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Bachmann 94xx


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3 hours ago, The Johnster said:

If you think sourcing the works plates was an emotional roller coaster, you should see what I've been through with the loco...

 

Being serious, it's been a long wait with hopes dashed, dissappointment, hopes again, despair, anger, impatience, frustration, expectation, more hopes, more dissappointments, thinking it was all over, finding out it wasn't, and so on.  Bachmann were not to blame for all of this but  were for some of it; they do seem to have learned from the experience and are now doing things differently, at least in the way that they announce and release information to us. 

 

I am going to open the box as if the secret to the universe was inside made of bone china so thin you could read a newspaper through it.  I am sure that the loco will run well on my layout, and that it will improve over time, as this has been my experience with previous  Bachmanns, and the photos show that the detail is excellent; I am most definitely going to enjoy it! 

 

The real 94xx were a bit of an oddity, a lumpen sort of shape than not many railwaymen liked very much, the general feeling being that the 57xx and 8750 were just as good and the brakes were easier to reach if you were Casey Jonesing it out of the cab. but I have fond memories of them.  In 1964 an 1965 I got footplate rides on them on the Penrhos Banker, which was enormous fun, and to my callow youth aesthetics I thought they looked modern and powerful (my view was that taper boiler=modern and powerful) but retained the essential GW attributes.  A decemt RTR is long overdue and I am looking forward to it, possibly tomoz, but more likely early next week assuming Rails put mine in the post today as they said they were going to.

 

It's just occurred to me that I am going to have to find something else to obsess on RMWeb about now!

 

You? Obsess? Surely not! There are autocoaches to froth over,aren't there?

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59 minutes ago, truffy said:

Strokes and folks.

 

As a non-GWR man with a penchant for panniers, I have both a BlueBox 5700 and 8750. But the 94xx leaves me cold.

 

Actually, it's the tapered boiler. Go figure. 

 

Don't worry too much about it. using the Taff Vale class A  as an example, the as-new locomotives look wrong, but the rebuilts looked just right. It's all down to the number 10 boiler. 

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Having just escaped from the big bust-up on the red hot Flangeway-Footplate Salmon wagon thread, and with the EU going bonkers, it's  a pleasure to arrive on the 94xx thread. My two tanks arrived on Tuesday, but I didn't get around to testing them until Thursday night, oh boy was I in for a pleasant surprise. I have to say the locos are stunning, conveying the heavy look of these brutes, but the icing on the cake was the astonishing sound tracks fitted. For starters, as the loco runs we automatically have the very characteristic spit of the GW vacuum pump, heard more clearly on the prototype when coasting. Luckily we don't get any of that repetitive release of the brakes, like on a Hornby chip, everytime the loco moves off. Trying the various sound buttons, suddenly my first loco stopped running, and refused to move, like a stubborn mule. Thinking I might have a dreaded motor failure, and trying other buttons, it burst back into life, it transpires the no.2 brake function really does work as a handbrake, a kind of "audio-digital brake", is this a first in RTR?

       I'm old enough (62) to just remember these beasts, my first encounter was at the Paddington buffer stops, when my father  and a typically friendly WR crew, hoisted me up the steps into the cab. As a 2 or 3 year old, I was terrified of the noise and heat, plus the inside was on fire! I recall it was short and black, and could just as easily have been a 15xx or a 57xx, but a 94 would be favourite. Well the experience didn't put me off for life, in the following years until I was six, I saw a lot of steam in South Wales, without knowing which class was which at that age. I have ghostly memories of dirty tank locos at Porthcawl, Bridgend and Peterston Sidings, which connected with the Barry line, plus rows of old locos in the scrapyard, alongside the main line at Bridgend Tremains. By the time I was seven, it was all over in that part of the world.

