Bachmann announce all new Class 37

[Southwich]

4 hours ago, Daddyman said:

I'll be in the market for a discarded Scottish headlight if you can get it off in one piece! I have plastic high intensity ones from the Swindon people (can't remember their name) if you need any. 

Hi David,

 

I’ve got a load off of the 4 split boxes I’ve done - drop me an email if you want a pair and I can post them from Aus back to you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

[Daddyman]

7 hours ago, Southwich said:

Hi David,

 

I’ve got a load off of the 4 split boxes I’ve done - drop me an email if you want a pair and I can post them from Aus back to you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

That's really kind of you, Will. 

 

[newbryford]

On 12/09/2023 at 11:54, Crisis Rail said:

I enjoy the entertaining froth of it all.

Criticism of manufacturers on here was at one time a capital punishment offence 😬

 

It still is for certain manufacturers.

[Daddyman]

Shameless plug: have posted some more on my 37s on another thread to avoid clogging up this one. It can be found here:   

 

 

[The Fatadder]

Took delivery of another new 37 bodyshell this morning, this time from an SFX model.  Not very impressed with the fancy window treatment, I will try and do a side by side (though it will have to wait until I have resprayed the model) but first impressions were that the treatment makes the prismatic effect of the Bachmann glazing look worse than the standard version.  In time I will certainly be retrofitting the model with Laserglaze.

[Kaput]

Out of random curiousity do the Accurascale snowplows (the ones that can be fitted with the coupler) fit the Bachmann model?

[Matt]

Yes - some posts a few pages back with details. Both types fit

[97406]

2 hours ago, Kaput said:

Out of random curiousity do the Accurascale snowplows (the ones that can be fitted with the coupler) fit the Bachmann model?

 

Indeed they do. To recap, you will need to remove the existing pips where the central plough’s mounting brackets go and drill holes. The outer two have receptacles already moulded in the bottom of the buffer beam similar to the Accurascale one. 

 

[Module00]

Hello all, 

 

this is a video featuring my last acquisition Bachmann Class 37260 "Radio Highland" Dcc Sound Deluxe version. Good watching. 

 

 

[meanach]

Has anyone come up with a solution to the dreadfully designed bogie chains? I’ve received several through the post now that have broken chains. I’m not talking Unattached from the body but snapped off at the bogie.  

[Daddyman]

8 hours ago, meanach said:

Has anyone come up with a solution to the dreadfully designed bogie chains? I’ve received several through the post now that have broken chains. I’m not talking Unattached from the body but snapped off at the bogie.  

My solution reported here: 

 

[97406]

9 hours ago, meanach said:

Has anyone come up with a solution to the dreadfully designed bogie chains? I’ve received several through the post now that have broken chains. I’m not talking Unattached from the body but snapped off at the bogie.  

 

I just remove any that get damaged if I can’t replace them easily. Growing up in the age of Hornby and Lima 37s I was never bothered by the lack of them then or now. 

[adb968008]

On 21/09/2023 at 13:02, newbryford said:

 

It still is for certain manufacturers.

I do sometimes wonder if some accounts here have undeclared interests in other manufacturers.

[adb968008]

1 hour ago, 97406 said:

 

I just remove any that get damaged if I can’t replace them easily. Growing up in the age of Hornby and Lima 37s I was never bothered by the lack of them then or now. 

I did note in the TT class 50, bogie chains arent an issue, so that scale at least, has decided to stick in the last century.

 

I like the chains, its a nice idea and may consider a retro fit, the approach taken on the 37 (both of them) is quite good.

 

 

[97406]

8 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

I did note in the TT class 50, bogie chains arent an issue, so that scale at least, has decided to stick in the last century.

 

I like the chains, its a nice idea and may consider a retro fit, the approach taken on the 37 (both of them) is quite good.

 

 

 

Quite a few of my recent purchases have all or most of the chains on. A more serious problem I’ve encountered with the Bachmann 37 is that one of the wires to the bogie pickups has come loose on a brand new model straight out of the box, and I need to remove the bogie to feed a little more of the wire through and resolder it. That is when most of the chains have detached, though I have managed to replace at least one with a little squinting and swearing.

 

I’ve had the problem on 3 of my 37s so far and all have had the wire resoldered so all good, chains or not.

[Daddyman]

3 hours ago, 97406 said:

A more serious problem I’ve encountered with the Bachmann 37 is that one of the wires to the bogie pickups has come loose on a brand new model straight out of the box, and I need to remove the bogie to feed a little more of the wire through and resolder it. That is when most of the chains have detached, though I have managed to replace at least one with a little squinting and swearing.

That shouldn't be a problem - they unclip at the actuating lever end. I've never re-clipped them as I've always been unclipping them to replace them, but I can't see it being a problem. Where are they coming detached for you - bogie end or lever end? 

