Almost Gave Up on This One! 

Please know that all the stress, unhappiness, and anger you've been through has spared the rest of us from having to go through all of that. Wow -- talk about a must loco to avoid!

Probably the best episode ever, between the tech the frustration and the actual Solutions, thanks for your hurt locker

The struggle is real! I gave up on Bachmann’s all together. Enjoy watching you work on them Ron!

Great video. Unfortunately it's just bachmann. I buy the broken ones and build a chassis using old rivarossi parts. Bachmann makes the nice shells that rivarossi doesn't .A+ for your patience

Ron that little pancake motor and the magnets looks like the same set up in my Aurora model motoring HO slot cars can’t believe this is how they power those engines 😮

Ron love your videos I'm not one of your 33%s I'm one of your 100%s. You are funny with your content and one of my favorite videos is the complete restoration of the bottom of the barrel American flyer. Wow what a restoration 🚂🚃 😊

Wholly Moley!!! Herculean effort and it barely goes. Thanks Ron for the great entertainment. Wondering if….. taking all the drive out of the loco and making a tender drive loco? The other great thing would be a Park display on your layout. Erect a chain link fence big enough to surround the Locomotive. Weather ( paint rust on drive rods etc white wall the wheels) the. Sprinkle itty bitty white dots to represent bird poop all over!

Thanks Ron! You are a great mechanic!

Ron just gave a lesson in perseverance, adapt, improvise, overcome, you never give up, tremendous patience and very talented model railroad mechanic, regards, Joe

I've often wondered if bachmann doesn't make their engines to break so we will buy more. It's always their gears. 60 year ild tyco and ahm still running fine, but a beautiful bachnann does good to last 5 years.

Good on you for trying to give this unit a second chance. These first gen Bachmann steam locomotives are such a nightmare, I don't know what the designers were thinking - I'd be curious to see how they ran straight from the factory. It's too bad so many have sentimental value otherwise no one would touch one with a 10 foot pole

The 611 is my favorite engine and there have been multiple occasions where I almost bought one of these off ebay, glad I watched your video. Love your channel and always rooting for you to complete a rebuild.

The Bachman toy era for sure much better now

Hi Ron, thanks for taking one for the team. I can feel your pain, a friend gave me one. ....yeah a friend..lol. 😁. It was one of my first experiences with repairing...almost my last, but it wasn't. You did great at not throwing it the wall. As always, great video, thanks for sharing.

I have a pack of those same red micro files. I use them all the time. They're awesome. Welcome to the red micro file club.

Sorry for your pain, but that was a funny video. I enjoyed very much!

I’ve been eyeing a few of these on the ePay and will do a lot of research before I pull the trigger on one! Thanks for the info, and all you do!

Hey Ron. Thanks for another wonderful video. I will take your advise and stay away from the Bachman steamers. I do have an old Tyco I should put on the operating table and see what kind of frustrations I can come up with. Have a good one!

Found a source for different size tubing .They are in different makes of Pens and spray bottles . We all just throw them out .Had a vision one day .Hope this helps.

Great job Ron and I would not be too hard on yourself because I think the repair was a complete success and I agree that the overall design of this thing is just showing it’s limitations and probably could not do any better brand new out of the box than it’s doing now especially with that shameful motor struggling and cocking everything to push the gears and causing the derailing problem that I remember from having similar Bachmann locomotives as a kid and always doing this.

I bought some 3D printed gears for my Bachmann U36B. They worked perfectly, and now I have a Brand New Engine!

Again, great effort Ron. It’s not lost on us craftsmen.

It sucks that they were designed poorly, they are for sure good looking locomotives! Oh well.. what can ya do. Excellent repair job Ron! I’m sure this one was a nightmare haha

As usual great content Ron. Between you and SMT Mainline you have convinced me over the years to never buy a Bachman of any kind. I will stick with my Athearn Blue Box and throw in an occasional Atlas and be a happy camper. Take care, Jeff.

Thanks for another great video Ron. You definitely have the knack. Your videos will be referenced for years. You are a legend in the making for sure. Trust me, I know, I am old. Can't wait until the next one.

Another fun video to watch. Good laugh too Ron. Seeing you angered and frustrated and knowing what you were in for. I knew you could get her done. Love your channel and look forward to Monday nights. Great job Ron. BTW...can I send you and old Bachmann to work on? LOL CYA next week. Thanks. G

What a bugger. Always disappointing when it won't come good. Herculean effort to try and get there. We've a whole generation of BR steam locos by Bachmann with split chassis and split gears to match this side of the pond. Great video as always.

Your use of the tooth pick as a spring adjusting device will come in handy. I also like the small file set. I have one from years ago and will be looking for another set. My last purchase of a Bachmann steam engine was indeed my LAST purchase of this sort of locomotive. They look pretty and draw the purchaser to purchase one like a moth is drawn to the flame. Literally. Thank you Ron for posting this epic tutorial. Keep up the good work and best wishes. Sincerely, George.

