80's Mainline Brand OO locomotives on Peco Code 75

[Mookie]

Hello all,

 

I'm in the process of building a layout after 30 years of absents and this question has been asked lots of times in one form or another. I want to use Peco Code 75, but have some Mainline locomotives – LMS 6100 Royal Scot for example. Is there any one out there that has the same loco or similar, which use Peco Code 75 track, with out any problems.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mookie

[DCB]

The Mainline chassis probably wont survive log enough to be a consideration, plastic fatigue will loosen the driving wheels on their axles and they will slip round and lose the quartering. The mainline wheels Ihave are fine on code 75 turnouts.  I would use peco code 75 and replace the Mainine loco chassis and rolling stock wheel sets with  Bachmann 

[Mookie]

The Mainline chassis probably wont survive log enough to be a consideration, plastic fatigue will loosen the driving wheels on their axles and they will slip round and lose the quartering. The mainline wheels Ihave are fine on code 75 turnouts.  I would use peco code 75 and replace the Mainine loco chassis and rolling stock wheel sets with  Bachmann 

 

Hello David, 

 

yes I've heard that the axles go on mainline locos, but I've been lucky enough not to have this problem and I've had these locos for years. Maybe it's a time bomb waiting to happen. Still these locos have sentimental value and even those I'm planning to get new steam locos and a complete new rolling stock to fit the period on my layout, I still would like to get them out to give them an airing.

 

If or when this happens, I'll take up your advice and change the wheels, but I'd rather spend the money on the layout, as I don't want to fix something that isn't broken.

 

Thank you, you've confirmed that Code 75 is the way forward. When you replaced the wheels on your locos, was it just the wheels sets you'd replaced, or would it mean replacing the whole of the bottom half, motor etc? Do you have a list of what mainline locos you've replaced wheels on and what locos that still have their original wheels.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mookie

[Silver Sidelines]

Apologies to DavidCB above for jumping on to his reply. I suspect he is saying that you might want to replace the black nylon wheels on the Mainline rolling stock with Bachmann metal wheels. This is something that I have done and would recommend. Bachmann sell a variety 12 and 14 mm wheels. If they are not currently in stock with retailers they can usually be sourced off the likes of eBay.

 

With regards to the locomotives I think I am correct in saying that most of the Mainline branded locomotives have been re-released by Bachmann with improved chassis. About ten years ago it was possible to buy replacement Bachmann chassis but unless you can find old stock this source of supply is no longer available. I guess the option that you are left with is to buy second hand locomotives and swap bodies and chassis keeping the best parts and reselling the rest. When Airfix stopped marketing locomotives in the 1980s? their 14xx and 61xx tanks were sold under the Mainline brand. However these items were not Bachmann products and eventually reappeared under the Hornby label after a brief spell being marketed by Dapol. Between Palitoy stopping the sale of Mainline, and Bachmann reintroducing the range under their own name, some Mainline/Bachmann products were marketed by Replica. Replica still exist and have a web site selling useful spares - including Mainline type motor pods.

 

A lot to think about.

 

Regards

 

Ray

 

PS Just remembered there are some shots of my BLACK Mainline Jubilee on Bachmann chassis on these two videos - made earlier.

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... I've heard that the axles go on mainline locos, but I've been lucky enough not to have this problem and I've had these locos for years. Maybe it's a time bomb waiting to happen. Still these locos have sentimental value and even those I'm planning to get new steam locos and a complete new rolling stock to fit the period on my layout, I still would like to get them out to give them an airing...

I still have a Mainline J72 operational, Light loco, short distance runner, so relatively slow to wear the plating away, or for the wheels to slip out of quarter, or muffs to split, or a gear to go brittle and fracture, just some of the ways in which these mechanisms eventually run into the ground. Fixed the slipped out of quarter wheelsets with Araldite some years ago, so probably got a year or two more before its final demise. Looking for Mainline spares is a waste of effort. Any Mainline spares will be over thirty years old, and the mechanism plastics degrade whether used or not. I'd suggest that unless you luck into a cheap more recent replacement chassis, then when they give up, just use them as shed scenery.

 

The good news is that the newer design models with steel axle wheelsets and wiper pick up are proving very robust if kept lubricated. So if you have an old body which has been 'worked on' and really want to repower it, I suggest going directly to the current chassis equivalent, and undertaking the DIY to get it to fit. Typically only requires relatively simple tasks, like increasing the width of the void inside the body and arranging new body securing points.

[Mookie]

Just to point out, I made the plunge and purchased Code 75 track and points. My Mainline Scot ran over the points and track with no problems at all. I even tried my first loco, a Hornby 101 0-4-0 tank engine with the same success. I haven't tried everything I own, but I a Airfix auto coach runs fine as well. What didn't work was the Hornby trucks that came with my first loco, but they only raised on the frogs. Still I won't use them, and if I did, I'd just get replacement wheels. I'd say the Scot ran better over the code 75 than Hornby standard track.

 

I would like to thank everyone for their comments and help and now I have the fun of putting the track together.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mookie.