Bachmann Porter 0-6-0


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NP2626

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I have been attempting to determine how to put a "Stay Alive" type of device on this locomotive as it's ability to maintain contact with the track is very, very poor, at least my model of it is! Beyond the "Stay Alive", I have determined that the suspension of the drivers is stiff (there really is no suspension, other than a small amount of play where the drivers are secured to the chassis). Do any of you have suggestion on how to improve this loco contact with the track?
 
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42 views and no responses as of 21 hours into this post's existence. Is this because most people have sense enough to not buy Bachmann stuff? Or, is it because most people aren't into steam anymore?
 
You could be right on both counts, more so the first, but it is possibly more likely that people just can't offer an answer. In any case, are you saying the wheels don't keep contact with the track, they lift of it thereby causing the engine to loose power?
 
42 views and no responses as of 21 hours into this post's existence. Is this because most people have sense enough to not buy Bachmann stuff? Or, is it because most people aren't into steam anymore?
It's not the steam thing at all. Most steam modelers that I know are DC and cannot use "Stay Alive", so they cannot respond. I have read that newer stuff from Bachmann is more reliable and detailed than the older stuff.
Now I may be wrong here, but I have also read that the "Stay Alive" device only works with the DCC commands, not the track power. Track power would require a much larger capacitor.
Good luck.
 
You could be right on both counts, more so the first, but it is possibly more likely that people just can't offer an answer. In any case, are you saying the wheels don't keep contact with the track, they lift of it thereby causing the engine to loose power?

I've noticed that the wheels are fairly inflexible, they can't move up and down to follow the track. This causes some of the wheels to loose contact with the railhead thereby causing a lack of power pick-up. I'm really at a loss to explain why the model runs so poorly. It is for all practical purposes new.!
 
It's not the steam thing at all. Most steam modelers that I know are DC and cannot use "Stay Alive", so they cannot respond. I have read that newer stuff from Bachmann is more reliable and detailed than the older stuff.
Now I may be wrong here, but I have also read that the "Stay Alive" device only works with the DCC commands, not the track power. Track power would require a much larger capacitor.
Good luck.

Willie, I would doubt that steam modelers are any less involved in DCC. I agree that the newer stuff from Bachmann is more details and likely runs better. My porter is not one of them.
 
Willie, I would doubt that steam modelers are any less involved in DCC. I agree that the newer stuff from Bachmann is more details and likely runs better. My porter is not one of them.
Not to be argumentative here, but the key phrase in my post is "steam modelers that I know ".
 
I had a Bachmann Porter for a bit. When I converted to DCC, I couldn't get the right decoder for it. (I don't remember if Bachmann offers one or not. It think they may have offered one at a cost of more than I paid for the locomotive.) As a result, I sold it. My advice, if you have a keep-alive that works with it, that's your best bet.

I do have a 4-6-4T that I'm still working on restoring after three years (not very quickly, obviously) When I finally powered it up again, I realized why it had a mega-boatload of weights in it. Because it needed those weights to keep the back end down so the rear truck could make contact. With an 0-6-0T like yours, that shouldn't be an issue, but it might... Part of keeping it on the track may also be the speeds you're running it at as well. Slow and steady wins the race.
 
Not to be argumentative here, but the key phrase in my post is "steam modelers that I know ".

Understood. Thought that maybe you where considering that what is going on locally, also describes what is going on globally
 
I had a Bachmann Porter for a bit. When I converted to DCC, I couldn't get the right decoder for it. (I don't remember if Bachmann offers one or not. It think they may have offered one at a cost of more than I paid for the locomotive.) As a result, I sold it. My advice, if you have a keep-alive that works with it, that's your best bet.

I do have a 4-6-4T that I'm still working on restoring after three years (not very quickly, obviously) When I finally powered it up again, I realized why it had a mega-boatload of weights in it. Because it needed those weights to keep the back end down so the rear truck could make contact. With an 0-6-0T like yours, that shouldn't be an issue, but it might... Part of keeping it on the track may also be the speeds you're running it at as well. Slow and steady wins the race.

My Porter came with a decoder already installed. I had to do some research to determine that Bachmann "feels" that the decoder is a Lenz product. This makes me think that Bachmann may not really know what manufacture's decoder they have installed in their locomotives.

Stuff such as the above should make people concerned about their purchase of these products, don't you think?
 
My little 0-6-0 is Bachmann's Older version with the Pancake motor built into the frame, so I would say that it is different than yours. And as such, I might not be too much help with the Keep-alive placement but... As a Keep alive is basically just a capacitor, would you be able to create your own and stuff the capacitor(s) in the domes on the shell? Just a thought...
 
The problem with installing the Stay Alive, isn't where to put it; but, how to connect it.
 
Have and have read this article. It really doesn't talk about adding a Stay Alive device to a decoder not set-up for adding one.
 
I just bought one at the train show. I forget the manufacturer. It is a bit bigger than I was hoping for, but it plugs into the decoder at a separate port. It looks like it's two pins IIRC. So that part couldn't be any easier.
 
Railrunner130, what did you buy? Not all decoders come with a place to plug a Keep Alive into.
 
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Are you still going to be using the stock decoder? Or swapping it out? I could tell you where to wire it into an NCE DSR13J, but I have discovered that it is slightly different for each decoder. Some have plugs, some don't...
 
I don't know. My first thought was to use the decoder that the loco came with. Currently I've been thinking of changing to a decoder that a Stay Alive can be plugged into. Still weighing my options.
 



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