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Info needed Bachmann 57XX "L99" London Transport locomotive


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Recently purchased but as yet not received was a pre-owned non-runner class 57XX "L99" in London Transport livery.   I would consider that this is a very early chassis and possibly a split chassis design.  I have numerous later release DCC ready locomotives of the 57XX/8750 design and thought to re-chassis the London Transport livery model with a later chassis if unable to get the non-runner operating.   I am curious if the later release chassis are a replacement for the earlier split chassis design.

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I believe they are fundamentally, but because the new chassis design introduced NEM couplings the attachment to the body moulding may be different and some fettling is required to enable the later chassis to fit to the Mainline-type body tooling .  There are a few other differences as well, notably that the Mainline-type body tooling does not have the hook shaped bunker rear brackets.  It may be worth your while test fitting the L99 body to one of your other DCC ready 57xx or 8750 chassis before purchasing a new one to gauge what needs to be done to attach the body to it.

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Many thanks.  As yet I have not received the loco.  The pre-owned description simply stated non-runner so I need to find out the cause when it arrives.   I have successfully repaired several split chassis locomotives,  however,  of late the non-runners I have purchased have all had faulty motors.  The images show the quartering to be correct so possibly not split axle muffs.   At present the basic shipping cost of anything shipped by Peters Spares to Australia is GBP40.00  plus the cost of the parts,  so obtaining replacement aftermarket parts there would be more than the cost of the loco.   I have never dealt with Bachmann Europe for spares so do not know what costs to expect if parts were available.  It would seem that the chassis will be a split design as I do not know when the later issue DCC compatible chassis were released.

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I did exactly what you propose: fitted a newer DCC-ready chassis into an older body from a split chassis version. I did have to modify the mounting points to suit. I can't remember for sure, but I may ave had to grind away a small amount of plastic from inside the body too.

 

Conversely, I reused the still operational split chassis, converted to DCC, in the newer pannier body (with minor mods again to suit), painted into my industrial fleet, where slow speed running required of it reduces/hides the obvious waddling motion of that chassis. I have swapped wheelsets around but all of them had some wobbles, so I chose those with the least run-outs.

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The L99 LT model was the original tooling for the split chassis. The whole model was retooled with a new chassis  and the body mounting points moved inboard to accommodate that retool, not because of the NEM couplings.

F6D24221-CB6D-4D32-8DCD-FCC2C8C57C03.jpeg.368d02ef184533fa36284ea37e88dbe2.jpeg

 

Heres the current chassis and new (top) and old (bottom) bodies. The original countersunk screws fitted to the bufferbeams, the new front mount moved rearward, and the body retool re-purposed the bunker weight mount to the body fixing.

The new chassis does fit the old body. If you’re keeping the backhead, that fouls on the internal cab splashers, and you need to make clearance for the backhead. On mine you can see the notches filed either side. The chassis will then fit slightly low at the front, so some packing may be required depending on how you arrange the front mount.

FCC01A90-3815-4CE8-A09B-4C678F479375.jpeg.b7023cbf757b1b1ca888e21fcf1686be.jpeg
The chassis used here is the Mk1 retool for non DCC, with the fitting of chips, further modifications were done to the boiler weight casting reducing it in size, but I doubt that’ll have any issue on fitting if using a DCC configured chassis.

Edited by PMP
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PMP,

         many thanks.  Much appreciated.

 

Edit:  my non runner class 57XX arrived this afternoon and as I had thought given recent arrivals,  the motor was a dud.  I applied power and the motor lit up like a firecracker and smoked.  After disassembly I applied some contact cleaner to the commutator as it was caked in carbon and there was a continuous path of sparking between the brushes.  I then noticed that the brass brush retainers had backed out slightly and reseated them but alas after that the motor would not even spark.  I reassembled the drive minus the motor and will contemplate its future. 

Edited by GWR-fan
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  • 3 weeks later...

This afternoon I received a substitute motor from China.  Three motors cost me a total of $13.00 Aud and delivery downunder less than a week.  The motors are an open frame three pole with brass bearings.  They are about 3/4 the size of the original Bachmann motor.  They are described as 15 mm micro 6v - 12v high speed motors.  Dimensions are as follows, length of case 19 mm, height of case 15 mm, thickness 10 mm,  shaft length 8.5 mm and shaft diameter 1.5 mm.  The seller recommended oiling the end bearings before use.

 

As can be seen in the images the pickup fingers exit on one side.  I needed to reposition one finger to the opposite direction to contact the split chassis halves.  The pickup proved to be quite fragile but was easily soldered in the right orientation.  The case journal is the same diameter as the drive gear end of the Bachmann motor case so I was able to use the original nylon spacer to position the replacement motor.  To mount the motor I glued a 0.010" shim to the inside of the motor cavity on the chassis half.  The motor was then glued in position to one chassis half making sure the motor rotated freely on the gearset.  On the other chassis half a corresponding 0.010" shim was glued so that the motor would be clamped in position when the chassis halves were joined.  The chassis was then assembled and test run.  The motor is glued to one chassis half only allowing disassembly.

 

Performance was satisfactory and after a runnning in period,  hampered by drive wheels that had not been run for a long time so it took a while to get the wheel tread faces shining.  Low and relatively high speed performance is adequate with the loco easily hauling eight heavy Wrenn four-wheel vans.  The motor is not as powerful as would be a stock Bachmann motor but given the low cost and ease of installation I am quite happy as after finding the original motor heavily arcing and smoking I was content to leave the model as a static dummy.

 

The second image shows a comparison to the original Bachmann motor case.

lta.JPG

ltb.JPG

ltc.JPG

ltd.JPG

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