@mickey sent you a PM about a Heisler
Got it thanks. Signed up so we will see where it goes. Maybe too righ for me.
Was Paddle 302 you? Amazing auction, pairs of log cars for $550??
Yes it was. Paid more than I would like to have, especially with the 15% premium, but they have been going for $800 plus on eBay. It is going to need some work as I can see from pics that the whistle is broken off (probably missing/not coming with it) and looks like the truck electrical pickups are missing, along with a bent/broken from step and missing roof hatch. Hoping that the hatch will be about the size of another Bachmann steam that are still available to order. Only real things available for the Heisler is the center cylinders which I will order to have just incase. Maybe the pickups are used on another engine. Do you know?
Hi Mickey, maybe we should start another thread to talk about Heislers?
P.S. All I know is that Bachmann re-uses parts on different engines, so it’s quite likely they are also on some other loco.
Then, while testing my LEDs to see if I had blown them up, I discovered an interesting tester for LEDs. My multimeter has an ohm setting, to test resistance, and to do that it produces a little tiny current to see what it finds. Test an LED and look what happens:
It turned out my original LED from this headlight was dead - I had killed it. So I installed the new one and buttoned it all up.
I did post another thread separately on the tender connection wiring, as Tim had the great idea of moving the plug to the front of the tender. I also removed the tabs that make them so difficult to disengage!
See https://largescalecentral.com/t/bachmann-4-4-0-2-6-0-tender-connections-a-photo-essay/82619/4
While doing that, I came across a thread with a long response from Kevin about adding r/c, where he mentions the tender 4-pin plug spare wires are for the rear headlight. I just happen to have an SPC 4-4-0 sitting on my display shelf, so I took it down and found it had more than 2 wires connected to the 4-pin. Guess it might have a rear headlight.
The loco is now pretty much complete so it will be sold soon - hopefully before I return to Florida. (Msg me if you are interested.)
The headlight described previously seems to flicker when power is applied to the track but not work as advertised. I’m hoping to get some track time next week when Jerry gets back, if the weather improves, to give it a proper run.
The tender got a new set of front steps - they always break on these locos but are available from Bachmann. Similarly the toolbox tops, which fall off and get lost.
It was missing the cab roof, so I had to make one. My personal 2-6-0 has a loose one (they are usually screwed front and rear so you can lift that heavy loco with it,) so it became the model. First ws the color choice.
I decided that grey would make a change. . .
And while the roof was off, I looked through my figures box to see what I had by way of engineers. The pickings were slim - Bachmann’s bowler guy isn’t going to work. [“Slim” used to be a figure from one of the suppliers, I think?]
And she’s just too froo-froo for an old live steamer.
My 2-6-0 has a great pair of guys shoe-horned in, as F scale guys in a tiny old cab are quite a squash. The seller on Etsy seems to be gone.
So we gave up on a driver, and made up a roof, using mine as the pattern.
I had to rework parts of it after finding and re-gluing the front windows. I also added tabs so I could screw it on at the rear, if not the front. It was painted flat black primer with a dusting of grey primer, which worked better than I expected.
The other outstanding issue was that the front axle had no springs. There were 2 in the box when I got it, but one sprang away and I an unable to find it. (You’d think that I’d eventually come across at least 1 of the many that have evaded capture, but no luck so far. They are a bit tiny.)
I ordered some from Aliexpress - 2.5mm OD which seemed what I measured.
One supplier’s springs were quite soft, and the other seems more robust. I cut a soft one down to 10mm and installed it. You can just see it hiding under the hornblock on this pic.
But I now have enough springs for a few more locos in case they get away again.
And once the roof was dry and screwed in place, I ran out of things to fix.
