Yes, it has plastic rods. And it has a plastic plug, that I cannot easily pry off, on the underside. Since I do not want to damage anything, I open it up to grease it.
I don’t overload the locomotive, she runs with only 3 Bachmann coaches. But the grade is 2.58% So I suspect the gear will eventually fail, if for no other reason then age.
I might just purchase another chassis anyway. I have a few build projects on the list, and that is a good price for a working chassis.
Bachmann 4-6-0 Big Hauler Generations
Gen 1 1988-1990 Battery Powered R/C Units
Gen 2 1990-1994 *Smooth Bottom Cover You can turn drivers by hand and motor will turn
Gen 3 1994-1998 Smooth Bottom Cover You cannot turn the drivers by hand
Gen 4 1998-1999 *Large wide hump dead center between the rear drivers on bottom cover
Gen 5 2000-Pres *3/8th inch wide hump offset between the rear drivers and a plastic lubrication plug the size of a dime to the rear of the hump…
The new metal geared chassis in the Annie is Gen 6.
Thanks for that description Joe. Does anybody have pictures of the underside of all or any of the various generations of the 4-6-0? If so could you please post them as that would prove handy for identification.
Regarding the comments on gears… I am not a chemical engineer or expert on plastics. If you have better information please chime in as inquiring minds want to know.
What is the succession of material for the 4-6-0 gears? I only know of two changes since the original.
The original gears from gen 1 were poly-propyl plastic. Similar to what milk jugs are made from. They split very easily especially next to the axle where the knurls overcame the material strength of the gear causing it to crack and split open as the axle twisted.
At some point in time Bmann replaced this with what I believe is delrin or some form of nylon product. They are much better and will usually hold up to whatever the motor can pull. I have seen some of them strip out around the axle but not crack like the old ones.
Gen 6 is an all brass drive line inspired by the K27. I have never seen one of these in person. Does anybody have first hand knowledge of them?
Boomer,
Greg Elmassian has a very good section on identifying the B’mann Big Hauler 4-6-0.
XXX
Boomer K. Founder I.A.R.R.R. said:
Thanks for that description Joe. Does anybody have pictures of the underside of all or any of the various generations of the 4-6-0? If so could you please post them as that would prove handy for identification.
. . . .
Gen 6 is an all brass drive line inspired by the K27. I have never seen one of these in person. Does anybody have first hand knowledge of them?
Greg’s page has photos too - easy to see what a Gen-5 drive looks like.
There are various threads around about replacing old-style frames with the new “Annie” version from last time they were on sale. Let me see what I can find.
http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/19506/bachmann
Pete, those threads both talk about having to move the air tanks, and being a drop in replacement. They also specify part numbers that I cant find on the Bachmann site.
So, I glean that yes there is a version that would be a drop in replacement, but I got the version that requires moving the air tanks.
I will have to look a bit further.
David Maynard said:
…but I got the version that requires moving the air tanks.
Or you can shorten them as I did on my #10.
Joe yea, shorten or move.
Joe Zullo said:
Boomer,
Greg Elmassian has a very good section on identifying the B’mann Big Hauler 4-6-0.
Greg is a handy guy to have around. Thanks for the info to him and you Joe. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