        Overall, these new models are gorgeous, just one little niggle, the whole chassis has rigid bearings. Mainline Palitoy brought us the flat cab 57xx, Bachmann gave us the later cab version, with a new motor and split axles, then years later they re-invented it with a whole new chassis (WITH A SPRUNG CENTRE AXLE), which was the best of the bunch, so chassis-wise we have gone slightly backwards.

                                                                                 Cheers, Brian.

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17 hours ago, Tim Hall said:

Royal Mail were unable to deliver today due to "the property being inaccessable", as the police have cordoned the area off to the body of "a man in his 20s or 30s" being found a few 100 yards away.

Just had four blokes in white protective suits ferreting around around outside and in the park opposite. 

So “the streets of inner-city Cardiff” are “mean”. Poor Johnster. Poor Tim Hall. :(

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I also received my Bachmann sound fitted 94xx yesterday and as others have said it’s a stunning model.

 

One quick question is that I would like to fit a stay alive capacitor as the slightest speck of dirt on the track causes it to stop.

 

As this new loco is first locomotive I have that’s fitted with V5 of the ESU chip sound chip and I am aware that the fitting of ESU stay alive (or power pack is recommended as part of the ESU warranty) 

 

My question is has anyone as yet investigated if there is the physical room to fit the ESU Power pack in the 94xx

 

Terry 

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8 minutes ago, ELTEL said:

I also received my Bachmann sound fitted 94xx yesterday and as others have said it’s a stunning model.

 

One quick question is that I would like to fit a stay alive capacitor as the slightest speck of dirt on the track causes it to stop.

 

As this new loco is first locomotive I have that’s fitted with V5 of the ESU chip sound chip and I am aware that the fitting of ESU stay alive (or power pack is recommended as part of the ESU warranty) 

 

My question is has anyone as yet investigated if there is the physical room to fit the ESU Power pack in the 94xx

 

Terry 

 

The coal load is the standard lead design and is easily removed from underneath with 2 small screws. I took mine out to grind the top off and add real coal, but you could remove the full thing, fit it there with a plastikard lid?

 

Doubt you'd notice the weight loss that much with the chassis. Other option would be some lead from the Panniers.

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Good news - La Poste delivered a parcel from Penarth Road within the last fifteen minutes. Joy! - no additional VAT or fees to pay (probably won't last too long - honeymoon period an' all that). I haven't yet opened it so I shall take care. Whilst it's a sound loco, I shan't get to hear it as my ECoS is bust and still not repaired as I have yet to send it off - that's another story.

 

I will take for a spin on the test track this afternoon whilst Madame Philou is doing a weekend shop. I shall let you know the outcome. In the same parcel were some GWR 4-wheelers (wrong era, I know). Apart from the duckets, they look fine as 'generic' coaches go - but that too, is for another thread.

 

Hope yours arrives soon @The Johnster.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

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Thanks to Derails 9479 arrived at Mantles Wood this week and I've just had a chance to unbox and test it.  No bits bent or missing and it really runs well on my Gaugemaster DS, no frying of motors or anything.  It has just a very slight hesitancy in both directions if I try to move it off at a snail's pace, but then most locos are like that anyway.  Pulling away at any faster is really smooth.  9479 was a Southall machine in my timeframe so would be ok but I'll probably change to 9477 from the same period.

rev 9479 Mantles Wood ecs.jpg

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2 hours ago, No Decorum said:

So “the streets of inner-city Cardiff” are “mean”. Poor Johnster. Poor Tim Hall. :(

Tim lives about half a mile away from me, but it is much ‘nicer’, more suburb in feel  than inner city, where he is, which makes yesterday’s events the more shocking.  Nobody’d bat an eyelid round here!  
 

My street is actually fairly quiet and safe, but the area (Roath) has the usual issues; drugs, crime, prostitutes, poverty, homelessness, and so on.  I don’t go out late at night or answer my doorbell after about 8 in the evening. 

