Model Railroading > Question on an older (1980) Bachmann 2-8-0

All,

Working on for a friend an older Bachmann (1980) 2-8-0.

Having electrical pick up issues. Does anyone know of how these locos make pick up? Is it through the frame weight?Can get it to run by placing leads to the motor but not to the drivers. These engines use the drivers to do the pick up.

Thanks.

J.

I thought they had a thin brass plate that went under the plastic piece that holds the drivers in place....Which had little arms that brushed the inside of the drivers?

I'm assuming you mean the Reading style I-10 2-8-0 bachmann models.

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The Bachmann 2-8-0 of that vintage has wipers that touch each of the drivers, for power pickup.  As noted by another poster.  The tender has to be connected to the locomotive using the two plugs that connect the loco and tender electrically.  One plug has four conductors, two for the motor leads and two for the headlight.  The other plug, two wires connects the pickups from the drivers to the circuitboard in the tender.  Both plugs need to be connected for the locomotive to run.  The tender also picks up power as well and the tender trucks are also connected to the circuitboard.

You might want to check that the shorting plug is present in the DCC socket in the tender circuit board as that is removed to install a decoder.

I have one of the engines and that is what I recall about the power pick up stuff for it.  Mine has a decoder installed, so that is why I mentioned the shorting plug, in case you are attempting to run it on DC.

It is also possible that there is a broken wire at one of the plugs as the wires are small and easily damaged when unpluging the connections.

Hope this helps.

Bob

 

Bob, the 1980's Bachmann 2-8-0 did not require the tender to be connected as there was no electrical pickup from the tender.

I believe the model the original poster is speaking of is the Reading I-10 design that was released back in 1975 (they even offered it in Reading Company livery) that they also offered in a 2-8-2 design with feedwater heater mounted on the smokebox. The 2-8-2 configuration was accomplished by adding on a small trailing truck, similar to the one offered on the bachmann 2-6-2.

The 2-8-0 loco you speak of with tender pickup came out in the early 2000's

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/17 22:30 by nhiwwrr.

Oh well, too many years since I purchased mine.  Sometimes you can help, sometimes not...