Bachmann A2 Happy Knight. Removal of front pony truck to access NEM socket....

[gordon s]

Been fitting decoders for a few hours and started on this Bachmann A2 an hour or so ago. Decoder is all in and working, but blowed if I can see a way of removing the front NEM socket on this loco. I don't want a front coupling, but don't want to cut it off either. I'd rather save the part should I ever come to sell the loco, so it can restored to its original condition.

 

 

Tried turning the slotted nut above, but it just spins. Tried looking under the cylinders to see if anything was accessible from the rear, but nothing to be seen. The exploded parts diagram doesn't help, so any ideas?  I'm sure it's pretty simple, but I can't see it yet. Not sure if there is enough room between the truck and the chassis to get in with a pair of long nose pliers to stop the shaft/screw rotating, but even then it may not be the right thing to do.

 

Any guidance appreciated....

 

 

[gordon s]

Not life or death, but any ideas?

[Kaput]

The slotted nut thing has a screw coming from the other side, If I remember right you can access it when the body is off.

 

Once removed the entire coupling bar thing will come out.

[gordon s]

Thanks. I’ll take another look in case I missed it, but I had the body off yesterday and if it is a screw, I’m sure it didn’t appear the other side but was hidden under parts of the chassis. I even took off the cylinders carefully, but nothing under there that I could see.

Edited February 28, 2021 by gordon s

[MikeParkin65]

The attaching screw is beneath the cylinder 'block' when the body is removed. Therefore to access it you need to remove the cylinders, slidebars and associated rods. The easier route is to attack the NEM pocket with a pair of cutters from beneath. Note that the NEM box has an associated rear facing arm that centres the box - if  you cut the box only off the arm can then swing freely and can derail the bogie. Also note the same arm molding has the cub for the bogie spring so the original idea to remove it entirely needs to compensate for that as well. Removing the front NEM box does improve the look of the model but at the same time draws attention to the fact that the Bachmann bogie lacks the solid stretcher of the prototype.....

[gordon s]

Thanks again for your reply,Mike. I did lift up the cylinders, but then realised I would probably have to unscrew all the rods as well, so put the cylinders back. I didn’t want to cut it off in case I sold it in future, so wanted to keep it in one piece.

 

In all honesty from what you have said, I may just leave it there as it sounds there’s not much to be gained.

[MikeParkin65]

3 hours ago, gordon s said:

Thanks again for your reply,Mike. I did lift up the cylinders, but then realised I would probably have to unscrew all the rods as well, so put the cylinders back. I didn’t want to cut it off in case I sold it in future, so wanted to keep it in one piece.

 

In all honesty from what you have said, I may just leave it there as it sounds there’s not much to be gained.

An easier and cheap upgrade is to replace the far too small and coarse bogie wheels with appropriate 3 ft 2 10 spoke items . I used Gibson ones from wizard models.