Bachmann 2 EPB

[303013]

 

Well, I don't know about where the EPBs were, but certainly up here, it wouldn't be complete without

 

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written on it somewhere

 

Ok, ok, I can understand that being edited, but.....

 

 

 

Many years ago in Switzerland (Brig), whilst on the train, we passed a building that had graffiti written on the side.

 

One of them said (and I kid you not)

 

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in big letters for all to see!

 

 

I assume the 'artists' first language wasn't English and was, perhaps trying to say something else (although what, I'm not sure), but I've been waiting for a chance to use that one for years, regardless!

 

but...you actually edited that?? I hadn't realised that railway modelers were the most genteel people on the planet and that 'Happy Hemmahoid' is considered offensive!

 

The words are amusing if somewhat misguided, but what really amuses me is the idea that someone ACTUALLY went out there with a spray can and wrote it!

 

Gentle Medical Student humour perhaps?

 

P.S. if it still gets edited, then I think we all know what piles are, and the words tell you to have a 'Happy' one.

[Matloughe]

The 2EPB can be used on DC perfectly though if yours is DCC-fitted you might prefer to exchange the chip for a blanking plate.

 

There is a green syp version. It was a commission by Lord & Butler and is available only from them either pristine or (at additional cost) weathered to a very high standard.

 

The blue/grey version is currently only available with the branding AFAIK but watch for future reissues as it's been quite a popular model.

 

Thank you very much Gwiwer - most helpful. The Lord & Butler Green EPB does look rather tasty but for the moment it is out of my budget range sadly. I will be operating my Layout with DCC in the future - provision is being made during construction but for the moment I only have a Hornby Select controller or my standard Hornby DC Controller. I have the scary prospect of converting "spud" powered LT tube trains to DCC operation ahead of me.

 

I am leaning towards the plain green EPB as it'll fit in nicely with red painted LT Stock for the moment. Also just sat through fifteen minutes of a child unpacking an EPB on youtube to discover the lighting will work on DC - presumably linked to how much "Juice" its getting to move.

 

Thank you again Gwiwer.

~ Gary

[Matloughe]

Well I've just ordered my BR Green EPB from Peters Spares in Middlesbrough.

 

They appear to be the cheapest place I have found for a EPB, £86.50 plus shipping. They still have a single Blue & Grey EPB in stock if anyone is interested: http://www.petersspares.com/acatalog/Bachmann_Diesel_Locomotives.html

 

I am looking forward to its arrival - just have to justify the expenditure by selling other models I no-longer want or need.

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

[303013]

Well I've just ordered my BR Green EPB from Peters Spares in Middlesbrough.

 

They appear to be the cheapest place I have found for a EPB, £86.50 plus shipping. They still have a single Blue & Grey EPB in stock if anyone is interested: http://www.petersspa...ocomotives.html

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

 

Erm, I hate to bring bad news, but in this months issue of Railway Modeller, the advert for The Signal Box says that they are selling them for £75.99

 

I have still to buy a blue and grey version, and hence test it the advert (because it says they are £84.99 on the website), but if true, then they will be my first port of call.

[Matloughe]

Ah, Just checked The Signal Box, BR Green is out of stock but is listed as £84.99.

http://www.thesignalbox.co.uk/index_new.php?pg=3&p_cat_id=4&p_sub_cat=4&prod_id=8741

 

Thanks for the Heads up however; I'll add them to the list of sites to check for any new purchases. Still need to get a CEP, perhaps another EPB or two at some stage.

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

[303013]

You see admin? if it is the right subject (usually trawling through endless adverts) then I do have my uses!!

 

 

Should have said it sooner, but there seems to be a little bit of an obsession with Hattons on this site, so I just assumed there was something I didn't know about (very likely).

[Andy Y]

You see admin? ....... then I do have my uses!!

 

As yet your usefulness does not outweigh your stupidity.

[Matloughe]

Recieved my EPB today from Peters Spares.

