Bachmann Class 30/31

[Albie the plumber]

1 hour ago, Covkid said:

 

 

 

The English Electric SVT engined type 2s and type 3s suffered from over cooling at certain times of the year so a mod project was launched (at Doncaster IIRC)  where a thermostatically controlled magnetic clutch was fitted to 31s and 37s in the radiator compartment. There was a horizontal shaft driven off the free end of the engine which turned the drive vertically through bevel gears, and this permanently spun the fan while the engine was running.  The modification saw the magnetic clutch disengage the radiator fan shaft if the coolant temperature dropped. When the coolant temperature again required cooling the magnetic clutch applied and a brief metal on metal screech could be heard. Wojder if Accurascale and Bachmann have built this in to their sound files

A  bit wiser now @Covkid

I had heard something about a squealing clutch in the past but never knew how it worked and when but I do now ! 

So thanks .

Everyday is a school day .

[Covkid]

35 minutes ago, Albie the plumber said:

A  bit wiser now @Covkid

I had heard something about a squealing clutch in the past but never knew how it worked and when but I do now ! 

So thanks .

Everyday is a school day .

And it is funny.  Once you hear the screech, you will never unhear it !!!

[Albie the plumber]

3 minutes ago, Covkid said:

And it is funny.  Once you hear the screech, you will never unhear it !!!

And I'm sure there is at least one sound project out there that includes that squeal.

It might be the Olivias sound file of all things ! 

 

[pheaton]

10 hours ago, Albie the plumber said:

I believe the 37 's did .

Not sure about the 31's .

There will be class 31 afficionado's on this thread that will know for sure .As for stopping the  fan on the model , there will probably be a CV whose value can be changed to stop it .

31s and 20s don't have heat exchangers they use a portion of the radiators for oil cooling, so the fan runs permanently so they were never fitted with a clutch. Only 37s were modified for thr clutch. Not aware of 31s getting it, which is why I asked my question. 08s also use this method as well.

Edited August 31 by pheaton

[rorz101uk]

6 hours ago, pheaton said:

31s and 20s don't have heat exchangers they use a portion of the radiators for oil cooling, so the fan runs permanently so they were never fitted with a clutch. Only 37s were modified for thr clutch. Not aware of 31s getting it, which is why I asked my question. 08s also use this method as well.

Class 31/4 had the mod fitted (magnetic clutch), it similar to the Class 37s but not the same. All the Network Rail class 31 had the mod fitted back in 2007. 

[Albie the plumber]

4 hours ago, rorz101uk said:

Class 31/4 had the mod fitted (magnetic clutch), it similar to the Class 37s but not the same. All the Network Rail class 31 had the mod fitted back in 2007. 

It merely adds to the minefield that is the class 31 

[Covkid]

4 hours ago, Albie the plumber said:

It merely adds to the minefield that is the class 31 

It does if you look down on it in "seagull" mode and notice the fan not rotating  😁

Edited August 31 by Covkid

[Paul.Uni]

The following are listed in the Bachmann Email Newsletter as arriving at Bachmann next week.

• 35-823/SF/SFX 31319 BR Railfreight Petroleum
• 35-823A/ASF/ASFX 31304 BR Railfreight Petroleum
• 35-825/SF/SFX 31435 BR Blue

[Southwich]

A selection of shots of the new Bachmann ped, pin wash completed across the body shell and cab interiors, full allocation of bufferbeam pipework and couplings fitted. Ready for some glazing when Brian has had a measure of it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next step - weathering once I’m back in Aus from a UK visit.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

[aureol40012]

On 04/09/2024 at 08:08, Southwich said:

A selection of shots of the new Bachmann ped, pin wash completed across the body shell and cab interiors, full allocation of bufferbeam pipework and couplings fitted. Ready for some glazing when Brian has had a measure of it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next step - weathering once I’m back in Aus from a UK visit.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

Cheers Will. Take it the detail is easier to fit with the body off?