[97406]

23 minutes ago, Daddyman said:

That shouldn't be a problem - they unclip at the actuating lever end. I've never re-clipped them as I've always been unclipping them to replace them, but I can't see it being a problem. Where are they coming detached for you - bogie end or lever end? 

 

Either end - on one of them the lever end had splayed apart and the end of the chain wouldn’t clip back in and I couldn’t get sufficient purchase on it with pliers to bend it back. As mentioned above, I don’t miss them and would do a proper job with finer chains like what you have done if I wanted to replace them. I have clipped some examples back in both on the Bachmann and Accurascale 37s. 

[Daddyman]

1 hour ago, 97406 said:

 

Either end - on one of them the lever end had splayed apart and the end of the chain wouldn’t clip back in and I couldn’t get sufficient purchase on it with pliers to bend it back. As mentioned above, I don’t miss them and would do a proper job with finer chains like what you have done if I wanted to replace them. I have clipped some examples back in both on the Bachmann and Accurascale 37s. 

I understand. But it's odd - I've never had the levers split, and when I want to get the fixing point on the bogie out so that I can replace it with a wire loop, it's the devil's own job to get out. 

[97406]

4 minutes ago, Daddyman said:

I understand. But it's odd - I've never had the levers split, and when I want to get the fixing point on the bogie out so that I can replace it with a wire loop, it's the devil's own job to get out. 

 

The may be tolerances in the gap on the levers but a more likely explanation is that I did manage to remove the bogie to resolder the wire on the pickups and completely forget about the chains so they got an unexpected yank. I may revisit them at some point as they are a bit coarse anyway and yours look much better, but I’m concentrating on 40s at the moment which are my favourite class with 37s being a close second!

[Daddyman]

38 minutes ago, 97406 said:

40s ... favourite class 

So I gather! 

[meanach]

2 of mine have snapped at the bogie end . As mentioned , they quite happily re attach at the lever end. The bogie end has a floating piece of plastic with a fine semi circle. Any knock or tug and they splay apart. If you remove the step then they are only connected to the brake cylinder by a piece of plastic that must be 1/4 of a mm. That is why they won’t attach, as the plastic moves.

 

My other gripe, and Bachmann denied to me that anyone else has had this problem when I asked them at a show , is that the sockets on the nose come un soldered. This seems particularly bad on 37430 where all 4 of mine have had this problem.  Also one of the 37423 I’ve bought had this issue. Based on those numbers I can’t be alone . I’m not ham fisted either! 

Edited November 3, 2023 by meanach

[97406]

4 hours ago, meanach said:

 

 

My other gripe, and Bachmann denied to me that anyone else has had this problem when I asked them at a show , is that the sockets on the nose come un soldered. This seems particularly bad on 37430 where all 4 of mine have had this problem.  Also one of the 37423 I’ve bought had this issue. Based on those numbers I can’t be alone . I’m not ham fisted either! 

 

I’ve had a socket come adrift on my first 37430 and I resoldered it. Others on here have had the same. I now apply a little epoxy around the sockets with a cocktail stick. They are surface mounted and often poorly soldered. I remove the plugs carefully with narrow nosed pliers rocking them gently in the recess around the plug if that makes sense.

[Daddyman]

10 hours ago, meanach said:

connected to the brake cylinder by a piece of plastic that must be 1/4 of a mm. That is why they won’t attach, as the plastic moves. 

Yes, I've experienced the annoyance of this piece of plastic, but only when trying to remove it, when it won't keep still in order to be wrenched out. I usually have to remove the steps.

Re your problem though, can you not just use the "back end" of my solution - twizzle of wire interference fit into a hole drilled ahead of the step?  

[meanach]

On 04/11/2023 at 08:34, Daddyman said:

Yes, I've experienced the annoyance of this piece of plastic, but only when trying to remove it, when it won't keep still in order to be wrenched out. I usually have to remove the steps.

Re your problem though, can you not just use the "back end" of my solution - twizzle of wire interference fit into a hole drilled ahead of the step?  

I may try your idea. I also have plenty of Smiths 3 link coupling retaining pins. I’m wondering if they can be used for this purpose or if they will be too large. Ian 

[tlm]

Sockets coming adrift appears to be a serious issue on these.

After several odd effects developed, including frequent stalling for no apparent reason as I keep track, wheels and contacts clean, and the lighting then failing completely on my 35-335SFX 37430, which has incidentally already been back to Bachmann for a replacement decoder, I carefully removed the body only to find that all but one of the jct sockets on the circuit board had come adrift, and one at each nose end.

I managed to get a replacement complete circuit board from Bachmann, for which they insisted on charging me £35 plus postage even though this was clearly a latent defect. The construction, soldering etc on the replacement board looks far more robust so this is clearly an issue that Bachmann knows about.

It's a real shame for what was otherwise a very good loco, but it has put me off buying any more of this new version.