 

I am honestly over the moon with it. The EPB was a second choice for me I really wanted a CEP - however it is honestly a gorgeous work of art. I am extremely happy and it has made me have a rethink about the layout and what direction it is heading in (quite literally - thinking of board positioning)

 

A Bravo Zulu for Mr Bachmann, I hope no-one minds but I have attached a photo of my model. Only alteration I am going to make is removing the Tension locks for the moment as I have no stock it can work in multiple with, and I am at some stage thinking of altering the Headcodes - have others printed their own on the PC or are there specific ways of doing it? As I'd like double red blinds for the rear. Can't wait to DCC the layout.

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

[Gwiwer]

Just a thought for you Gary. The all-green EPB as you show is correctly fitted with double whites at the rear. A tail lamp should be fitted to mark the rear of the train. It wasn't until a little later, roughly coinciding with the advent of yellow panels, that the double red became accepted as the end of train marker. Even so if SR stock were taken off the region a tail lamp still had to be fitted as not all signalling and operating staff were trained to understand the double red was the marker and off the juice any illumination of it from the batteries could fail as well.

[Matloughe]

Thanks for that Rick,

 

You learn something new everyday, I thought double reds were standard from day dot. But it makes sense considering pretty much all (if not all SR Stock) would have stencil headcodes & need tail lamps - so it would have been a gradual evolution to the new standard. I especially like the older style larger route headcode on the front. Yes there is a picture of a DEMU at Exeter St. Davids I think and it has double red blinds and an oil lamp in the Southern DEMU book.

 

I am very happy with it money well spent, plus turned all the lights out in the room and had it whizzing round - looks fantastic.

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

[Uk_Steve]

@ Matloughe

 

i agree they do look great and your green version looks lovey. i do the same with my blue and grey and nse version i turn off the lights and let it spin round while having a nice cup of tea

 

i find it very enjoyable indeed

[Dogmatix]

4SUBs still operated from Beckenham Junction to Victoria via the Crystal Palace Line well into the late seventies. These had stencilled headcodes (the changing of which required the driver to step over the buffer and lean across), and lacking red headcode panels, required tail lights.

[Oldddudders]

4SUBs still operated from Beckenham Junction to Victoria via the Crystal Palace Line well into the late seventies. These had stencilled headcodes (the changing of which required the driver to step over the buffer and lean across), and lacking red headcode panels, required tail lights.

Quite so. Rick (Gwiwer) made the point about batteries to power the red blinds - the SUBs didn't have any!

[Guest oldlugger]

I don't suppose anyone has a set of spare Bachmann green liveried 2 EPB bodies for sale?

 

Cheers

Simon

[Southernman46]

Quite so. Rick (Gwiwer) made the point about batteries to power the red blinds - the SUBs didn't have any!

 

Ah - 750v auxiliary control gear !!! none of that poncey 70v new-fangled EPB stuff and as for having a speedometer to molly-coddle the driver - it'll never catch on.....

[Oldddudders]

Ah - 750v auxiliary control gear !!! none of that poncey 70v new-fangled EPB stuff and as for having a speedometer to molly-coddle the driver - it'll never catch on.....

Southern motormen were a bit of a race apart, although I'm sure their steam counterparts didn't envy them their more comfortable working conditions at all. Even so, I think it was either the Railway Magazine or Railway World which, in the course of noting the demise of the 4-COR etc "Nelson" stock, went a little far in suggesting that they were driven by a race of one-eyed, one-legged motormen staring steadfastly down the track - with a parrot on the shoulder! The suggestion that the redoubtable heaters located beneath passenger seats in the same units were an effective cure for piles was probably similarly fanciful!

[brushman47544]

(the changing of which required the driver to step over the buffer and lean across).

Not all of the 4SUBs. The final batch at least (4671 to 4754) did not have a handrail above the front cab windows to hold onto and instead the left hand (from the front) window opened and the driver leaned out. See 4749 in this photo http://www.flickr.co...009/4818872449/.

 

Here's 4284 from an earlier batch with the handrails http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonys-trainz/5618551587/ and, a rare bird, 4721 from the final batch with a rollerbind headcode http://www.flickr.com/photos/74009/4818868913/in/photostream/.

