I don't know about the SP

I don't know about the SP tender but the C&O c16 (longer) tender from Bachmann is not always wired the same way.  If you get it behind the 4-8-2 in the George Washington set it is wired in pattern 1.  If you get it behind the C&O 4-8-2 sold separately (engine&tender but no passenger cars) it is wired in pattern 2. If you get it separately it is wired as 2. And as such they are not compatible.  

And in one swap out of Bachmann tenders everything worked fine except that when I added a DCC decoder the engine ran backwards.  So I had to change a cv.

So you may have to check what wire really connects to what because the paperwork I have on all the Bachmann tenders says they are wired the same and I have encountered three different ways they are really wired.  Note they all worked with there original engine so the engines are wired in three different ways also.

So perhaps the SP tender has the same problem.

-Doug M

I

If I remember correctly not

If I remember correctly not all Bachmann tenders fit Bachmann locomotives without modifying the wiring. I can't tell if this is true for your combination.

Perhaps you can check if the pin assignments of locomotive and tender plugs are identical.

Regards, Volker (Germany)

Bachmann Vanderbilt Tender Problems

I suspect the pin number wiring is the problem. If Bachmann UK had done something like this they would have been publicly shamed and driven out of business by the model hobby posters on RMWEB. The American group just doesn't seem to care about the engineering in their product.

In any case, I will probably have to re-wire as I wish to put in a sound board. I just have to locate a mother board that will fit. Possibly an N scale board may work.

HELP! any recommendations?

Ken Adams

Just get your multi meter out

Just get your multi meter out and probe the PC board. I had to do that with a HO Bachmann USRA tender. It was for a loco with 12 volt light ands would dim the headlight in reverse. Needed resistor for LED and changing the wires for the two pin and four pin connectors.

Have seen this question a number of times in the Bachmann forums in the past.

Probe the loco to match all six wires.

Remove the caps or hard wire. Found the two 4.7 uhry inductors were a moot issue with no caps. Bachmann is putting those parts in some loco's now and not so easy to bypass.

Edit.

Missed about no loco pickups. Assuming older non DCC ready 2-8-0. I believe Bachmann sells the two pin and four pin connectors for the loco.

Any for DCC would have a two pin and four pin socket or plug on the loco.

Bachmann site Parts list shows what the loco and tenders use.

Rich

SP Vanderbilt Tender

Rich and other contributors to this thread

Actually I think I am going to put this project aside for a few months. I have been talking to Blue Rail and they indicate they will be getting a new narrower motherboard later in the year that should fit.  It will be an interesting experiment to move beyond my 14 years with NCE DCC to a newer mode of locomotive control.  Eventually power storage technology will catch up and we will enter the strange new world of dead rail and NO TRACK POWER WIRING required. 

I think I may be wrong about the engine not having power pickups. The 2-8-0 was DCC installed when I bought it and works fine with it's original tender.   It is the Vanderbilt tender wiring that is strangely not designed to use power from engine pickups. After examining the wiring in the tender closely, it appears there is no wiring for any orange power connections from the plugs from the locomotive to the mother board. Only the tender trucks have a red and black wire connection for track power.

Whatever it is not a priority at this point. I found the tender on EBay at a reasonable price and thought it should have been a simple tender swap with what appeared with compatible plugs. But Bachmann had to make life way too complicated.  The tender is however a beautiful rendition of a medium SP Vanderbilt tender. Its usefulness will get sorted out in time.

Ken Adams

Bachmann tender

No orange connectors seems it indicates a DC tender or someone removed the connectors since there is a PC board.

I have seen a picture of a Bachmann tender with two orange receptacles at the front of the tender. The loco has two orange plugs on cables. Probably not interested but Bachmann does sell the receptacles the last I knew attached to a small piece of PC board for mounting.

Bachmann does not use NMRA DCC colors on their wires.

Rich

Power pickup

Anyone take apart the VB tender?

I am trying to repair the electrical connection between the trucks and the motherboard. I have found a diagram for the regular tender, but none for the shorty Vanderbilt model.  I just don’t want to break any of the parts beothis company is difficult to deal with in that regard. 
Thanks in advance. 

I really like these

I really like these particular vanderbilt tenders from Bachmann, particularly the the long version.

I recently purchased one on ebay and discovered it had been disassembled, the reassembled incorrectly such the one of the rear ladders was bent out of shape as it was not seated correctly at the bottom. There were a few other problems and I am working on those.

In the meantime I got out a few other Bachmann C&O mountain locos i have, that utilize this same long tender. One of the boxes had a handwritten note in it that the tender needed some detail parts put back on. When I took a closer look I found it had never had the rear footboards installed on it, but the new ones were still in the bag.

The major problem is it was missing the rear ladder steps on the right hand. Does anyone know if such an item is still available??

Sound Installation into Vandy

Sound Installation into Vandy Tender, Piggy-back decoder

https://modelrailroadforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/adapt-bachmann-vandy-tenders-to-run-behind-other-engines.19478/page-2