the cylinders to narrow them (I really need to take some pictures of this step) and then glue the cylinders back together, installing the pilot truck as you do so. Cut the same amount off of each valve gear hanger on the locomotive body so the cylinders will fit back on. Paint the locomotive body and reinstall the cylinders and pilot truck. Don't worry about the mechanical strength of the cylinder connecting bars too much, the physical strength of the cylinders glued on to the locomotive body supply most of the needed support; the bars are there mostly just to hold the pilot truck. You can drill some holes and put in brass rods to replace the plastic if you like.

At this point the drivers, worm gear and bottom plate can be reinstalled. To reinstall the drive rods you will either have to trim the locomotive body between the drivers to clear them or bend them outward to clear the locomotive body. The locomotive body itself is now done.

In the next installment we will narrow the tender trucks and reassemble the tender. Then the tender can be reunited with the locomotive and the finished product can be tested.

Weekend Report

The Shapeways order has been put to good use and the bookshop is now open for business. I also put some lights in the police station and fire house. I have two of the reclaimed buildings to finish and one more corner turret building to do and then all of the DPM buildings will be complete. A little back-alley work will get those two blocks done and then it's on to the manufactory.

I also ordered a pair of Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 decoders for heavy steam along with some 15mm speakers. They fit perfectly into the Bachmann J class tenders and now I have a pair of them chuffing merrily through the countryside. Unfortunately my layout has curves that are too tight for them to pull any cars with their body mounted couplers, so they are chuffing on alone.

In a happy set of circumstances they also run exactly the same speed at all throttle settings, so if I ever want to go crazy and double-head them they will run perfectly together. I don't know if the Norfolk and Western ever did that, but refer to rule number one (it's my railroad and I'll do what I want).

The MRC sound decoder (which does not use BEMF, unlike the Soundtraxx) that was previously installed in J class 601 is now installed in the Erie Hudson and basically set up, it doesn't work any better than it did before but at least the Hudson now has a whistle and a bell. It does not have a body mounted coupler, so it happily pulls its set of streamlined cars around with no problems.

I also put another decoder into the semi-streamlined Pacific that was a good runner while in Lackawanna paint but doesn't run well at all since it has been disassembled for paint. It still does not run well. I have a plan to take all the wipers out of the engine and put some Bachmann all wheel pickup trucks in the tender, picking up power only from the tender trucks. Perhaps this will finally solve the running ills on that locomotive.

The Neuse River Valley Model RR Show is this weekend at the NC fairgrounds in Raleigh. The club I belong to has a layout there, so I took my newly-decodered locomotives there to run some laps. Unfortunately I couldn't get my phone to connect as a throttle, so no laps for me. I also brought my Nn3 but didn't get a chance to set it up today. Maybe I'll have better luck with it tomorrow.

Finally, I found a Rivarossi heavy pacific that I hope to be able to use the shell off of for my K5A project. I have all of the pieces, now I have to figure out how to put them together. I also got a casting kit, I'm going to try to see if I can make some castings and use them for my experiments rather than damage a good shell. Perhaps I can cast the Arnold shell as well and see which one works better.

And that's about all that is going on for now.

Geeps

Last Sunday one of my GP7's hit the floor. No cosmetic damage, but now it's not running right. Initially when power is applied the lights come on nice and bright, but when the loco starts moving the lights dim and it slows down to a stop. Reversing directions creates the same problem. This happens in DC or DCC.

I've had the issue before and reseating the decoder board fixed it. This time, no joy. So I ordered a decoder board from Bachmann, and while I was looking the decoder board up I found one on sale through Newegg for about the same amount as the decoder. So of course I ordered them both.

The decoder came in yesterday and I installed it this morning, but I am still having the same problem with it. I disassembled it and checked the gears, there was a bit of fuzz in the worms so I cleaned everything up and reassembled it. No joy, still the same problem.

So today the new unit is supposed to be here and the old one will go out to Bachmann for repairs.

Once Again

Today I attempted once again to chip N&W 601.

First I disconnected the tender from the locomotive. Then I carefully installed a new in the package DZ126 decoder, paying close attention to which wire went where.

Then I took the extra wiring I had clipped from the decoder during the installation and used it to repair the loco to tender wiring harness, paying careful attention to what wire went where on each end. I carefully ohmed every wire out at both of the above steps, both to ensure continuity end to end in the loco wiring harness and to ensure that neither the loco wiring harness nor the tender decoder installation had any shorts from wire to wire.

Finally I reconnected the loco and tested it in DC. It worked perfectly, the correct LEDs lit up when the loco moved in both directions and the motor stopped and started smoothly in both directions.