 

[Southwich]

4 minutes ago, aureol40012 said:

Cheers Will. Take it the detail is easier to fit with the body off?

 

Main reason for taking the body off was to get the glazing out to be honest. But yeah marginally easier to fit the detail pack, especially the Dingham couplers.

 

Looking forward to getting some proper grime on this and 452 in due course when that arrives.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will 

[Ray M]

On 05/09/2024 at 13:03, Southwich said:

Main reason for taking the body off was to get the glazing out to be honest. But yeah marginally easier to fit the detail pack, especially the Dingham couplers.

 

Looking forward to getting some proper grime on this and 452 in due course when that arrives.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will 

But 452 Dont have any grime.

 

[Southwich]

2 hours ago, Ray M said:

But 452 Dont have any grime.

 

 

Something more like this:

 

 

Flickr pic from my uncle.

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

[steve1023]

Hi. Hoping somebody can help with regard to BR blue 31123 (35-805). Online images are blurry, but it appears to have a depot sticker on one side only. Could someone confirm that and also what depot sticker it is please.

Thank you in advance 

Steve

[Nile]

@steve1023

BR

[steve1023]

9 hours ago, Nile said:

@steve1023

BR

Thank you.

[uk_pm]

I have been excited to get my hands on the new Bachmann 31, and took delivery of a pristine sound-fitted 31 123 late last week.  As you would expect, it is a nice model.  I cannot imagine that it is not dimensionally accurate and it certainly looks like a (sparklingly-clean) 31 when it comes out of the box.  Indeed, I wonder whether the quality paint obscures some of the fine detailing (for instance in the area where the welded panel replaces the doors at the front).  I think the model is improved with weathering.

 

Sadly, the performance and sound of the model do not match its appearance.  It was jerky and unreliable out of the box - stalling repeatedly on plain (and freshly-cleaned) trackwork which other locos glided over with ease.  Of course, this also highlights the surprising omission of a stay-alive capacitor on a locomotive at this price.  Some improvement has been noted after removing the wheels and bending out the four pickups (there are no pick ups on the middle set of wheels on each bogie) so that they exert greater pressure on the wheel-backs.  Drive is through all 6 axles, which makes the bogie rigid and the loco prone to rather rough riding over pointwork and the inevitable undulations.  I agree with Cavalex that a floating middle axle improves the ride quality (although I appreciate that there are plenty who disagree).  And I wonder whether it is this which is causing pick-up problems.  After extensive running in, I am left with a loco which runs OK - but is capricious; it sometimes running fine and sometimes being prone to stalling, even over the same pieces of track work.  Curiously, when it stalls, the engine room lights come (and stay) on at full illumination, so power is reaching the locomotive.  Any suggestions on what might be causing that are most welcome.  

 

I'm sorry to report that the sound is unimpressive.  It is tinny and underpowered (even at a scale 90 mph - which is about half the loco's true speed capacity), the running noise drowns out the pretty unimpressive thrash from the engine.  Here, the comparison with the latest SLW class 25 - to my ears the current Gold Standard of factory-fitted sound - is very telling.  Both locos employ an excellent Zimo sound decoder and two sugar cube speakers mounted atop the circuit board at opposite ends of the locomotive.  But whilst the SLW loco sounds like a high-class stereo set up, the Bachmann model sounds cheap and tinny with no real bass or treble definition.

 

Pulling power is excellent, of course, and the loco performs well when it is not stalling.  Any suggestions to improve performance would be most welcome.

 

Overall, I do not consider that the Bachmann 31 marks a significant advance over the high-quality Hornby offering of nearly two decades ago.  It will be very interesting to compare it to the Accurascale version due in a few short weeks.

