Replacement chassis for Mainline class 03

[ikcdab]

yes, i have one of these old mainline spilt chassis class 03s.

Never run right and never will. But the body is good. Whats the best replacment chassis - is there an etched kit that can be bought or has anyone scratchbuilt one? A simple 0-6-0 should not be that challenging!

[lapford34102]

One possible solution

 

http://highlevelkits.co.uk/03page.html

 

Stu

[stewartingram]

There were variations on this which I went through, until replaced by the modern Bachmann 03. So there are possible 2nd hand choices.

Mainline 03 with split chassis (sounds like yours).

Bachmann took over Mainline, so early production (or old stock?) the same.

Bachmann 04 split chassis. (This may have been revised again in much later production?).

Bachmann revised chassis (fits 03; I have one under a resin 05 still).

I've had all of these variants, mixed & matched the bodies easily, but have sold on the older ones since the new 03 came out.

All have run well, contradictory to what a lot of users have said!

 

Stewart

[Butler Henderson]

The current Bachmann 03 chassis should fit but will need at a least one body mounting altering - Bachmann reused the Mainline body as the basis of the 04 and I have fitted one to an 04 that suffered an split split axle. The improvement in slow running was well worth it - the most time consuming part was filling in the wheels with milliput and drilling out as appropriate to replicate the wheels of an 04.

[Ian J.]

If you're competent with etched brass chassis, I recommend the 03 one from High Level Kits. I haven't made one myself (although it's in the to-do pile) but I did make the L&Y Pug chassis many years ago and felt it was straightforward enough for someone familiar with soldering. I'd post a link to my build thread for it, but as it was on RMweb v3 which is now offline, I can't (I tried finding it on the wayback machine website, but it's one of many pages from the old RMweb that has not been archived at all )

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Ian J.

[ikcdab]

Many thanks for the replies. The one I have is cat number 31-350.

I'll have a look at the high level chassis.

 

[DCB]

I had a Bachmann 04 which expired with a burnt out motor .  I sourced a mainline 03 chassis for £2 from a show, fitted pickups to the rear driving wheels and used it as a temporary stop gap. That must have been 20 years ago and I'm still waiting for it to pack up. Wiper pickups between chassis halves and wheels completely transform the running of split chassis Mainline/ Bachmann locos.   Doesn't get rid of the annoying gear whine though.

[John Tomlinson]

On the subject of the old split chassis, I think Peters Spares now do replacement parts for the wheel joiners, which they themselves have commissioned. So they are repairable if necessary.

 

John.

[Bedlington North]

Branchlines also do an etched chassis kit complete with motor, gears and wheels that fits the Bachmann/Mainline 03 body and also the Dapol (ex-Airfix) Class 04.