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Bachmann Class 158 Status


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32 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

Since your post, the "current" (as of Jan 2021) Northern livery isn't quite the same.

It started to be changed in early Nov 2020 and is now appearing quite regularly.

 

I had heard rumblings of this on FB groups although I am unsure of the differences. Whichever one they do I would probably have, I am kind of resigned to having my stock spanning 2019-present day, so even if it was to have Arriva branding on I'd bite.

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32 minutes ago, TomScrut said:

 

I had heard rumblings of this on FB groups although I am unsure of the differences. Whichever one they do I would probably have, I am kind of resigned to having my stock spanning 2019-present day, so even if it was to have Arriva branding on I'd bite.

HI TOM,
 

I AREN'T SURE WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS EITHER?

 

Interested to know if you find out though.

 

cheers

Mark

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22 minutes ago, MRDBLUE17 said:

HI TOM,
 

I AREN'T SURE WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS EITHER?

 

Interested to know if you find out though.


I'VE SEEN THE DIFFERENCE! I reckon it’s VERY EASY TO SPOT...

 

Jack.

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On 10/01/2021 at 22:40, Jack374 said:


I'VE SEEN THE DIFFERENCE! I reckon it’s VERY EASY TO SPOT...

 

Jack.

these are the two recent Northern liveries i’m familar with...

 

 

Is it the “by arriva” missing or is there more to it ?

 

 

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I think most agree that the factory fitted speakers in the 158/159 are pretty useless for any decent sound quality. So I set about upgrading them.

 

The internals of the 158/9 are very impressive, some real thought has gone into it. Why couldn't they give the same thought to the speaker set up!? Best way to get the body off is remove the coupling and front skirt, then leverage that end up first with a screwdriver.

 

Two 8ohm speakers have been fitted in the underframe, Bachmann have helpfully wired their circuit boards for two speakers in parallel so this gives the 4ohms.

 

In the coach without the decoder, it's easy enough to slot the speaker into the space where the decoder would be:

 

20210112_130751_copy_1024x654.jpg.13b8b4585160d6fd4c239c7faef2b638.jpg

 

20210112_130812_copy_1024x623.jpg.91718e89e6b47a7a8689e599d590eb45.jpg

 

The piece of false floor with some engine bits on it will be modified and refitted. The speaker is wired to the S1 and S2 pins on the circuit board end, where the main coupling connector is wired to.

 

The coach with the decoder in it required a bit more work. The small weights were removed, and a hole cut in the floor. Again, underframe bits modified and refitted:

 

20210111_010046_copy_1024x576.jpg.cc684524237e0aa50dd04fe41bb247a4.jpg

 

20210111_002846_copy_1024x576.jpg.8d6a688f4cecd6ce6e52deba73cb1d83.jpg

 

The speaker here is wired direct to the decoder, as it's closer. Because of the circuit boards sitting on top, you can't build a sound chamber onto the speaker. However, whilst not sealed completely, the body does a good job of providing a sound chamber, and it's a vast improvement. I haven't got much operational track at the moment to test, but here's a short video. The sound file is Biffo:

 

 

I hope to get up on the club layout soon to do a proper comparison with my other 159. I'm optimistic at getting an EM1 in the second 159.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Received mine this morning, its very nice. I've been working today, so just had it on a test track in the background running in at various speeds. I turned the sound off so that I could listen to it run properly and it sounds a little noisy to me at top speed. Is that to be expected with this model? 

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37 minutes ago, APT Fan said:

Received mine this morning, its very nice. I've been working today, so just had it on a test track in the background running in at various speeds. I turned the sound off so that I could listen to it run properly and it sounds a little noisy to me at top speed. Is that to be expected with this model? 

 

The motor on my new 158 (non sound) makes a different noise to what I'm used to on diesel locos. I found it a bit whiny (best i can think of) to start but now its either calmed down or im used to it (or both). I thought the same on the 117 as well. It just wasn't what i was used to with the big heavy locos. If yours sounds the same, don't worry, run it for a few weeks (on and off - not continuous :lol:). Mine is going great, faultless, but then again all my Bachmann stock is.

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8 minutes ago, Norski said:

 

The motor on my new 158 (non sound) makes a different noise to what I'm used to on diesel locos. I found it a bit whiny (best i can think of) to start but now its either calmed down or im used to it (or both). I thought the same on the 117 as well. It just wasn't what i was used to with the big heavy locos. If yours sounds the same, don't worry, run it for a few weeks (on and off - not continuous :lol:). Mine is going great, faultless, but then again all my Bachmann stock is.