However, when I attempted to program the locomotive the NCE PowerCab could not find the decoder.

I tried a new in the package DZ146 decoder. No joy. I reinstalled the old suspect DZ126 decoder. Nothing. I even connected all three of the decoders (one at a time) to alligator clips and clipped them first to the programming track rails and then directly to the output wiring of the NCE, and still the system did not see any of the decoders.

I then placed a good DCC loco on the tracks and attempted to reprogram it. I had no problems at all doing so.

I have several older locomotives using Bachmann Spectrum tenders, so I installed the decoder in one of those tenders. Still no luck. Finally I uninstalled the decoder and put the DC shorting clips back in, and once again the loco runs perfectly on DC. I reinstalled the decoder and verified that yes, it still does run fine in DC.

I then attempted to run it on my little snail speed DCC controller (which used to be sold through Z Scale Track but seems to have, unfortunately, been discontinued) and was able to program the loco to run in DCC mode with that controller. However, when the loco is programmed to run with this controller it will no longer work in DC. And since the NCE couldn't find the decoder I couldn't tell what the address was on it so I was not able to run it on the NCE.

I finally disconnected the loco from the tender and was able to get the NCE to recognize the decoder about half the attempts as I rolled the tender back and forth on the programming track. I was able to put it back in dual mode and program in the address, both long and short. I reconnected the tender and once again I was able to get it to run in DC, but not in DCC.

I have no idea what's up with this locomotive. I'm hoping that installing the stock Bachmann wiring harness will fix the issues and I'll be able to chip it and get it to work. But until that happens I have removed the decoder and reinstalled the shorting clips, the loco runs fine in DC, and it will stay that way for now.

And maybe I'll just leave it that way.

Distressingly Familiar

I attempted to chip N&W J class 601 today.

The tender to loco wiring is just as bad on 601 as it was on 611.

Looks like I'll be placing an order for a new wiring harness tomorrow.

On A Happier Note

Even though the DCC-ing of the SD7 did not go well (see previous post) this weekend's train work did not all go for naught.

You may remember I had some wiring issues with my J class and that I had ordered the wiring harness to repair it. I did in fact hear back from them and for $45 they would be glad to fix it for me since it was over a year old so the warranty no longer applied.

The parts came in Friday, so I declined their generous offer and installed the wiring harness myself. The new harness had much better quality wiring than the Krapton insulation on the stock set and wasn't really that hard to install. I am happy to say the J class, much like its 1:1 counterpart, is once again operational.

I also got a set of PRR shells for my Bachmann GP7's and they are happily wearing their new livery and have been programmed with their new numbers (8803 and 8303; they were both 8803 until the judicious application of a black marker changed it). I like the way they look, but now I have a pair of custom painted Northern Alberta Railroad GP7 shells that are now surplus.

Friday evening my grandson and I ran some trains, so DCC issues aside it was a pretty good weekend.

K4

Remember when I said I wished Bachmann would do a 4-6-2? Well, they did, and not only did they do a 4-6-2, they did a Pennsylvania RR K4 in several different varieties.

Bachmann stock photo, pre-war K4 in Brunswick Green with red and gold striping

It's a bit pricy with an MSRP of $399.00, but most of the retail outlets I've seen have them for $299 or less. It comes equipped with DCC and sound, two things that I really don't need that undoubtedly run up the cost, but that's the wave of the future and one day I'm sure I will upgrade to DCC myself.

Bachmann stock photo, post-war K4 with modern pilot

These look to be very nice locomotives, and I certainly hope Bachmann takes this opportunity to put the chassis under other road names as well. There is, after all, a large hole in the market to be filled with a decent running Pacific in N scale.

I'm saving my nickels and dimes for one now.

Real Estate Disputes and Other Matters

My train room is being taken over by closet space.

Ever since the charming and lovely Mrs Hades agreed to take up space with me we've been moving things around. What was big enough for one person (me) has proven insufficient for two, so along one wall of the "train room" there is now shelving and clothing.

Everything that was along that wall has been moved to the opposite wall, where I'm pleased and somewhat surprised to report it all fits...tightly, to be sure, but it fits.  The large 4x8 N standard layout has been disassembled and all that is left in the center of the room is the uncompleted Nn3 layout.

Unfortunately it looks like that may have to find another place to live as well, or be disassembled and the parts used for something else. (Maybe I can finally do the long-planned Saltillo modules, complete with the NARCO quarry branch.) Also on the block is the proposed Z scale layout, I just don't have the room for it as things stand now.