Well, I have to commend the fact that you held it together. If I would have spent that much time on that model the 10lb sledge would have done the final work. I do know that the springs need to be replaced before you get any power out of that under powered pancake motor. I cut the Athearn replacement springs in half. Great video as always.

As soon as the gear issue raised its ugly head a few years ago i sold all my Bachmann stuff. Even the brand new and un-run. I'm so much happier! We have to deal with the "Mainline" range, which uses the same system of split frame and you soon become a dab hand with the Superglue... You're entertaining and informative as always Ron!

Another great video, I like that you had the maker of the parts on your show, great insight.

Glad you made it through that one without having a heart attack buddy. Great video.

Congrats on 12K subscribers buddy....!!!

Fantastic effort, as always! I noticed another issue on this locomotive that would have contributed to the poor running. The plastic wheel centres have also popped out of shape and will likely be interfering with the rods. I've experienced the same phenomenon on a Bachmann Branch Line (British) model. The British locomotives from Bachmann (which were formerly Mainline brand) also suffer from split axles and malformed wheel centres, so it doesn't just affect their North American products!

Nice job! Love all your videos!

Ron, I always appreciate your videos. These videos are extremely important and helpful. I now know to stay away from Bachmann steam. You also have a video for almost every type of loco I own, which means I can keep them running or fix them, instead of buying new stuff. You're a real lifesaver.

My favorite channel video of the week!…well done!

It's kind of amazing that Bachmann managed to put such bad gearing on this thing. I've suffered through gear replacement on their Shays a couple times and thought those were bad enough.

Your getting into heaven no doubt!! That really tested your resolve!!! I was really pulling for ya from the start! Your amazing. Great effort. Such a poor design its a nightmare. Love your vids keep em coming!😊

I feel your frustration. It took me 3 days and said enough, good work Ron

I worked on one of those months ago, not a repair just disassemble and oil. What a huge pain in the a**. I am done with Bachmann. Ron you have more patience than me. I probably would have thrown it away, or something like that, lol

I’ve been binge watching your videos I’m not one of the 33% lol I watch from start to finish love the content 100% ❤❤

Hi Ron, Love your work, also am amazed at your patiance & perserverance, so thanks for your how how to, have read many coments and agree with them all So im thimking it should be Saint Ron 😀 hehe, shame in so far away or id join for a "frothy Top" or 2 but 12,000 miles is a bit far as im from down under Australia Eka a 33%, keep up your great work

I am glad you had some success with his gears. I had success with his first production run. Had to file and glue them also. Good luck with more repairs on those Bachman's! Ratsbird, Richard T, West Fargo ND

Cool Video! I watched it all the Way Through! You're putting the Word Out for people that want to get their Ho Engines going, inspire of Mishaps! But it's how we learn too.

5:16 Makes for a nice museum piece or... accidently got dropped from a four-storey building, or hit with a hammer-like anti-aircraft gun... You lasted longer than I thought. John

Sorry for the headaches. Thanks for the video

I have a Bachmann Niagra like that but luckily it still runs well!

Could a CD motor be retrofit and could brass tubing help or wrapping thin wire around split gears? Just thinkin.

I'm a 34 year Model railroad guy. G and HO scales. Bachmann Spectrum has a longer life than most other Bachmann stuff. But don't be fooled.

Well Ron what can I say my friend, sorry you went through all of this frustration, but I knew if anyone could save me from the Ars wipe that ripped me off it would be you, I can only blame myself at 65 years of age you would think the saying if it's too good to be true, would be imbedded in my head buy now. I love these 484 J classes and saw my chance at an opportunity for a affordable loco and jumped on it, they say we learn from our mistakes. I do hope someone that is looking for one of these 484 J classes for their collection does some research and finds this very informative/educating video. We live in a different world today where people profit from another's pain. I must say you kept it together better than I sir. Thank You

🤠Good one Ron.

What a bugar! That little motor!

You gave a herculean and noble attempt to get it as far as you could. All I can think of is a CD player motor and run in for a few hours on a circle of track see if it can work itself right. Even so, such a shame you put all that work into it only to be left so frustrated. Something tells me you will sort this out eventually.

It would be a service to Mankind if you did a video on re-motoring one of these Bachman engines. I bought one of these and it still runs. Only had to replace the brush springs and clean up the motor.

