Bachmann 4-8-2

Don't know exactly which one you have but here are diagrams from the Bachmann website in case you do not have them.

Light mountain.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H816X-IS001.PDF

Heavy mountain.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H825X-IS001.PDF

HO scale forums there also with Parts pages, CV list, etc.

Rich

Thanks Rich.

Yeah, i have those documents printed out and sitting on my work bench.

Looking at the diagram, I'm fairly certain it's the heavy mountain

FYI

In case you have never been there, the Bachmann forums are quite active with company reps also. Good HO forum.

Rich

Fyi, some of the C&O heavy

Fyi, some of the C&O heavy mountains, where wired a bit odd, and not the way the diagram shows.  They worked fine in DC, but the drop in plug for DCC was wired wrong, we had to follow all the wires to figure out the problem, then rewire the thing.

This is not true of ALL of them, just some.  I know because I have some that are messed up, and some that are ok.

So do be careful if you have to put in DCC.  I think if it has DCC it is ok.  It was just one run as far as I know.

This was the version with the long Vanderbilt tender and the flying pumps on the front.

-Doug Meyer

4-8-2

Bachmann so far does not use NMRA DCC wiring code. I have some Bachmann locos.

After watching the Bachmann forums for some years, I have seen wiring issues if users try to swap tenders. The wiring can vary. Some transfer the wiring and PC board. Some rip out the electronics and hard wire.

You can search the Bachmann forums for this loco if you do not want to join the forums.

I figured some years ago, the more train forums I belong to, the easier it is to handle the different DCC loco issues and there are many different issues.

Rich

4-8-2 pics

So, I forgot to take the before pics of the engine, but here are some after...

As you can see, I need to get a replacement stand for the wire, and a replacement bell.

There is still some minor clean up of some of the dust and dirt that was on it, but all in all, i think the corrosion came off pretty good. If you look around some of the pipes, you can still see some of the corrosion on it that needs to be cleaned. cleaned off the whistles and repainted them.

Tender still needs some lovin...but it's better than when it started.

Nice

Nice deal.

I did see Bachmann sells the motor with flywheel and drive belt but I would figure yours will be ok unless it had a lot of use.

You have to buy the boiler shell to get the bell.

Rich

As for the bell you should be

As for the bell you should be able to find either a Cal-scale or a precision scale bell,worse case you might have to replace the hanger bracket if the Bachmann one is to wide.

Dcc sound

how hard is it to add dcc sound to a bachmann dcc system? Wiring diagrams seem to be few and far between...

Bachmann C&O Mountains--Wiring

Jared:

I too found out the hard way years back, that the Bachmann C&O 4-8-2's, were not always wired right! The first one I bought, numbered 543, was OK. I plugged a sound decoder into the 8-pin socket, and it worked fine! However, It had problems with the engines pick-up wipers, that rubbed against the flanges of the drivers, and came up with my own system of spring-loaded pin contacts, and replaced the originals!

However, the 2nd one I bought numbered "546" which came from one of their GW sets, turned a sound decoder, into an instant "Smoke Generator"! They had wired the locomotive plugs WRONG at the factory! The 2-pin connector was wired with the motor leads, instead of the track pick-up wires from the engine!

Now that I've been doing professional decoder & sound installations as a business, for over the last 8+ years, 99% of the time, I remove the DC lighting boards inside Bachmann Steam Locomotive tenders, and trace down all the wires either with a "volt-ohm" meter, or continuity tester.

Once I have them all checked, and know where they're coming from, headlight, motor, etc., I solder the decoder harness wires to the backs of the plug sockets. Or if the tender has the male plugs going to the socket in the locomotive, I splice them to the decoder wire ends, and "heat shrink" all connections, to assure nothing shorts!

Most of those DC Lighting boards have line noise suppressing choke coils, which are Not necessary with sound decoders, which have that built-in! Train Control Systems New "mother" boards with the "Keep Alive" capacitors are designed to replace those boards, and use the New 21-pin Wow Steam decoder, which plugs into the mother boards! A much better way to go for Sound, in Bachmann Steam Locomotives!

Joe Bliss, Allegheny Model RR Services

So basically...

...you're saying that if I have a loco that I want to add sound to, it's easier to just replace what's there?

I assume the Bachmann decoder doesn't have the ability to add a sound only decoder? (still learning DCC) I've seen a few decoders that did sound and no other control...but this Bachmann one looks to be a 4 function only (forward, backwards, front lights, back lights) but it's hard to tell.

Hell, I'm still happy to have a DCC loco in my fleet at all, considering what I paid for the loco.

Tender

Did you look at the Bachmann website yet for the 4-8-2? There are photo so what is inside the tender. Also the instructions for the decoder are there.