 

PM

 

      

[Butler Henderson]

11 minutes ago, uk_pm said:

'Sadly, the performance and sound of the model do not match its appearance.  It was jerky and unreliable out of the box - stalling repeatedly on plain (and freshly-cleaned) trackwork which other locos glided over with ease.  Of course, this also highlights the surprising omission of a stay-alive capacitor on a locomotive at this price.  Some improvement has been noted after removing the wheels and bending out the four pickups (there are no pick ups on the middle set of wheels on each bogie) so that they exert greater pressure on the wheel-backs.  Drive is through all 6 axles, which makes the bogie rigid and the loco prone to rather rough riding over pointwork and the inevitable undulations.  I agree with Cavalex that a floating middle axle improves the ride quality (although I appreciate that there are plenty who disagree).  And I wonder whether it is this which is causing pick-up problems.  After extensive running in, I am left with a loco which runs OK - but is capricious; it sometimes running fine and sometimes being prone to stalling, even over the same pieces of track work.  Curiously, when it stalls, the engine room lights come (and stay) on at full illumination, so power is reaching the locomotive.  Any suggestions on what might be causing that are most welcome. 

Why not return it and get another ?

[meatloaf]

19 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

Why not return it and get another ?

Im not sure that would make much of a difference as ive seen all these issues reported either on this thread or on facebook. 

 

I think even jenny kirk had issues with running as she suggested it maybe needs a stay alive.

[Pendle Forest]

Grab a refund and purchase from another manufacturer.  At sound prices it's too much to have something u are dissatisfied with ;)

 

With the jerking, have u tried giving it a really good run in on a rolling road.  I had a Heljan 45 that was a nightmare until I left it slowly running overnight and now it's sweet as a nut and cruises over paintwork where it previously juddered to a halt

Edited September 8 by Pendle Forest

[Market65]

Hi. I bought 31293 on Friday. It was okay on the track in the shop, but it has been a 

bit hestitant and jerky over the pointwork on my layout.

So I adjusted the pickups to those outer wheelsets. It made a small improvement, but something else needed doing. 

Thinking of the issues with the pickups on the original batch of class 40’s, I then soldered into place, for getting the middle wheelset to pickup, a set of pickups.

What a signficant improvement! No more stalling, jerking or anything else. 

So, it looks like the reported issues are pickup issues, and if my example is anything to go by getting pickups for the centre wheelsets in place cures these  issues.

I hope this will be of help to people.

 

Rob.

[steve1023]

5 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Why not return it and get another ?

Looks like he’s already weathered it despite the problems.

[stewartingram]

I've been modelling since the early 60s, never had the need to fit a stay alive. Live frogs, and WORKING pickups (preferably on as many wheels as possible) have sorted them for me. (Incidentally, my collection now numbers around 150 locos...).

Edited September 9 by stewartingram

[MikeParkin65]

7 hours ago, uk_pm said:

I'm sorry to report that the sound is unimpressive.  It is tinny and underpowered (even at a scale 90 mph - which is about half the loco's true speed capacity), the running noise drowns out the pretty unimpressive thrash from the engine.  Here, the comparison with the latest SLW class 25 - to my ears the current Gold Standard of factory-fitted sound - is very telling.  Both locos employ an excellent Zimo sound decoder and two sugar cube speakers mounted atop the circuit board at opposite ends of the locomotive.  But whilst the SLW loco sounds like a high-class stereo set up, the Bachmann model sounds cheap and tinny with no real bass or treble definition.

If it’s the same Bachmann 15x11 speaker as used in the class 24 I found the Roads and Rails drop in replacements do increase clarity and definition. Bass is of course subject to the laws of physics - only solution there will be finding a way to fit a bigger speaker.  

[Mophead45143]

9 hours ago, uk_pm said:

 

Overall, I do not consider that the Bachmann 31 marks a significant advance over the high-quality Hornby offering of nearly two decades ago.  It will be very interesting to compare it to the Accurascale version due in a few short weeks.

 

PM

 

 

Well, it certainly looks a lot better than the Hornby model at least, but performance is obviously very important!

 

I'm still debating whether or not to pick one of these up. I have a few blue Accurascale ones on order which looks fantastic from the pictures available.

 

Cameron