Bachman NE Caboose

[Dave V]

Very nice!  The detail is rendered so much better on the Bachmann cabin.  The Reading one is tempting, but I'll hold out for blue and a can opener.

[bbussey]

It does look much better than the ex-Life Like model.  Undecs already are sold out at MBK, so I ordered an N&W to strip and redress as LNE.  It works out better since only the body needs to be repainted.  I'm changing the trucks and wheels as well.  Hopefully the coupler pockets will accept 1015 knuckles without modification.

[sizemore]

Undecs already are sold out at MBK, so I ordered an N&W to strip and redress as LNE.

Sorry.

The S.

[bbussey]

No worries.  The N&W chassis and end rails are already painted correctly for the LNE, and the caboose red "undec" body would have to be repainted bright red anyway.

[sizemore]

I picked up a slew of them this afternoon to retire the old LL cabs. Highly impressed by the undercarriage details, the windows and the trucks. Couldn't even imagine Bachmann put this out, they even put stencils on the brake cylinder.

I hope it's easy to take off the lettering for renumbering. I also wonder if any FVM wheel sets will fit the trucks. Definitely going to switch out the couplers and add brake hoses!

Christmas came early boys!
The S.

[Mark5]

A few more views from my el cheapo camera:



I'll have to carefully remove the incorrect lettering and decal it with the correct lettering. A beautiful model, its a shame that Bachmann dropped the ball on getting the lettering right. Still a really nice model.



A shot of WM 1816:


They even tooled the floor surfaces on the end platforms (ie they aint just smooth like on the GP7).

Mark

[bbussey]

Very cool that the tamped the car number over the end doors.  I'll be swapping out the trucks for Atlas swing motion with FVM wheelsets, and changing the couplers to MTL #1015 knuckles.

The "font" on the New Haven boxcar for the railroad name is incorrect as well, too condensed.

[Mark5]

These cabooses have weird truck pins, but they are easily pried out:



The bolsters are wider than used on the Atlas swing motion FB trucks that I intend to install:



So I guess I'll have to drill the bolster holes out a bit on the Atlas 22061 trucks.

Good news is that the Andrews trucks that come on the Bachmann NE appear to be correct for some or all WM units.

Looking at pics of the N&W (P&WV) units I just noticed that the steps are incorrect - oh well!  It seems the P&WV cabs were built like the Bachmann model: http://thepwvhiline.com/PWVNortheasternSteelCaboose/images/Cab_837_Rook_Web.jpg but at some point the end steps were rebuilt to a more "modern" configuration: http://thepwvhiline.com/PWVNortheasternSteelCaboose/images/pwv%20cab_833_Web.jpg

Much later after N&W absorbed P&WV: http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfanning/northeastcabooses/media/cab-2-01.jpg

Mark

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Tried MTL swing motion trucks? They have a wider bolster hole

[wm3798]

Bryan,
The other solution would be to shave off the sleeve that holds the Bachmann screw, and use a regular bolster pin.
Lee

[Mark5]

Tried MTL swing motion trucks? They have a wider bolster hole

That would be great, except that they are roller bearing trucks ...

http://www.micro-trains.com/trucksBettendorfSwingMotion.php

Mark

[Chris333]

Just ream out the Atlas hole to the same size as the Bachmann.

[Mark5]

Just ream out the Atlas hole to the same size as the Bachmann.

Yeah, that's what I said I was gonna do!

[Chris333]

Carry on 

[SkipGear]

Ours came in the shop yesterday. Picked up the WM caboose and a Simonins tank car. Both very nice cars. Too bad the box cars are out in left field. May pick up the N&W caboose later but I have that covered currently.