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11 hours ago, Kirby Uncoupler said:

just one little niggle, the whole chassis has rigid bearings. Mainline Palitoy brought us the flat cab 57xx, Bachmann gave us the later cab version, with a new motor and split axles, then years later they re-invented it with a whole new chassis (WITH A SPRUNG CENTRE AXLE), which was the best of the bunch, so chassis-wise we have gone slightly backwards    

I believe that the 08 also has a sprung centre axle, but I can't recall any others having this. It is indeed a shame, but the 94XX is so heavy, that that will certainly help as regards electrical pick up.

 

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HAs  anyone  with  a   decoder  fitted  example  (ex  factory  sound version) noticed  that   the  loco speed sometimes increases  or  decreases  without   any reason (ie no  alterations  made on  the digital controller)

 

This  was  also  noted   on  a   'so called' review of  the  loco  which  has  appeared on  You Tube,

 

The  reviewer  also stated  that the loco he  was  reviewing  was  his  2nd  example  as  the  first was faulty

 

Personally I do not  set  much  store  by these  reveiws!

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3 hours ago, No Decorum said:

So “the streets of inner-city Cardiff” are “mean”. Poor Johnster. Poor Tim Hall. :(

Noooo. Cardiff is alright. Like everywhere else, you get ups & downs. I'm not going into the social mores of Cardiff, after all, it's the weekend.  I've spent most of my working life in the area, and it didn't harm me. 

 

Meanwhile... The scene... Penarth Road Sorting Office... 'Ere, we've got a  parcel for some bloke called... Wot is it?  Johnster?  Yer, down near City Road'...

 

"Put it back in the other pile, I'll sort it out next week..."

 

"But, the postmark date is 2017........"

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21 hours ago, Tim Hall said:

Royal Mail were unable to deliver today due to "the property being inaccessable", as the police have cordoned the area off to the body of "a man in his 20s or 30s" being found a few 100 yards away.

Just had four blokes in white protective suits ferreting around around outside and in the park opposite. 

Still cordoned and delivery failed again, but Amazon got through last night, though they wouldn't let him drive in, delivering my teenage daughter's urgent chocolate supplies :scratchhead:.

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1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

I believe that the 08 also has a sprung centre axle, but I can't recall any others having this. It is indeed a shame, but the 94XX is so heavy, that that will certainly help as regards electrical pick up.

 

Hi Tim (M), 

      Yes, I think that's right, and possibly the Standard Class 5? No sooner had it been applied to new designs, then the feature was suddenly dropped, perhaps on grounds of cost? The ones that got a sprung axle, still have it on new stock, they didn't design it out.

 And people wonder why the later edition 57xx run so well? Shame really, because it was the easiest loco to fully compensate, it only needed a rocking front axle.

       The new 94xx is so good, it has now been well worth the long wait, but a quicker way would have been a new 94xx body, plonked on to the sprung axle 57xx chassis. As you and many others will know, a 94xx is basically a 57xx with a tapered 2251 (Collett Goods) boiler and bigger water tanks. They ended up with a much heavier loco, so the 57xx lived on, in fact the last were produced after the first 94xx.

                                                                                         Cheers, Brian.      

     

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Hello everyone

 

I received my three 94xx a couple of days ago...two are perfect runners but one has the 'close to top dead center stutter' that others have reported.

 

I took the body off and noticed that the motor seemed a little wobbly. I found that if I held the motor 'biased' to one side or other, the problem went away. I then went a bit further and poked a wooden tooth pick between the motor and frame to 'fix it' without my hand interfering with the running.

 

Well...it seemed to cure the problem by about 95%.

 

I have now fixed the motor in place with some Duck tape (which can be removed if needed) and she is running fairly well. I am using this one on 'station pilot duties' and the 'stutter' is hardly noticeable. However, I think it would become a nuisance if I was shunting with it as you can hear the motor 'work slightly harder' as it goes through that same point in the rotation.

 

Brian

 

 

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2 hours ago, Kirby Uncoupler said:

a 94xx is basically a 57xx with a tapered 2251 (Collett Goods) boiler and bigger water tanks. They ended up with a much heavier loco, so the 57xx lived on, in fact the last were produced after the first 94xx.

