chaz Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Does anybody have any experience with Bachmann On30 steam locos on grades please? I am planning a layout and want to put a spiral climb in the line. If the radius of the curve is 2 feet and I want to gain 120mm in height I calculate that the grade will be 1 in 31.4 Motive power will be the Bachmann 2-8-0 and 4-6-0 locos and trains will be limited to 6 or 7 cars. Will these locos cope with that steepness of grade? Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Chaz the Yahoo On30 group may be able to answer your question Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted January 3, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2011 I would suggest a test plank, decide what a typical train will be, say loco and six wagons, and just lay say 6ft of track on a straight plank, ( can be a 2x1 strip even), and jack it up until the loco struggles to start the train. You will need to push slightly past your estimate to allow for the additional friction of the curve for a fair test. If it can start it on the gradient then it will run up it fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 I would suggest a test plank, decide what a typical train will be, say loco and six wagons, and just lay say 6ft of track on a straight plank, ( can be a 2x1 strip even), and jack it up until the loco struggles to start the train. You will need to push slightly past your estimate to allow for the additional friction of the curve for a fair test. If it can start it on the gradient then it will run up it fine. Thanks Paul for the advice. I have done similar tests in the past and might well do the same again But at the moment, although I have the locomotives, I don't have the boxcars. However if someone else has the experience it could save me some hassle. If not......well I will have to wait until I have enough stock for the test you describe. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted January 3, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2011 Well the Bachmann stock is fairly light so have you any six wagons or OO coaches you could hitch on instead? I'd test it myself but those are the just about the only two On30 Bachmann steamers I don't have! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 Good shout Paul! Although I don't have any 4mm stock I do have a mate who has cupboards full of the stuff. Will borrow a few bogie coaches from him to conduct the tests. I was going to borrow 2 yards of Peco HO track from him anyway for the test. Of course the load won't couple directly but a small loop of wire will do the trick. I must be getting slow! Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan-Leeds Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 The 2-8-0 will manage anything its a very heavy loco. Just watch it. For the LoCos minimum radius though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 The 2-8-0 will manage anything its a very heavy loco. Just watch it. For the LoCos minimum radius though Thanks for that. Yes indeed it is heavy, as is the 4-6-0, so adhesion is not the problem. I am fairly confident that it will cope but I do want to prove it before I start laying track. Of course there will come a point, as grades become more severe when any engine will fail, but I hope not to get to that point! As regards the radius of curves I intend to adopt 2 feet as the minimum on the layout, which I understand both locos will cope with quite happliy. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 This evening I did the grade test. I propped up an eight foot long strip of 12mm MDF on piles of wooden blocks. (one, then two, then three etc) and calculated the spacing required to set the grades I wanted to test on. A friend of mine lent me 3 yards of OO track and seven 4mm British bogie parcels vans as a load. I weighed these and each of them weighed more than a Bachmann On30 boxcar (typically 110gm as oposed to 74gm). I started with a grade of 1:31 (about 3%). This is the grade I calculated for the spiral. Both the 4-6-0 and the 2-8-0 had no difficulty setting the train moving, from a stand on the grade, on about notch 4 on my Lenz LH100. There was no slipping and once under way the locos ran very smoothly. I intend to limit my trains to seven cars, the yard will probably be too small to accept anything longer. I repeated the test with the piles of blocks moved to produce a 1:25 grade (4%). Again both engines got the train moving with little or no slipping, although this time neither moved until about notch 7 on the handset. The 2-8-0 seemed more comfortable with this task - hardly surprising as it has smaller wheels. This is very encouraging and I think that I will include a spiral in my layout plan. I will try to get the largest radius I can and if I can fit in some straighter sections on either side to increase the length of the loop I will. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 As I started this topic I thought I would now answer my own question! Yesterday I laid some temporary track (3 yards) up the spiral trackbed, which is actually graded at 1 in 30 - a bit steeper than 3%. I used Peco SL100 but the permanent track will be code 83, spiked to wooden ties. Both the Bachmann 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 had no problem at all starting a train of 6 assorted cars and a caboose and moving away without any slipping. This is going to be my max' loading anyway, The Mogul would only handle four with a caboose (the cabooses are heavier, and not so free running due to pickup springs) or six cars without a caboose. more than this and the 2-6-0 would just slip. I am happy to use this loco on shorter trains - it is smaller and quite a bit lighter. Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spamcanman Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Interesting experiences as I have just decided to venture into On30 after half a century of BR(S) OO gauge. I was given a Bachman 'Shay' with sound for Christmas and whilst it is a fine loco it has given me problems; especially going downhill. On my makeshift 3% downgarde it jerks very unrealistically as if the weight of the loco overtakes the speed I have set and which the drivetrain maintains. Took it back to my supplier who sent it back to Bachmann and it eventually returned with new trucks. But not only does it still jerk downhill but electrical pickup is interrupted on curves and two of the axles freewheel!! Very disappointing. Anyone else had similar experiences with this model? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted April 15, 2012 Share Posted April 15, 2012 Interesting experiences as I have just decided to venture into On30 after half a century of BR(S) OO gauge. I was given a Bachman 'Shay' with sound for Christmas and whilst it is a fine loco it has given me problems; especially going downhill. On my makeshift 3% downgarde it jerks very unrealistically as if the weight of the loco overtakes the speed I have set and which the drivetrain maintains. Took it back to my supplier who sent it back to Bachmann and it eventually returned with new trucks. But not only does it still jerk downhill but electrical pickup is interrupted on curves and two of the axles freewheel!! Very disappointing. Anyone else had similar experiences with this model? The Shay has a reputation for cracking the bevel gear drive. Bachmann have known about this almost since the model was introduced, and are hopefully changing the spec on those gears. Check that this is not the problem on your model. There has been plenty of discussion about this on the On30 forums. Replacement gears are available from someone in the USA, but I cannot find the link this morning*. When it runs well it is a lovely little model, mine had the gear problem but I sold it on to someone who was happy to fix it, so we were both content with the deal. Check this link from the Bachmann USA forum. http://www.bachmannt...c,13223.15.html Edit :- * Wiseman Model Services was the replacement gear supplier. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ngtrains.com Posted April 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 15, 2012 Edit :- * Wiseman Model Services was the replacement gear supplier. the replacement metal gears are made by North West Shortline and I have them in stock here in the UK http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Misc/miscellaneous.htm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 Having started this topic I thought I would bring up to date my experiences.... The hand laid track stretches from the cassette fiddle yard around the spiral for about 15 feet, and is continuously graded at about 1:30 - a bit steeper than 3%. Tests runs from the fiddle yard suggest that the Bachmann 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 locos would have no problem with greater loads than my planned max' - 6 cars and a caboose. They will restart this load on the grade and will run as slow or as fast as I choose (on a 2 foot radius curve speeds ought to be low!). In fact the only loco I have that struggles on the grade is my 2-4-0 with slope-back tender, which is a conversion of Bachmann's Forney with a Backwoods Miniatures tender, seen above under test. When I added a caboose, which is heavier and has brakes rubbing (err.... that's pickup springs) it brought it to a stand. It's entirely understandable that a four coupled loco will slip with the load pictured - however I'm not bothered over much as I intend to use this loco as a switcher on the quay at Lakeside depot, which is flat. Work on the FVRR is on hold whilst I work on Dock Green, but if I can complete DG before my self-imposed deadline of Christmas 2012 then I can resume hand-spiking the US NG..... Chaz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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