Two things I am looking at is double decking and reducing by one the number of standard gauge N scale layouts. If I reduce the number of N standard I will be finding somewhere to put the rock quarry. I could then put the Z scale in the corner and put the Nn3 on a shelf over the top of the standard N.

Losing the quarry wouldn't be a huge blow. It has given me some experience in working with foam at least, and the performance of the Bachmann set that prompted the layout has, as is typical with Bachmann 4-4-0's, been disappointing to say the least. I can at least use the benchwork for one part of the Z scale, so that isn't a total loss either. Finding civil war era buildings for the rock quarry has been problematic as well, and the effort would be better served finishing the scenery on the other standard N scale layout.

But enough about that. Moving has been completed enough to take a little break at least, so I've been spending time in the train room tuning engines. I've finally gotten all of my Pacifics to work reliably and I've even been able to get my two Atlas 4-4-0's to run decently again (the unpainted one threw a tire after being painted and the undec didn't run well out of the box).

I've been working on the 2-8-0's as well, they don't like tight corners. The problem is some Bachmann engineer in a fit of brilliance decided that metal would be a good material to cast the cylinder fronts out of, so when the pony wheels touch it they short out. I've had to carve and cut them away to clear the pony truck wheels, they look terrible up close but after they were painted they are hardly noticeable from operating distance, and now they will actually run on the 11" radius curves like they are supposed to.

Last but not least I added a siding to the backside of the Clarinda modules.  I've been thinking of doing that for a while because it adds some operational flexibility. Now I can have a passenger train laying in wait to take a few laps while the freight train is on a siding, either in the front or in the back. I've tried it both ways and it is working as planned.

Next week I hope to get some of the scenery done on them. We'll see how that goes.

Back It Up

The Bachmann 4-4-0 conversion I have never did want to back up. Any attempt to reverse this loco would cause the locomotive to roll over and fall off the tracks.

I finally figured out what the problem was. I have a non-Bachmann screw in the loco to tender connection because I lost the original and couldn't find a replacement. The problem was the original screw was shouldered and the replacement was not.

The tender connection is a large open loop that goes around the screw. With the standard shouldered screw the shoulder fills this hole pretty well, with the replacement, not so much. So, when the loco would back into the tender it would get close enough that the driveshaft would bind against the loco body and tip it over.

I filled the tender loop with a piece of scrap styrene, drilled a smaller hole for the screw, and just like magic the problem is solved and the loco will back happily around the layout with it's train preceding it, no problems at all.

I only wish my standard gauged Bachmann 4-4-0's ran this well.

4-4-0 Conversion, Part 2

When we quit last time the loco was all apart and ready for the strip bath. In this installment we will disassemble the tender so that the tender shell can be stripped as well.

A note on paint stripping, I use 91% IPA (alcohol) available at any pharmacy. Be careful with it, though because plastic parts left in the alcohol too long will tend to soften. While I was stripping the loco I managed to break off one boiler stay (the rod that goes from the smokebox to the front of the pilot deck), the pilot and the bell. All of these will have to be replaced, I was going to replace the bell anyway because the one that comes on the loco looks awful big and clunky, but it also warped the loco body a bit.

At any rate, when we last saw the tender we had the trucks removed. All that is left to do is remove the red brush retainer:

and then the brushes. I work a jewelers screwdriver underneath them to pry them up, this keeps them from bending so that they will lay flat along the tender bottom when they are reinstalled.

After the brushes are removed, run a #11 Xacto blade around the perimeter of the weight on the front and pry it out.

 The motor fills the entire tender, which is why the tender is slightly oversize for the model - it had to be in order to fit the motor.

Pull the motor out of the tender body part-way. It will slide all the way out but first...

 you want to mark the top of it. If the motor goes in upside down the loco will run backwards, easy to fix for sure but just as easy to prevent in the first place. A dab of paint on the top as you pull the motor out and you will know right away how to put it back in.

The tender shell is now ready for stripping. Put all of the other pieces in your parts box, minding that the motor magnets will attract all the steel screws and side rods that we took off of the loco in the last installment. A plastic bag to hold the screws is not a bad idea anyway, and it will keep them from sticking to the motor.

I found it interesting to note that the loco body was molded in white, but the dome and stack were black plastic. I also found it interesting that the tender body was molded in clear plastic.

Now is a good time to paint the tender, but I would hold off on painting the loco until the narrowing is complete. You are going to be grinding into the wheel wells, and fresh paint will just get ruined in the process. The tender can go back together except for the trucks after the paint is dry.

That's enough for today. Next time we will narrow the wheels, pony truck and loco frame and then we will narrow the loco wheel wells to fit the new narrowed drivers. After that the loco can get painted and go back together.