I believe the 94xx used much the same frames as the 2251.  The no.10 was a fairly obvious choice having been originally developed under Collett for use on rebuilt South Wales absorbed locos, notably the TVR A class which is mechanically not dissimilar to a 2251, which can be thought of as a tender version of the A built out of Swindon standard bits.  The 94xx was the final part of a long term program to replace pre-grouping absorbed South Wales locos, coming to the end of their useful lives in the late 40s and early 50s.  Route availability is not an issue in South Wales, all loco go everywhere, so the weight of the 94xx was not an issue in the area, though it did restrict their usefulness elsewhere. One can trace the development from the absorbed rebuilds throught the 2251.

 

The 57xx/8750's better route availability is a slight cheat; these were 'blue' locos arbitrarily reclassified as 'yellow' during WW2 and the blue never re-imposed.  It increased their usefulness by a very considerable amount, allowing their use on the Newport-Brecon trains for example, but they were still prohibited from some blue routes, notably the Cambrian and Mid Wales.

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Having just run in my 94xx as instructed by Bachmann I have come to the conclusion, as expected, that coreless motors are not the way forward in my opinion. I am running this loco as instructed with a non feedback Gaugemaster W controller & no electronic track cleaner & it just does not run as freely & as smoothly when running slowly shunting as all my other locos that run with a Gaugemaster feedback HH controller. The only coreless loco I have & it will be the last. Also disappointing that several people here have had problems with their 94xx models one way or another. After waiting so long it is just not good enough.

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14 minutes ago, Pinehill said:

.... I have come to the conclusion, as expected, that coreless motors are not the way forward in my opinion.

 

I'm bound to agree - my RTR conventially-motored locos, and my kit-built locos with etched brass chassis, High Level gearboxes and cheap Mitsumi motors, are much smoother runners than my few RTR locos that have coreless motors.

 

John Isherwood.

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1 hour ago, Stevelewis said:

Brian,

 

Surely   you have  the  right   to  obtain  a  replacement  or  refund, personally  I would  not  accept  the  loco

 

Steve

 

Hello Steve

 

Thanks for writing.

 

Indeed, it's true that I could get a replacement or refund, but my supplier is out of stock with no more from Bachmann. I'm (relatively) happy with my 'bodge' - many people wouldn't notice the very slight stutter - only when moving off at dead slow speed for a second or so - and I'm not having any real problem with it on 'station pilot duty'.

 

I have, however, sent a 'note of concern' to the shop to pass to Bachmann and I know that has already been done. If the loco gets worse, then it will go back.

 

Brian

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5 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

I believe that the 08 also has a sprung centre axle, but I can't recall any others having this. It is indeed a shame, but the 94XX is so heavy, that that will certainly help as regards electrical pick up.

 

The Standard 5 leading axle, 56/66XX 3F ‘Jinty’, 57xx family and 08 have a sprung axle. The 3F’s (five of them here), aren’t as good as the 57xx’s despite sharing the same mechanism, the worm to top cog isn’t as well aligned as on the 57’s.

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6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Tim lives about half a mile away from me, but it is much ‘nicer’, more suburb in feel  than inner city, where he is, which makes yesterday’s events the more shocking.  Nobody’d bat an eyelid round here!  
 

My street is actually fairly quiet and safe, but the area (Roath) has the usual issues; drugs, crime, prostitutes, poverty, homelessness, and so on.  I don’t go out late at night or answer my doorbell after about 8 in the evening. 

Hmm, hasn't changed much then.  If I had to go down there to call out staff after dark I always made sure I had a brake stick reasonably handy - but under a coat - in the car.  One bloke I went to call one evening asked me if I was on my own - thought it was very brave of me.  But then I used to regularly have. a drink in The Custom House at the top of Bute St and compared with that place Roath was  rather quiet.

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