[Gwiwer]

It was possible for the driver to lean out of the driving position cab window and insert or remove the headcode stencil plate holder on all non-gangwayed types. Some (but not all as noted) also had handrails for performing this externally. The same was true of 6Pul, 6Pan, 6Cor, 6Cit and 5Bel units but not of 4Cor, 4Buf, 4Res, 4Pul and 4Cor(N) which had the end gangway connections in the middle and headcode plates on the far side. 4Gri units (which were converted from 4Res) had roller blinds throughout their lives as such IIRC. 4Cor and 4Buf units gained roller blinds later in life as did a few 4Sub units.

[Southernman46]

Not all of the 4SUBs. The final batch at least (4671 to 4754) did not have a handrail above the front cab windows to hold onto and instead the left hand (from the front) window opened and the driver leaned out.

 

and frequently done whilst running into the terminus by another crew member "riding shotgun"

 

 

forget about doing a 2-HAP, Bachmann - do a SR 4-SUB instead !!!!!!

[brushman47544]

The suggestion that the redoubtable heaters located beneath passenger seats in the same units were an effective cure for piles was probably similarly fanciful!

I don't know about curative properties, but if the heaters were working you certainly wouldn't want to sit directly above them. Your ankles and backside would but so hot they itched but elsewhere you'd still be cold.

 

Thinking of cold and the cab windows, many a brave balancing act I've seen by motormen changing the stencil from the outside because the supposedly opening cab window was frozen shut!

[SouthernGreen]

Ah, Just checked The Signal Box, BR Green is out of stock but is listed as £84.99.

http://www.thesignal...=4&prod_id=8741

 

Thanks for the Heads up however; I'll add them to the list of sites to check for any new purchases. Still need to get a CEP, perhaps another EPB or two at some stage.

 

Cheers,

~ Gary

Try Keytes of Essex listed @ £78 + p&p (£4)

[SouthernGreen]

Maybe someone has posted this already - I haven't trawled thru all the posts - but despite the instructions saying that F1 controls the internal lighting (like it does on the 4-CEP) it doesn't, all the lights are controlled by F0. Contacted Bachman service dept and apparently it's the instructions not the circuit board that's wrong! Hmm, cover up for another China Cockup methinks. If it can be done for a 4 car unit what's the problem with a 2 car?

[Oldddudders]

Maybe someone has posted this already - I haven't trawled thru all the posts - but despite the instructions saying that F1 controls the internal lighting (like it does on the 4-CEP) it doesn't, all the lights are controlled by F0. Contacted Bachman service dept and apparently it's the instructions not the circuit board that's wrong! Hmm, cover up for another China Cockup methinks. If it can be done for a 4 car unit what's the problem with a 2 car?

F0 is the usual control for lights. F1 is usually the bell on sound locos that have them.

[SRman]

As Southern Green said, it is the instructions that are wrong for the EPBs. What I cannot understand is why the circuit boards are different for what are virtually mechanically identical units from the same manufacturer!

[davyjcrow]

Seconded on the circuit board strangeness. Actually I found that the circuitry differs in between the different EBP versions:

 

I bought a blue grey and a special edition NSE unit, and out of the box the headlight on the blue grey version was on at both ends at the same time when F0 was switched on, and both LEDs in each headcode box lit up as well regardless of which direction it was running in.

 

I had to take a soldering iron to the board and a fair bit of electronic messing around to get the blue grey version to work how I wanted it to (headlight only in the direction of travel, and the top and bottom LEDs in the headcode lit up alternately depending on the direction of travel - so that I can put some colour filters over them and have red/white blanks depending on the direction of travel.

 

Actually I ended up converting the inter car connection to carry the track power, and put a second chip under the seating in the trailer car to control the lighting.

 

After all that surgery, once the NSE special edition version arrived it was perfect out of the box once chipped - the headlight only lights up in the direction of travel, and also the headcode top half lights up in reverse, and the bottom half in forward motion. So all I had to do with this one was to add colour filters to the LEDs and "change" the headcode, much easier!!

 

Maybe I just had a dodgy blue grey one. Probably should have returned it but I fancied having a go at fixing it myself. Did anyone else have the same thing with the headlights?