Locos which are not split chassis, but also not DDC ready

[Ken Shabby]

I'm looking to purchase a few 2nd hand Bachmann locos when funds allow, A GWR Collett 0-6-0, GWR 56XX and BR Standard Class 5 (75000).
I owned a BR black Collett (32-306 ) around a decade ago, and found it quite under powdered, and in the end i sold it on.
It was suggested that one of the reasons for it's lack of pulling power was Bachmann had altered the chassis as some point to make it DDC ready, and this had made the loco lighter.
Could anyone tell me If non BCC ready versions of these locos were produced, other than the early split chassis versions ?
Also IF the DCC ready versions of the 56XX and Standard 5 can pull a decent load ?

Many thanks, Ken

[Bigmet]

Ken,

Of those three, the 56xx is the traction champion, loads of metal inside the body for weight and a sprung centre driven axle for great pick up reliability. Just make sure you get a DCC ready version, to avoid someone passing off a split chassis model... Earliest catalogue no. is 32-075.
(I have used these chassis under whitemetal body shells and all are still running, the oldest over twenty years on.)

The Collett 0-6-0, the best 0-6-0 available when introduced in the 'Blue Riband' version, now the worst by far in production, if good traction is required. Get an early one with the Buhler motor and no DCC socket and you are in with a shout. Catalogue numbers start from 32-300. (It's a long time since I looked at one, but my recollection is that there is a mazak weight, which is screw attached inside the boiler and smokebox. Take that out and pack it with lead, and you are cooking with gas.)

Finally, the 5MT is a real problem child, here's an extract from an earlier thread.

"Let's take this in pieces, which is what you are going to have to do with the 5MT loco...

Unless the previous owner has done any work on it, the leading bogie is oversprung and lifts the front end, the leading coupled wheel is softly sprung, the loco isn't that heavy so the driving wheels slip all the time, it's really only the rear coupled wheels that are providing traction. And then the final problem, it is geared 40:1 with a 'fat' worm: draggier than it needs to be, and great for slow speed control, but limits maximum speed.

What to do.
Take body off, remove front bogie, cut about one sixth off the bogie spring, and just use that small piece slightly stretched to lightly spring the bogie. (Keep the spring, it's good in pieces for other locos which have no bogie spring fitted!) Now the leading coupled wheel, take the sprung saddle out and either stretch the spring to near double the length, or find and fit a stiffer spring. On the chassis remove the plastic doodad for a decoder, and if you feel so inclined remove the decoder socket and its chassis attachment, pack in lead over the coupled wheels to improve adhesion...
(A faster motor, the Mashima 1426 can be substituted. You need a good worm puller as Bachmann worms are on TIGHT! ...)

You are now into the hell of putting the body back on, holding the various detail parts under the body void apart, as you slide it onto the mechanism; and the dire process of adjusting the speedo cable so the loco doesn't run like a three legged dog. (Bachmann dropped this detail after this model and the BR 2-6-4T, due to customer feedback.)

This mechanical stuff will enable the loco to both pull much better and achieve scale for 70-75 mph...
Extra traction, mine has lead sheet on the cab floor and curved to fit under the cab roof."

If you want the full context, the thread this came from is here:
https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... =3&t=57024

Small compensation, no split chassis to worry about, the BR std 5MT was introduced after Bachmann had dropped this construction.

[Dad-1]

I flicked through, noted this and was going to answer later.
To some degree Bigmet has given the lowdown.

5MT I have one but don't run it.

56XX I have 2 and they are brilliant, but watch couplings if using 1st radius curves
as there is a long chassis behind the last of the coupled making the ends move well
off track centre that CAN cause trouble with certain light wagons.

Collett Goods. Strange you had trouble with 32-306 as mine will easily pull around
20 wagons. This makes me wonder if you have any gradient ? My layouts are flat
and here are a couple of pictures. I also have the 32-310 which although from a
similar time is a different animal in as much as the BR 306 will derail on 1st radius,
but the GWR 310 with a different tender coupling has no troubles.

32-306 BR Weathered Black Only added weight a white metal crew




32-310 GWR Again no added weight - the most suitable Video was never added to Youtube
https://youtu.be/1HEmtsU3Prs

Geoff T.

[Ken Shabby]

Now I come to think of it, it was actually 2015 when I bought my Collett. I'd just rebuilt my layout and 8 years later it's still far from finished.
I've just remembered that the tender wasn't very free running and I came close returning it to Rails of Sheffield. In the end I managed to fiddle with it and improve it's running, so it stayed for a while. I guess it's possible that the tender could of done with further attention to improve the haulage. My layout has a very slight gradient on a radius 4 into radius 3 curve. This is simply due to my poor woodwork skills, but it is invisible to the naked eye and a old Hornby Terrier can take 4 Bachmann Mk1 coaches round it.

Thanks to you both for your advice, I think I'll go for a 56xx next.

Ken

[Bigmet]

... I've just remembered that the tender wasn't very free running and I came close returning it to Rails of Sheffield. In the end I managed to fiddle with it and improve it's running, so it stayed for a while. I guess it's possible that the tender could of done with further attention to improve the haulage. My layout has a very slight gradient on a radius 4 into radius 3 curve. This is simply due to my poor woodwork skills, but it is invisible to the naked eye and a old Hornby Terrier can take 4 Bachmann Mk1 coaches round it.

This kind of lacklustre performance from tender locos when compared to tank engines, has been a bane of longstanding in RTR OO, and quite often the tender, and its linkage to the loco, are doing the loco no favours in the traction department. It's only quite recently that tender locos have been given proper attention in this department, any model introduced before circa 2010 (honourable exceptions I am aware of, Bachmann 9F and G2A, Hornby Britannia) is suspect in this department, and most of my (ER focus) locos from before this date have been modified per the following paragraph.

If traction is lacking from a tender model, it is always telling to see what the loco alone can pull; and then to set about the tender to eliminate its 'thief of traction' faults. The list of actions includes replacing wheelsets ideally with pinpoint bearing types, increasing side play of wheelsets, removing pick up wipers, removing weight, setting loco to tender link at correct height so the tender can never lift the rear of the loco, modifying loco rear so that no part of the loco rests on the tender step or any other projection on the tender front, filing down moulded intermediate buffers so the two vehicles don't bind on the smallest curve on the layout.

If this sounds like too much trouble I heartily commend the Hornby J36, the largely metal body supplies sufficient loco weight. (The J15 and 700 are similarly usefully weighted, but being smaller not quite as effectively.)

[D605Eagle]

Both my J15 and 700 class struggle with adhesion, but I wonder in reality how strong these engines were being so dainty? I have thought about doing that old trick of making the front of the tender bear down on the rear of the loco to increase the weight on the rear drivers, but its a roundtoit at the moment!

[Bigmet]

Relatively small 0-6-0s like these would move very substantial loads, 60 4W wagons, on a line that was relatively level. This can be difficult to replicate in model form, because the wagons are not as free rolling as the real thing, and curves are much tighter than prototype, and curves are draggy. Previous chunterings on the J15:

https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... =1&t=47401

[Bigmet]

Not only, but also: forgot to mention that Bachmann's first productions of the Midland 3F 0-6-0T 'Jinty' was without a DCC socket. (There was never a split chassis Jinty from Bachmann, so this is a 'safe' purchase.) The drive train has the same motor and gear set as the 57xx, but the chassis dimensions are 'Derby standard', so scale for 8'+8'6", and like the 57xx it has the exceedingly good feature of a sprung centre driving axle. I have used this mechanism extensively under old whitemetal bodies to replace clapped out old RTR mechanisms, and IT'S A WINNER!