NRM Bachmann C1 Atlantic

[Atlantic 3279]

I didn't, but if it helps then I shall.

[john coffin]

Would be really useful I think,

thanks

[Hatfield Shed]

I'll be naughty here and say 'just like the A1 and A2 do, the same generic layout internally!'. (This is something I like about Bachmann/Kader, clear evidence of a well developed set of mechanism layouts for tackling different configurations.)

[john coffin]

Hatfield as usual causing shunting problems trying to get into the engine shed methinks

were one to consider a replacement set of under carriage parts, then certain details need to be more evident, and having never
taken a Bachmann loco apart, I am a little conscious of my investment

Since Graeme has already started down the rocky road, one can but ask.

Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

Taking the C1 apart:

The gizmo plug when pulled down free of its socket in the tender is still tricky to release fully unless you drop the first wheelset from the tender. The tender then unhooks easily.


Two screws under the rear corners of the cab, and one tucked away up front above the bogie hold the body and chassis together. There's an access hole in the bogie meaning you could release the front screw with the bogie still in situ, but that leaves poor access for reassembly. The bogie isn't difficult to remove and refit so it may as well come off for access. There's only a shouldered screw and a volute spring to take care of when releasing the bogie.




With the three screws removed the chassis will pul out of the body. It's a close fit and may need gentle persuasion. It only just goes back in too, with care and persistence!


The drawbar just sits on a boss at the rear of the chassis. Unlike some tricky Bachmann models, it doesn't have to pass through a slot in the dragbeam at the rear of the body structure, there's just a gap in the middle of the dragbeam in this case so there's no need for three handed fiddling when trying to put the chassis back into the body and the drawbar back into its slot....


Cylinders and motion bracket are a nice simple screw fit to the top of the chassis.


The motion bracket fits into notches in the running plate.


General view of chassis top and u-side of body.



Note that the lead strip in the top of the boiler and the lumps in the sides of the firebox are my additions, as is the folded lead sheet in the slot in the chassis.

Here's the factory fitted main weight in the boiler barrel, which I failed to get out even with screws removed. It jiggled around but wouldn't move back or forth.


Two more screws out release the plastic cab-boiler unit from the mostly cast metal running plate.




Pegs at both ends of each plastic splasher are glued into holes in the running plate casting.


The cab front evidently slides down into a slot in the firebox and two lugs then clip it in place. I haven't tried seriously to un-clip mine as I suspect there may be some glue involved too. At least the glazing is only a clip fit if you want to repaint the cab interior.


Notice how the lug at the base of the backhead, used to screw the rear end of the plastic bodywork down onto the running plate, fits into a cut-out in the front of the cab floorboards.

[john coffin]

Thanks Graeme,
that is really useful and informative. I wonder how many people are prepared to consider using one in the wider gauges?

Paul

[teaky]

Thank you for taking the time to post such detailed photographs and comments Graeme. I won't be re-gauging mine but seeing how and where you have added extra weight will be useful.

Did you have to play about with how much lead you put in each spot or did the locomotive remained balanced naturally?

[Atlantic 3279]

The balance all worked out very nicely by the time I'd put in about as much as I could without starting to restrict the options for later dismantling.

[S.A.C. Martin]

That's interesting. Looks like it could be easy to remove the cab and - if one wanted to - replace it with the larger, later Gresley cab ith side windows for the one that had the booster temporarily fitted?

Thanks for the pictures Graeme, most informative.

[Hatfield Shed]

Note also the two screwheads on the underside centreline of the boiler. Those secure the installed ballast weight. Substitution in lead will produce yet more tractive mightiness for those whose layout schemes demand it.

I can feel the creeping temptation to one day attempt the drafted Ivatt 2-6-2 based on the large atlantic boiler, almost a first attempt at what would later emerge as the LNER V2, and probably something that would have lasted well in to late BR steam.

[Flying Fox 34F]

Graeme,

The big question? Has Bachmann designed the chassis motor block to allow the smaller boiler of the C2's?

Curiously, I too was thinking of Ivatt's 2-6-2, when I saw the boiler removed!

Paul 4475

[Atlantic 3279]

Note also the two screwheads on the underside centreline of the boiler. Those secure the installed ballast weight. Substitution in lead will produce yet more tractive mightiness for those whose layout schemes demand it.

I'll be interested to hear whether others find the means by which the weight can be taken out without damage to the rest of the model. As I've mentioned twice above, I removed the screws but got no further, despite various forms of tapping/shaking/rattling/coaxing and gentle leverage.

[Hatfield Shed]

I'll just have to tinker with that one day! It may be like the WD 2-8-0, on which the smokebox has to be unplugged from the boiler to release the ballast weight out of the front end of the boiler. A neatly cast piece that ballast weight, with a roughly 1 in 40 taper on it making removal a 'one way only' proposition.

[mick b]

The last A2 I did the weight was screwed and glued in and was going nowhere !.

[Atlantic 3279]

I hope this doesn't cause any fuss regarding copyright, if it does I'll remove the image.

Here I've altered a photograph of a C2 to try to show the effect of having to raise the boiler (possibly a bit more than would really be necessary) in order to clear the motor position in the NRM C1 chassis. I've raised the cab too, splitting the height increase between the upper and lower parts of the sidesheets. This preserves proportions in one way, but means that the cab cut-out's lower edge no longer matches up with the profile of a pre-1912 Class B tender. There's more space below the front of the smokebox which no longer nestles as it did between the frame tops. Depending on the exact amount of elevation of the boiler, a little daylight might appear below the forward portion of the barrel. The question is, would these changes critically detract from the appearance of a model, or are the effects negligible when the result is viewed as a whole?