No. 157 Keeping the wheels turning – Bachmann’s B1s

The starting point for this Post is B1 61018 named Gnu.  In1960 I used to collect engine numbers.  One of the better places with an easy cycle ride was Stockton Station.  “Oh there’s a B1! Oh no – its Gnu - again!”  My records show that in 1959 Gnu was allocated to Haverton Hill.  This was located just across the Transporter Bridge from Middlesbrough.  I am guessing the shed would have serviced the large ICI Billingham chemical factory.  From its frequent appearance through Stockton I am imagining that Gnu was used on fitted freights down to York and would likely have featured vacuum fitted vans loaded with bagged fertiliser (Nitram).


Bachmann 61018 Gnu (i)


Rails of Sheffield in conjunction with Bachmann produced a limited run model of Gnu.  When the opportunity presented itself I would buy one.  In common with other vintage Bachmann B1s the nylon wheel centres of my chosen model had swollen rendering the model immobile.  In fact the arrival of 61018 prompted me to check on my other old B1s and I had also to repair 61354 bought unused in 2018.

Bachmann B1 vintage centre driver with severely deformed nylon centre


It was January 2018 when I offered some suggestions for correcting the bulging wheel centres of B1s: 
https://longsheds.blogspot.com/2018/01/no-143-wheels-and-axles-bachmanns-early.html 

I noted that the wheel centres were not attached with glue and could be poked out with a cocktail stick.  Furthermore the diameter could be reduced by the use of a metal file and then the wheel centre popped back into place.  The wheel centres on Gnu were quite severely deformed.

Bachmann B1 Nylon wheel centre - warped


I modified my approach first drilling out the nylon centres, carrying out a little judicious cutting and filing and then capping the resultant hole with a small circle of paper cut using a paper punch.

Bachmann B1 wheel centres bored out and filed flat


Bachmann B1 Wheel Centres, complete left, In-progress right


I used super glue to fix the paper to the nylon and then I coated the wheel centre with some black paint.  As before I then reduced the overall diameter of the insert with a metal file.

Bachmann B1 with repaired wheel centres


Just a reminder, the coupling rods are fitted to the centre driver with a cast metal pin (mazac?).

Bachmann B1centre drivers


Evidence suggests these are a force fit into the boss in the wheel supplemented by super glue introduced on the inside of the wheel.  With care the pin can be removed by pulling steadily with a pair of pliers.  Sometimes the pins can be simply pressed back into place.  On other occasions I have had to run a drill down the hole to remove surplus glue.  Brute force will break the cast pin.  How do I know?  If the refitted pin appears slack it is an easy matter to put a spot of super glue on the open hole at the rear.


Back together the model looked OK but its performance was towards the lower end of adequate.


I don’t have any reason to doubt that the model I purchased was unused.  However the bodyshell I would say was not up to the usual Bachmann standards.  There was damage to the plastic smokebox around the nameplates where I am guessing the original standard plastic backing had been cut back to accommodate the shorter three letters of GNU.  The cab side numbers had visible creases as can happen with water side transfers.  The overall finish on the body was uneven appearing to have been incompletely sprayed with matt varnish.  I did experiment with white spirit which had the effect of removing the matt finish to leave a super shiny surface.  When I persisted with the treatment I lost some of the grey lining along the edge of the footplate and all the printing on the tender top.


To cut a long story short I bought a nice cheap model of Gazelle.  This would be (31-708) not the later version (31-713).  The plastic name plates were removed from Gazelle and as luck would have it the etched plates for Gnu were just long enough to cover the fixing holes on the side of the smokebox.  I mounted the Gnu etched plates on some thin plastic as used for document covers.   Railtec numbers were a perfect match for the cabside and I only needed to replace the ‘03’ with ‘18’ – which made life easier.  I printed a new smokebox number with ‘Word’ but have still to change the shed plate.  I will source 51J (Haverton Hill) rather than 50A (York) as applied by Rails of Sheffield and which was the plate carried by Gnu in the mid 1960s up to its withdrawal.  Finally I transferred the Limited Edition number from beneath the cab – is that cheating?

Bachmann 61018 Gnu (ii)


I now had a spare chassis for a B1 and a Bachmann BR (ER) tender underframe.  A plan was hatched and I bought an unpowered Replica model of Ourebi.  The Replica models (made by Bachmann) have different wheels to the Bachmann models but what about the inserts?  I am not aware of the Replica spokes swelling.  I would swap the inserts from the redundant Replica mechanism into the newer Bachmann mechanism.  The two inserts seem to be identical sizes.  I did notice that Replica had applied some glue at the wheel centres and some dabs around the edge – easily shifted with a small screwdriver.

Bachmann Replica B1 61026 Ourebi with replacement Bachmann chassis


Now Ourebi has single thin red boiler bands.  Gnu mark one in common with sister engines Wildebeeste and Hartebeeste has thick red boiler bands with a centre black line.  Springbok and sister Gazelle (31-708) have thin red boiler bands with an even thinner centre black line.  Bachmann have evidently improved some detail with time. 

Bachmann B1 Boiler Bands with time, Replica left, Wildebeeste centre, Springbok right


However one issue which bothers me and which can easily be corrected is the gap between the engine and tender.  In contrast to the Bachmann Stanier tenders where the engine to tender pin is ‘moulded on’, the Bachmann BR (ER) tender underframe has a separate moulding held on by one or two screws (depending on the age of the model). 


I would manufacture my own shortened drawbar from my favourite source – an old CD case.

Bachmann B1 Tender - modified tender drawbar / hook Template and finished article


For the medium radius Peco points on my layout the critical dimension between the centre of the ‘pin’ and the centre of the fixing screws is 10mm.  I used a 10mm length of old Tri-ang steel axle for the pin which was a suitably tight fit for a hole drilled with a 5/64 inch bit.  I have made a number of these couplings, initially with straight edges and squared corners copying the Bachmann design.  However life is too short and the CD plastic too brittle, I finally settled for the less fussy design above where I hollowed out the straight sides with a curved file.

Bachmann B1 Tender Drawbars, original front, shortened rear


This is where the spare tender chassis came in for use with Ourebi.  The Replica tender chassis has a moulded on drawbar / pin.  I am guessing that Bachmann revisited the design when they realised that they would need to attach the same tender to their J39 and K3 models which would require the tenders to have different shaped drawbars / pins.

Bachmann B1 61018 Gnu with finer lining and sprung buffers


All the engine pictures in this Post show models with shortened tender drawbars.

If you have a few minutes to spare there is a compilation video here:

 

A good outcome!

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