Great video ! I could feel the frustration because I've been there many times as well . When you were working on the motor brush springs I noticed that they look like the springs and brushes for T-Jet slot car , hmmm, there may be some Frankenstein experimentation on the work bench ;-) . By the way , I have the same loco , runs great going straight until it hits a curve, looks good on the shelf though

Ron, you are hilarious. That Charlie Brown Trombone Teacher sound was great, and all your other happy sounds working on it. LOL However, this was an excellent video! Your patience to work on these is great! You were able to get the ole Bachmann up and running again. Tom

Ron I just enjoy your videos. I prefer working on larger o and standard gauge myself(much easier to see). I’ve worked on several of these in the past and I could honestly say my outcome was nowhere near as good as yours. They usually end up at the landfill in tiny pieces. Keep up the good work.

That was an amazing effort Ron.....

Drove me crazy too Ron I'm slowly working on mine Gen 2 great video on this

Awesome video, what a patience Ron,its not worth it whith those awful Backman trains, for me they go the garbage

Boy or boy, patience young youtuber!!

im incredibly lucky, my friend bought me a gen 2 as a birthday gift last summer and it doesnt have any damaged gears or quartering problems, he didnt know that they had these issues as he models o scale but id say im lucky mine is in good running condition, i just want to replace the right side steam chest since it had that damage when he bought it initially

I remember in the 90's when I received the 2nd Gen? one that came in the Bachmann Plus box I was the happiest I ever been and it was my favorite. I sold it over a decade ago and bought a BLI one. Now that my tastes have changed for the higher end, expensive models I would never mess with one of these ever again but I still appreciate where I started from in the hobby with these clunkers when they were my everything in this hobby. 😊

Wow Ron! I’m sorry that did not work out better!!! Virtually every Bachmann I own has broken gears (mostly N scale). It’s pretty to look at but dang… well best of luck with next project!!!

You have the patience of Job! I would have put that thing in the trash after about two hours of what you went through. Love your videos though, keep up the good work 👍

I have three modern Bachmann steam locomotives 2-6-0 flavor I certainly hope I never have the split gear issues with them.

Hey Ron, I think I have one of the split frame Gen 2 Chessie 4-8-4's. Sure I mentioned it before, but it obviously has the gear issue. I've replaced them 2 times. Still sitting in the repair box. Not sure it ever will get repaired

Well... your first video got me to take apart my GS-4, which is a gen 2 with the can motor. I also bought the parts from Dan. Upon arrival of the gears and axles, I identified that the drive gear was wrong. So, I then ordered the gen 1 set, and that gear was not correct either. I emailed Dan, and then sent him the gear I took out, and he made me one. I believe that is why you now get both types of gears in the order.

Really wanted a N&W Class J and bought one from the Bachmann Plus range (Bachmann Item Number 11315) with the can motor and brass gear/ flywheel combo. Not sure if that would make it a second gen or what but I do know I expected a better quality model for the prices I saw they went for and the price I ultimately paid. Really wish I saw this video before I bought it. I would have just avoided it. While the Class J I got does have the best smoke unit I've ever gotten on a model, I'm hoping i somehow avoid the broken axle and gear issues. The front screw holding the chassis was broken as soon as opened it from the box when it arrived.... Great attempt to repair this locomotive. While i'm dissatisfied with my purchase, it is at least NOT one of these. Hope to see more of your videos on my feed!

I got one and it really makes you pray when you use it😇

the problem with the last time you tried 3d printed axles/gears is they were incorrectly sized, that and you'd need some needle files to clean out the axle holes

Good try. I so much love your humor. God bless.

I don't know about HO, but Bachmann's N scale has gotten much better in the past 10-15 years. Not that they could have gotten much worse...

Great video I really enjoyed that you could tell you you're getting mad and I'm sorry to say I was laughing because he was the way it was happening I like the comment if it would have been mine you would have been against the wall that thing needed to go against the wall great video keep them coming thank you I really enjoy your stuff

Hi Ron, the 2 center wheels might have to have the flanges sanded off to go around the curves . Lot of the steam locomotives only have flanges on the outer wheels to accommodate for tight radius. Makes me want to find my Niagara. Ron...u the man

Perseverance, Ron. You have it by the railcar.

Hi everyone. I have a problem with an Lionel HO gauge train. Lionel hasn't been much help. I have an NEW YORK CENTRAL WATERLEVEL LIMITED passenger HO set, won at a Goodwill action. It was stated that he couldn't get the locomotive to work. The first issue was that the remote would fast blink. I found that there was a stuck key on the remote and fixed it. But the remote still would fast blink. The fastrack 12 volt output transformer is plugged into the barrel jack track, and I get a red light on the connector. There doesn't seem to be voltage on the track. It works if I use an old Tyco transformer with the wires touching the fastrack. Doing this, the remote will work as normal, and the train and tender work. I got a new Lionel MAGNELOCK 9" Straight with Barrel Jack Terminal to see if the train would work, nope. I used wires to connect the barrel jack transformer straight to the track and that works. I'm at PC tech and it's always the female jack in the laptop that goes bad. Could the male jack on the transformer be bad, even if I get a red light on the track? Like I said if you use wires on the original Lionel transformer to connect to the track it works. It's supposed to be a gift to my grandson if I can get it to work.