 

Yes that's a reasonable description, it sounds like the gears to me. It does sound better after running it for an hour at medium speed, although I haven't been paying full attention. Despite it being brand new, I'm not assuming it doesn't need oiling as I don't know how long its been in stock. I've read the manual about checking inside the bogies to see if it looks 'dry' but I don't really know where I am to look or what to look for? How would I know if it needs oiling?

Thanks

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22 hours ago, APT Fan said:

 

Yes that's a reasonable description, it sounds like the gears to me. It does sound better after running it for an hour at medium speed, although I haven't been paying full attention. Despite it being brand new, I'm not assuming it doesn't need oiling as I don't know how long its been in stock. I've read the manual about checking inside the bogies to see if it looks 'dry' but I don't really know where I am to look or what to look for? How would I know if it needs oiling?

Thanks

 

Ive no idea im afraid. If i can keep my fingers out of these things i'm happy. I really would give it a go for a few weeks - mine sounded quite shocking at first, to the point where i thought i won't be able to live with it. I think it was just different to what i was used to. 

Fine now. Give it a good run, top speed is noisiest but its a DMU and prototypically shouldn't be hemming it around your layout. 

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My problem is that I never read the manual, I think I do it just to wind up the missus and its become instinctive now! Anyway, they say run it at half speed for half an hour in both directions. The areas indicated in the manual don't look obviously dry to me. However I was surprised to see the underside of the pcb which seems to have some oil splashes from the drive shaft, I hope this isn't going to cause an issue in the future.

 

The detailing on this model is fantastic and I love the build quality, it doesn't feel like bits are going to fall off when you pick it up like some of the high detail Hornby models. The speaker has decent volume and there is an impressive list of DCC functions. I think £275 with factory fitted sound and delivery was a bargain, I'm really pleased with it.

 

1841331077_Class158(4).jpg.aed2e90e6ae38e83d0c3d8739293ef3a.jpg

 

329413882_Class158(2).jpg.5349d158d2bef0354765f9fdbb65673f.jpg

 

1393977757_Class158(3).jpg.87bd23ff0aac23f2f4b36c0139dc8e7b.jpg

 

  

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  • 9 months later...
7 hours ago, nhdesigns said:

I’m having a little bit of trouble with my one being the wheels and one of the bogies slipping off the rails so don’t know if the wheels need popping  back into place. 

 

is this on a powered or trailing bogie? I've noticed the trailing bogie on most of my Bachmann's DMU are a bit loose and had a few where the axles simply fall out. A small tweaks/bend to the pickups/bearing cups might help? 

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11 hours ago, nhdesigns said:

I’m having a little bit of trouble with my one being the wheels and one of the bogies slipping off the rails so don’t know if the wheels need popping  back into place. 

Yes mine had that problem out of the box...one of the wheels had popped out the bogie very subtly It took me a while to work out what was going on. because it had gone into a clear section of the bogie it still rotated freely but as soon as a reverse curve was encountered it came straight off.

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13 minutes ago, pheaton said:

Yes mine had that problem out of the box...one of the wheels had popped out the bogie very subtly It took me a while to work out what was going on. because it had gone into a clear section of the bogie it still rotated freely but as soon as a reverse curve was encountered it came straight off.

This has happened to me on nearly all of the new tooling DMUs. Multiple 158s, 159s,117s and 121s. Just requires a simple pop back in. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone has been able to reduce the coupling distance on their 158/159 coaches to close to touching? The corridor gap is reasonably close but I'm wondering if it can be made closer still. Not sure if it's possible though given the coupling mechanism. Thanks

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On 24/07/2020 at 02:24, MRDBLUE17 said:

Northern versions like these? Unbranded purple and the white. Both look smart on the new Bachmann models.

 

cheers

Mark

 

 

95CA5687-D8E4-44F3-A558-B435B34846F4.jpeg

Hi Mark,

 

Your repaints look amazing and the colours look spot on! Can I ask which paints you used for the Northern Midnight Blue & Purple livery? I’ve been searching the web for these colours, without success, so was interested in what paint you used? 

 

cheers, Nick
 

 

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3 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I guess there's been no news regarding different liveries for this unit?

I'm surprised they haven't released a whole load more, then do re-runs with different numbers in later years.

 

The only news we get is the quarterly releases.

 

They did some 90s last time, which they hadn't been very forthcoming with before, so hopefully they'll do the same with 158s next time. Fingers and toes crossed for a white Northern one.

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11 hours ago, nickb4141 said:

Hi Mark,

 

Your repaints look amazing and the colours look spot on! Can I ask which paints you used for the Northern Midnight Blue & Purple livery? I’ve been searching the web for these colours, without success, so was interested in what paint you used? 

 

cheers, Nick
 

 

Hi Nick,

 

Thanks for your kind words. Apart from the base white colour which is sprayed on the rest of the livery is printed directly onto the body shells. 
 

Thanks

Mark

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