spikey Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 What's the difference between N class of 32-160/32-166 vintage and the current production 32-165? What difference in running quality would I notice between the two? I'm on DC, and am particularly keen on slow and scale speed running. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted September 21, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 21, 2018 32-160 was one of the earlier releases and is therefore fitted with the older split chassis and a DCC decoder has to be hard wired. The chassis runs fine on DC but not as well as the new one. 32-165 and 32-166 have the newer chassis and motor, which is DCC Ready for a 6-pin decoder. Other than livery, the difference between the two models is that 32-165 has the tender with sloped raves (as fitted to the Schools class), whereas 32-166 has the more common straight sided tender. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 21, 2018 Author Share Posted September 21, 2018 Thank you, sir. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 32-160 was one of the earlier releases and is therefore fitted with the older split chassis and a DCC decoder has to be hard wired. The chassis runs fine on DC but not as well as the new one. 32-165 and 32-166 have the newer chassis and motor, which is DCC Ready for a 6-pin decoder. Other than livery, the difference between the two models is that 32-165 has the tender with sloped raves (as fitted to the Schools class), whereas 32-166 has the more common straight sided tender. FWIW - the original chassis was never split drive. I think both are largely the same except motor and 6pin plug. IMHO both run as well as each other, unless you don't use it for years and the grease gets a bit lumpy. DCC sound fitting still requires a lot of work though and would need hard wiring unless you find a very small sound chip. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 21, 2018 Author Share Posted September 21, 2018 (edited) OK ... so now I have one for 32-160/166 being split chassis, one against. Anybody care to add a third opinion? I'll gladly take a majority verdict PS Ease of chip fitting is irrelevant to me. I'm on DC ... Edited September 21, 2018 by spikey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OFFTHE RAILS Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 OK ... so now I have one for 32-160/166 being split chassis, one against. Anybody care to add a third opinion? I'll gladly take a majority verdict PS Ease of chip fitting is irrelevant to me. I'm on DC ... The Bachmann N 2-6-0 was introduced as a "Blue Riband" model and has a modern chassis (NOT SPLIT CHASSIS) I have an early model (not DCC ready) but I've fitted a decoder (Hornby r8249) easily in the firebox. It's now available in DCC ready guise. Lovely loco. Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 Thanks Ian! I'll go with that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigherb Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Watch out for Mazac rot on the early ones. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 Watch out for Mazac rot on the early ones. How old would one have to be in order to be suspect? From what year are they not reckoned to be at risk? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted September 22, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 22, 2018 (edited) Can’t recall the products codes but IIRC the mazak rot at risk locos were the first batch including loco no’s 31813 and 31860 Edited September 22, 2018 by brushman47544 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 Thanks gents. So SR green running number 1406 with slope-sided tender, product code 32-160, labelled "Blue Riband" on the box should not be rot-prone and shouold not be split chassis. Correct? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted September 23, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 23, 2018 (edited) Thanks gents. So SR green running number 1406 with slope-sided tender, product code 32-160, labelled "Blue Riband" on the box should not be rot-prone and shouold not be split chassis. Correct? Yup. To recap NONE of the N class have a split chasis! However because they were designed back in 1994 there is no provision for DCC on most models and you will probably have to start hacking away at the chassis block to make room or install it in the tender adding link wires as required. The Mazzak issue was restricted to a crumbling footplate (which is metal) and not the chassis. Plus it only affected a single BR liveried release and was not a widespread issue like some of the more recent scares. Edited September 23, 2018 by phil-b259 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 23, 2018 Author Share Posted September 23, 2018 Hurrah! That's a relief. With fingers crossed, I decided to order the thing last night in the hope that the seller was wrong about it being split chassis ... Thank you for that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 (edited) Sorry to put a spanner in the works, didn't one release of the SR Olive green have a dodgy tender that was couldn't navigate curves very well without surgery? Edit, yep http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/19752-Bachmann-n-class-tender-derailing/ Edited September 23, 2018 by woodenhead Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 23, 2018 Author Share Posted September 23, 2018 Much obliged. That'll come in very handy if there's a tender problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium stephennicholson Posted September 26, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 26, 2018 Yup. To recap NONE of the N class have a split chasis! However because they were designed back in 1994 there is no provision for DCC on most models and you will probably have to start hacking away at the chassis block to make room or install it in the tender adding link wires as required. The Mazzak issue was restricted to a crumbling footplate (which is metal) and not the chassis. Plus it only affected a single BR liveried release and was not a widespread issue like some of the more recent scares. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium stephennicholson Posted September 26, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 26, 2018 No hacking needed. One of the easier dcc conversions to do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted September 26, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 26, 2018 No hacking needed. One of the easier dcc conversions to do. Agreed, the N class was one of the first hard-wired decoder installations I attempted and it wasn't difficult. Great models, in my opinion, still holding up well today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 27, 2018 Author Share Posted September 27, 2018 (edited) Well, my "as-new 32-160 N Class no 1406 with slope-sided tender" arrived this morning, and to say I'm well pleased with it is something of an understatement. Beautiful model, and to my delight, a far better runner than I was expecting. Thanks once again to you guys who cleared up my chassis confusion. Edited September 27, 2018 by spikey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted September 27, 2018 Share Posted September 27, 2018 Does a 32-153A have the amended tender chassis to stop the derailments? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium phil-b259 Posted September 27, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 27, 2018 Does a 32-153A have the amended tender chassis to stop the derailments? Sort of. No real changes were made to the tender - I think some minor alteration was made to the tender wheels and a bit more weight added which aledgadly cured the problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted September 27, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 27, 2018 (edited) Does a 32-153A have the amended tender chassis to stop the derailments? Sort of. No real changes were made to the tender - I think some minor alteration was made to the tender wheels and a bit more weight added which aledgadly cured the problem. I run the straight sided tender from first release 31860 with a much newer version (31869) that came with sloped raves and I can't tell the difference in terms of running quality. Edited September 27, 2018 by brushman47544 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 27, 2018 Author Share Posted September 27, 2018 (edited) And FWIW the tender of my secondhand pre-owned 32-160 which arrived earlier today seems to be incapable of misbehaving however hard I try to induce it to do so, despite it having the apparently-problematic strange loco-to-tender coupling. Edited September 27, 2018 by spikey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenhead Posted September 27, 2018 Share Posted September 27, 2018 secondhand pre-owned Pre-loved is the term sellers use now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spikey Posted September 27, 2018 Author Share Posted September 27, 2018 Pre-loved is the term sellers use now Barff ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now