Hmmm, the 1.3 litre ultrasonic might fit your requirements and they’re pretty inexpensive. However, the hidden cost might just be the amount of jewellery you will need to purchase Cinchouse, to justify that size! 
Ha Ha Eric got yelled at !
John,
I’ve come to this conclusion, too. I’ve littered LSC with posts documenting my effort to keep another 10-wheeler rolling, my LGBO Olomana working, and my LGB Zillertalbahn pulling. It is frustrating, but these repairs that have become campaigns have taught me a lot about how these models are put together and thus how to maintain them.
We botched this project, too, and learned a bit more. Somehow, a wheel got out of quarter and jammed a siderod. Long story short, seems we didn’t make sure all the journals were in place when we buttoned Emmett up, letting the forward driver work loose. Irritating “own goal” but not a fatal error!
Eric
Update:
Emmett’s leading truck gave way, with the stem running up into the chassis snapping off at the base and the frame holding the wheels snapping in half. I suspect a dog may have jumped on it, as Kid-zilla has been playing with Emmett on a track he set up in the living room.
Regardless of cause, now I have to conjure a solution. eBay came up “zero,” with parts heaps notably lacking these leading trucks. I went to the Bachmann website. The new trucks seem a lot more robust, but they seem to attach to modern chassis in a radically new fashion. Has anyone retrofitted one of these new leading trucks to an older 10-wheeler? Failing that, has anyone designed an built one from scratch? That would be the best long term solution, actually, as Emmett and the two derelicts all now lack leading trucks and it would provide a solution should North Star’s leading truck give way.
Thanks in advance!
Eric
One more project on the list…
Eric, if you are talking about the truck with the metal strip (drawbar,) I’m sure I have read that you can just bolt them on to the chassis bottom plate.
I haven’t made one for the 4-6-0, but I made pilot trucks for other locos.
I assume then the truck broke you were left with 2 metal strips with the wheels in them? Here’s a photo of an old one:
So you just need a “U” channel to fit over the metal strips and a brass strip as a ‘drawbar’.
Or is your truck even older than that?
I want to help, but living and shipping from Ottawa Canada would be a tad expensive…
I do have two pilot wheel assemblies for the Bachmann ten wheelers that I can spare.
You can use the “NEW and improved” latest pilot wheel assemblies, if you can make an attachment point on the existing underframe…worth a try if you are game for it.
Let me know, and I can package the needed old style parts and send them to you…(No charge)…it would probably take at least 3 weeks to reach you.
Fred Mills [email protected]
Eric, is it a clean plastic snap? If you think it can be placed together and only shows a hairline it may be worthwhile trialling a solvent glue like MEK methylethylketone.
You hold the pieces together. Capillary action will suck it into the crack, melt the plastic which then solidifies as the MEK dissipates leaving little evidence of gluing. Once completely dry you have less worries of glue failure as the MEK has evaporated and the plastic becomes a solid welded plastic.
I’ve used it on styrene like plastics with success. I believe ABS glue does the similar but with ABS.
HiEveryone,
Here is the picture of the break:
You can see that the post holding the truck to the frame snapped as did the truck itself.
It would seem that I could try Pete’s (@PeterT ) and Bill’s (@Hines ) suggestion, using a solvent style glue and a bit of a U-channel to brace it. Then I should be able to tap a hold into the step and drive a screw through the lot. There would be nothing hurt in trying.
Fred (@freddy ) thanks for the kind offer of replacement parts. I will write you separately. They would be welcomed.
As for drilling into the frame to mount a new style truck, I am wondering if the plastic will handle it. The stems that take the screws holding the bottom of the chassis to the upper part of the chassis gave way, too, and we are going to have to get long screws to hold this contraption together. One part we are going to see if we can “fix” with a zip tie held in place with CA, reinforcing the steam and allowing the screw to bite. The cause of the break is unknow, but could be 1.) we overtightened it, 2.) we used screws from a different derelict that were slightly larger, 3.) the plastic was old and brittle and could no longer handle the stress of holding together a working loco’, or 4.) Act of Dog. One more thing to puzzle out as we proceed.
Eric
Eric;
Today, I have mailed you two “New” pilot trucks for your 10 wheelers (No Charge) Enjoy…
Please send me your telephone number, and email address Does your email address have a dot at the end of it ?
Fred Mills
That would be my guess.
I get to fix the pilot on an old Circus loco this week - my pal Jack in Florida has 2 and the working one has a broken pilot so they will be swapped. Not sure what will happen to the other!
Update:
While we await Fred’s parts (@freddy ), I decided to forge ahead with a repair effort. I got a plastic I-beam that, as it turned out, was just a bit too wide for the job, but that was easily remedied with styrene shim left over from another project. I remembered that I had a huge tin of MEK bought for a long forgotten project, so I grabbed that, too. I then clamped that lot together and let it lie.
Uploading: 20240420_132244.jpg…
It worked! I found a bit of dowel we will cut to make that “stem” that rises into the chassis, and I bought some small woodscrews today.
Today, Kid-zilla and I scrounged up our remaining pilot trucks, and he and I set to work cutting the bits we will need to repair them. We will glue the remaining pilots back together over the course of the week, then we will set about trying to connect them to the various chassis. Even if Fred’s pilot trucks get here first, finding away to make spares from trash seems like a good idea!