Got 1. That Norfolk . haven't taken it apart yet. My mic went crazy. Don't know if it is battery or mic. So haven't be able to mic brushes for Southern Pacific daylight steam engine. But on Norfolk some of the wheels have issues. Dropping them does that everytime. Hopefully I can save it with as little as 1 or 2 times taking it apart. But at least I can go back to this video and see 4,5,6, Through 10 😂jk great video woooosaaaaa relax just a straight beer and get us another video to watch! 😂

The Bachmann 2-10-4 has the same sized wheels and I fixed my bachmann gen 1 j class that way!!

I have one of those. I re-powered mine with a 5 pole, flat can motor. Had to customize the mounting for it though.

I had the best fix for a Bachmann 4-8-4 N&W J, I put a Bowser drive system in it and threw the Bachmann drive in the trash

i saw a guy take a g scale bachman out of box put on track it went about 20 to 25 ft and gears stripped out he paid a grand for this for some real pain call bachman for service

I have a 2-8-0 of this design that belongs to me because I got it from a family friend. I need to tear into it again... I had it workin, but a wheel slipped on me again! haven't tried new gears, but am now considering it seeing as there's some hope of them not breaking instantly. Has the same bitty little can motor! I think the idea is the reduction gearing gives it the required torque... but definitely not born to compete with a proper sized motor! I think the reason for that weird, springy open gear might have been to act as a clutch if the wheels were binding up too much- instead of the motor jamming up solid and roasting, the gear would just spring away. Not sure how else it could provide any benefit to the mechanism. I bet the gear you repaired broke because somebody tried to turn the rear wheels by hand when the loco didn't want to run. What a pain- can't say you didn't try! Usually after this much fuss, I stick something up on a shelf and forget about it for a few years. Then find it again, and have better luck. Or screw up, and repeat!

Ron your face at 5:20 is priceless🤣🤣🤣. Although the general appearance is good, Bachmann pancake motor locomotives are pure crap. Sorry that you’ve spent your huge talent and almost infinite patience in this… “thing”. Do me a favor, please: see my comments on the Athearn GP40-2 video (IMHO you BEST video till now).

Thank you for sharing.👍

Better double your beer ration after that one! Talk about tough sledding!

Bowser does or did have repower kits out for some of these Bachmann steam locos with the pancake motors.

What a great way to start my day.

the smaller sqare motor is a LIONEL MOTOR BUILT BY BACHMAN for them and it took me 5 of those engines to get one that did work right its still going 10 years latter.

I wonder if the axles for the UK Bachmann locos would also fit these GS4s. The axles on the Bachmann Branchline split chassis locomotives have exactly the same issue with the plastic shrinking and then splitting. They have the same two generations, round key and square key. Even the motor looks like the same white plastic piece of... in my Palitoy Mainline Class 03 shunter (which was manufactured by Kader as well). Presumably these GS4s don't sound how the Class 03s do: like a clockwork toy. Axle splitting is enough of an issue over there that one of their specialist parts vendors, Peter's Spares, has the axle sets injection moulded in mass in China like the originals. Bachmann only released x-6-x locos over there though, you'd have to buy two packs of replacements to get enough non-geared axle centres. A bit expensive for me to do here in Australia though, I'd have to import one of these basket case Bachmann 4-8-4s.

I just convert these old Bachmanns into dummys. I use styrene tube by Evergreen to make new insulated axle sleeves. Once you get the quartering correct, JB Weld is an option to make the fix permanent. Maybe I'll try using a pair of NWSL Stanton Drive power trucks to convert a tender to a powered unit sometime.

Yikes! What a hassle. Yet, you probably got it the best it can get for now. 33%er.

Nice video! Yeah seems like those first generation bachmanns like those ones can always have issues like those cracked gears.

U are the man bro! Great vid as usual.now i know why i dont mess with steam engines!

I have 3 of them bought 2 to repair one ordered those gears twice still no luck,I bought a brand new one from a estate sale never run ,put on track and it ran beautifully,so one day I tried running it again,to show on my utube channel , guess what motor cooked, I took motor out of another one it lit up and smoked,so mines a dummy I can put it behind a diesel and pull it I’ve spent over $300 on these three and 3 days work ,wife is ordered a new one with can motor.

33%er here, so I gather you LIKE working on Bachmann poop, I mean stuff. I'll remember that whenever I get the box ready for ya. ;)

I bought one like that but the grey Union Pacific with Vanderbilt tender All the axle gears were broken. Took it apart and saw the pancake motor. It now sits in a parts drawer. I just needed the tender anyway though the road numbers don't match the one that does run. The tender was a bit beat up also.

Helluva an effort. I was getting frustrated too.

That motor design was for the streetcars also by Bachmann