It should have a PC board with the 8 pin socket and a decoder plugged into it. Unplug the decoder and plug in a sound decoder. Install a speaker.

You would help yourself a lot if you post a photo of the inside of the tender. A photo is worth a thousand words and can help solve an issue much quicker.

Rich

4-8-2

Just found this with a Google search. Piece of cake. I believe about the newest sound decoder line on the market.

http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/WOWSound_Search/search.html

Rich

@ Rich

This is the page that I've been using to try and understand what I've got and what I can upgrade with...

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/images/44913_Decoder_IS.pdf

as well as...

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H825X-IS001.PDF

I guess what I'm trying to figure out, should I replace the Bachmann DCC chip that's installed, or can I wire a sound only decoder to work with it, or on the PCB?

Looking at the tcs site, it appears that I'm going to have to do some work on the tender regardless to get the speaker mounted...the PCB sits right in the middle of the tender. I can take a picture when I get home tonite if it would help...

Thanks for your advice btw, I appreciate it.

Jared

I don't know about your exact

I don't know about your exact tender, but if it is like the other Bachmann tenders I have such as the two Vanderbilt design's and the usra tender, it should have two things inside it.  One is the DCC decoder.  And the other is a circuit board.  The deceased (assuming that it has one) should have a wire harness that plugs into the circuit board.  If you have a DCC decoder that does not have sound and you want sound the best thing to do is pull the decoder out by simply unplugging it.  Then get a new decoder with the correct plug and correct sound.  You will have to fugue out what to do with the speaker and how to get the sound out.  But you will have to work that out NO matter what you do.

You may want to post a photo showing the insides of the tender.  That way we know what you have instead of just guessing.

Personally I have never had to tack out a circuit board from a Bachmann ttender and I have added sound to a bunch of these.  But I don't really know what tender you have.  My mountains have the vandy tender as they are the C&O version.  This looks like the tender that is on the 2-6-6-2 H5, usra engines.

What ever you do, you want to make sure you have a single decoder that runs the motor and the sound.  In this day anything else is just a pain.  Besides with the modern sound unit it needs to control the motor in order for it to do some of the advanced sound tricks that modern sound decoders do. 

-Doug Meyer

Tender

If the older tender, you have to remove the weight, drill holes for a 28 mm round speaker. Little bath caulk around the rim of the speaker, not on the cone, for a good seal.

Figure out how to add weight to replace the former weight.

I have used SoundTraxx Tsunami and LokSound decoders. A couple, plug in, some hardwire but in your cae, plug in should work.

SoundTraxx has a nine pin connector with wire leads. Solder 7 wires to an eight pin plug. An eight pin to nine pin adapter is available if you do not solder. You still have to solder two wires to the speaker. You have to cut back the shrink a little to remove the connector. SoundTraxx says it is ok.

The below person id a major player with DCC and shows how to use the Tsunami. Check out all his site if you are new to DCC. He is in these forums also.

http://www.mrdccu.com/curriculum/soundtraxx/tsunami.htm
 

Rich

Thanks

Thanks both of you. I will get some photos and get them up here to help out. I think it's the older style tender, but I'm not sure yet.

Going to meet a DCC based club tonite in the area that I just found (YAY!)

DCC Club

Very good. You should get many good ideas.

Rich

quick update...

So last week, I took it to the new train club to "test" their layout and see how it works, as well as give the loco a bit of a workout...the standard DCC decoder from Bachmann worked REALLY well...I was very happy with it. Even managed to successfully pull a train of 25 cars around the layout (which btw is big enough it takes 10 minutes to make one complete circuit at full scale speed) without much of an issue...until of course it got to the hill which is a 2% grade...needed a little 0-5-0 pushing help for little bit.

Super quiet runner, good low speed operation, all the lights work including the glow light in the cab. Need to replace the stupid blue LED in the headlamp but other than that...hell of a loco for 50 bucks.

Oh, and one of the guys that is a member of the club actually owns the hobby store here in town, so he's going to see what he can do about locating a bell for it, as well as the post to fix the front where the wire is hanging out.

Fyi, some of the C&O heavy

Got to remember this as this C&O mountain loco is one of my favorites, and I  own 3 or 4 of them

I too found out the hard way years back, that the Bachmann C&O 4-8-2's, were not always wired right! The first one I bought, numbered 543, was OK. I plugged a sound decoder into the 8-pin socket, and it worked fine! However, It had problems with the engines pick-up wipers, that rubbed against the flanges of the drivers, and came up with my own system of spring-loaded pin contacts, and replaced the originals!

Joe Bliss,    Do you have any photos of the spring-loaded pin contacts you utilized?

Or does anyone else know of any other methods they have utilized to replace those lousy, fragile  metal strips contacting the wheels??...what a poor design !