Beyond the pilot trucks, we puzzled over how best to attach that lower plate of the chassis to the upper portion with that busted stem. I found a bit of styrene tube that just fits over the stem. What if I glued that on, filled the cavity with CA, then tapped a new hole? Also, for the record, our zip-tie reinforcement of the other stem worked.
I’d show pictures but, I have some internet connectivity issues at the moment…
Eric
It should work. I had a Bachmann tender with a huge battery in it and it looked as if the owner had picked it up a few times and the screws stripped.
You can see in this pic that he put tubes on them to make them connect in the right place, then he drilled out the hole in the top and used longer screws.
Pete,
Thanks, we’ll go for it, using the longer screw in lieu of trying to fill and tap the cap. That sounds like an easier solution!
This project, by the way, has really captured Kid-zilla’s imagination, so restoring these old iron horses has taken lead on the lanai. To better capture our weekend efforts, below is a picture of our first repaired pilot and accompanying repair material:
As mentioned, we need to cut a bit of dowel to shape to replace the plastic rod that once connected this to forlorn Big Hauler.
This having proved successful, Kid-zilla and I rounded up all the other pilots, cut the I-beams…
…removed paint from the scrap styrene that would serve as shims…
…and commenced repairs, which, today, include buffing corrosion off the pilot wheels.
Fred’s donor pilot will got to Emmett. The next donor will got to the second derelict to return to service. We’ll use our spares for derelict number three and whatever goes out next!
In the meantime, he and I are debating paint schemes. Emmett will remain our circus train by mutual agreement. He gave me permission to transform Other Emmett into a proper OR&L inspired iron horse. Other North Star he asserts should remain a Christmas-themed engine. I think we may compromise and do this one up in a more Wild West color scheme to maintain the colorfulness while moving away from a holiday-specific engine. We’ll see!
Updates as progress merits!
Eric
Kind of sounds like it is you and KZlla as the main operators of the repair and maintainence shop. Well it is easier to reach a consensus with only 2 to vote, than the opinions of many! Looks like you have this well in hand!
yeah, seems that this repair and maintenance shop depends heavily on child labour…
Two replacement Pony trucks, for the Bachmann ten wheelers, have arrived at the “Island Repair shops”…The great “Professional Child Labour” can now make part of the repairs needed.
FJPM
Indeed! Thanks, Fred, for the assist! We will press one into immediate service on Emmett and place the other in reserve. We will also proceed with our experiment in repairing the broken pilot trucks.
Professional and personal obligations will place this and other projects on hold, however. I will see if Kid-zilla can get the other derlicts prepped while I am otherwise busy.
Eric
Update:
Fred’s ( @freddy ) pilot trucks made it onto Emmett over the weekend, making a countrywide salvage project an international one! Kid-zilla also found and reattached some bits to the circus wagons…
…and discovered polished wheels work better than tarnished ones!
Even better, he discovered the smoke generator worked! I’d show a video, but I am getting 'tronned.
We used a zip-tie to reinforce that other stem, and the assembly was just long enough for Kid-zilla to enjoy watching his train pulling the circus around the railroad. By Sunday, that screw had worked loose, though, and the axels no longer made contact with the little brass busses inside the chassis. We used this as an opportunity to discuss remedies, and he decided upon trying a longer screw, which, of course, we don’t have on hand. He also realized that we could swap chassis with one of the derelicts or even one of our old spares to place Emmett back in service while the derelict awaits restoration. He is beginning to learn that some parts are intended for salvage, not as the basis for something new. Goooooooodddddd…
Speaking of derelicts, they remain largely uncleaned on the Shelf of Perpetual Puttering. With our other projects going on, that is OK!
Updates as progress merits!
Eric
Update:
Last week, we braced that failed stem with a zip tie and CA glue.
We got a screw of the correct diameter today, and, after a bit of DREMEL work to shorten it about 1/8", successfully
got Emmett buttoned up and test on the stands.
Despite a successful test, Emmett kept stalling out on the rails. We discovered that a plunger style brush gets jammed in its barrel.
Shimpf! 
We freed it, tested Emmett, put him back on the rails, and had the same results. An inspection of our spare early generation chassis showed that neither have similar spring-loaded brushes. One of our two derelicts does. We then discussed our options.
- Kid-zilla suggested salvaging that part from the derelict (Boy is learning!). The derelict needs a thorough cleaning, and we intend to use it as a test subject to see how to marry an old boiler and cab to an updated 10-wheeler chassis.
- We discussed swapping out the derelict’s chassis for Emmett’s, disposing of the former’s defunct motor and corroded wheels, but I am not sure about the integrity of the rest of the wiring.
- We thought we might be able to clean the existing brush, oil it a bit, and see if that works.
He is really jazzed about this project, so we will push forward!
Eric
Don’t know that I’d oil it, but I would run a Q-tip through the sleeve it goes in to remove the residue you’ll likely find in there and wipe off the sides of the brush to remove that residue also. Dry cleaning the parts will work as all the residue is is carbon I believe.
And a gentle stretch of the spring will help restore its pressure, unless it is heavily rusted.