See you next time!

4-4-0 Conversion, Part 1

The victim:

This is the Bachmann 4-4-0 in N scale, in the old Jupiter paint. Note the large drive shaft between the loco and tender. The newer versions of this model have a thinner driveshaft and the paint is in blue and red to more accurately depict the Jupiter as she is now believed to have looked on the day of the golden spike ceremony at Promontory Point, Utah.

The Bachmann 4-4-0 comes in several paint schemes and in a couple of different configurations; straight stack and balloon stack. Older versions of the loco can sometimes be found for a fairly cheap price at train shows, but I have seen them go for ridiculously high amounts on that well-known auction site. If you can find one that runs decently for cheap it is an inexpensive way to get into Nn3, but be warned...it's a gateway locomotive. Before you know it you will be ordering kits from Republic Locomotive Works, then you will be getting Marklin Z scale mechanisms for your conversions, and then it's all downhill from there. But I digress.

The first step is to disassemble the locomotive. First remove the tender coupling screw:

Set the tender aside. Remove the bottom plate screw on the locomotive:

Next, remove the bottom plate and swing the drivers out of the way. The worm gear can be pushed out of the back of the locomotive.

Now pry the supports out of the valve gear hangers:

The steam chests will slide off of their tabs on the locomotive body.

Put the locomotive body, worm gear and bottom plate into your parts box. You will deal with them later. For now we will continue the disassembly of the running gear.

Remove all four screws from the drivers and remove the side rods. Be careful not to lose any of these screws! Put them and the side rods into your parts box.

Now remove the pony truck from the valve gear. You might find it easiest to cut one of the connecting bars to do this.

Now pry one of the wheels off of each axle and remove the axle from the pony truck frame.

This completes the disassembly of the running gear. Put everything into your parts box, we will disassemble the tender next.

Remove the tender truck screws and lift the trucks off of the tender. Mind the truck springs, there are two of them for each truck and they will get lost very easily.

Next remove the coupler from the coupler pocket. You will be fitting a Z scale coupler when you are all done, so these parts will not be used again.

Note the coupler spring...looks a lot like a truck spring, doesn't it? It can be used as one in a pinch.

The tender body does not have to be disassembled any further than this, it contains the motor and that is about it. If you want to take it apart to paint it be sure to mark the motor so that it goes back in the same way, if it goes in upside down the locomotive will run backwards.  I'm going to take this one apart so that the tender can be stripped, but not today.  Put everything in your parts box, we're done for today.

The locomotive body can be stripped for painting as is, the only thing left to do if you must is remove the weight from the cab. It is glued in place, work a #11 Xacto blade in and around it to break the glue bond and it will slide right out. We won't be covering that, I'm sure you can figure it out on your own.

In the next installment we will disassemble the tender so that it can be stripped for painting. In the third installment we will be narrowing the locomotive drivers and bottom plate and cutting into the locomotive body to fit them. After that we will narrow the pony truck, put everything back together, and then the locomotive will be done. In the fourth installment we will reassemble the tender body, narrow the tender trucks and install the Z scale coupler, and then we will join the tender and locomotive back together and we will be done.

Or, at least, that's the way I have it planned out.

It should be fun!

Stay Tuned

The Bachmann has arrived for its transformation, which will begin this week. It runs OK but could probably use a good cleaning and oiling. It will certainly get that during the conversion.

What The Heck Am I Thinking?!?

For some reason I've agreed to convert an N scale Bachmann 4-4-0 to Nn3.

I've done a couple of them so far, I sold the best running one and the pictured one makes regular laps around my Nn3 oval. It doesn't back up very well, but all in all, especially considering the extremely reasonable price (I picked it up for $15 at a train show), it's a pretty good loco for the money.

This one started out as the Union Pacific 119, the other one I did started out life as the Jupiter. Since these models were made Bachmann has redesigned them with different paint, better motors and drive shafts. Note the rather large drive shaft on this one, it makes problems when converting them to run on tighter curves.

Garth Hamilton used to have a pretty good tutorial on doing this but I can't find it now. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information anywhere else on the web, either, but there are bits and pieces here and there. That is a shame because the Bachmann conversion is probably the cheapest way to get into Nn3, even though it isn't for the beginner.

Because of the lack of information regarding this conversion I'm going to be taking plenty of pictures during this conversion and documenting the entire thing start to finish. That way if anyone else wants to try it out I can just point the way to the post, or series of posts. This will be the first set of posts with a label.

I guess it is a good way for me to get back into modeling, even if it is just a little bit.