Ancient metal geared Bachmann F9s 1971 era

[scaro]

Hi

I am wondering if anyone knows any online resource or has photos etc that show the disassembled trucks etc?  (I'm familiar with Spookshow of course.)

Again, it's to see if they are any good for scratchbuilding, potential for extending axles etc.

I want to avoid the 1983 release or indeed any with plastic gears. Not only do the gears split but they do not lend themselves to conversion to wider gauges, beyond 10.5mm anyway.

Many scratchbuilders here in the UK in 009 say the metal gear version is a great mech and will grind noisily away for decades.

Ben S.

[Albert in N]

These "F-9s" are slightly oversized and not correctly configured on nose curves, windows, and missing a set of steps on rear sides.  Yes, at the time, they ran great and pulled well until the open frame motors overheated and fried.  My old 1970s Arnold Rapido and MiniTrix locomotives were much more heavily used and never had an overheated motor. Bachmann continued using the same body shell on plastic geared, can motor, F-9 train sets until at least 2010.  Besides ones I owned in early 1970's, I bought the UP F-9 freight train set offered around 2010 that was not run very much.  One day, the can motor F-9 stopped and the motor was shot.  Also, I had another can motor on a Bachmann Standard GE U-30B fry.  Frankly, unless there is sentiment, I would not bother wasting time on them.  Even the much nicer "Spectrum" F-7 DC units were no bed of roses and even had worse looking roof horns than the older F-9 train set locomotives.  Why bother with Bachmann diesels when you can obtain a good Kato or Atlas locomotive for not much more money and it will last? 

[nkalanaga]

Albert:  Ben wants these for the mechanism only, so the body doesn't matter.  The newer N scale locos are much harder to regauge, which is a result of the axle-point pickup, which also makes them smoother running.

I also had one of the early 70s Fs, and 2 GP-40s.  They sounded like coffee grinders, or old manual pencil sharpeners turned rapidly, but mine never overheated.  The only reason I didn't buy more is they didn't look, or run, well with Minitrix Fs, and I already had several of those.  The BN in the Northwest had more Fs than GP-40s, so Minitrix Fs and U28Cs were a better choice.

As far as extending the axles, if you have a wheel puller, it shouldn't be any problem at all.  I remember them as being fairly easy to take apart.

[brokemoto]

I have one, somewhere, but I must find it.  I will look, but I really know only that it is in that train room, somewhere.  If I can find it, I will take apart a truck and put up some photographs.  Meanwhile, let the Original Poster keep looking, as who knows when, or if, I will find the thing.

Mine does not run badly, for what it is.  One thing that does happen is that it lets out a cloud of smoke (and here you had thought that this was an EMD and not an ALCo) when you first apply current to it, if it has been sitting for more than a day, or so.  As I have not even seen mine for years, I am sure that it will really create quite the smoke show.  It takes off running, lets out a cloud of smoke, then continues to run.  It never fried, or anything, it just smoked and ran.

I have seen a few older N scale power that smoked like that but never fried.  I had a C-C E-8 that did that.  It was a Penn.  I had a couple of others:  B&O and NYC that had the same chassis, but did not smoke, but the Penn always did.  I traded it away.

[Doug G.]

I have two that have run fine for all these years. Noisy but relatively smooth. I've never had an overheating problem.

The trucks are robust enough to use for other things.

Doug

[scaro]

Cheers and thanks to all.  Sure I'll find one at a swapmeet.  If the wheels can be gotten off without major damage, then that's a plus.

[Albert in N]

   Good luck and hope it works out.  From memory, an old Arnold Rapido (German made) American "prototype" Alco FA2 or EMD FP unit might also be an option.  The metal body Arnold Rapido FA2 had large metal spur gears on each truck with metal gears very similar to Bachmann's F-9.   Yes, the FA2 was noisy, but was very dependable as long as the printed circuit board that secured the motor was tight (but could be taped).

[nkalanaga]

The old Arnold FA has another advantage:  The wheels are noticeably oversized, which would be better than true N scale for a TT or HO narrow gauge model.  And, as Albert said, they are almost indestructible.  You'd probably have to turn the flanges down.

I bought one, as part of a used set, at my local shop a few years back.  Took it out, put it on the (ME code 55) track, turned the power on, off it went.  Bounced on the spikes (or maybe the ties!), but ran very smoothly in spite of that.  Bought another one as "junk" at a local show, to keep the first company.  It needed a new rear coupler, but other than that, was complete.  Again, on the track, ran fine, without any cleaning or service.  I'm sure the one in the set dates from the late 1960s, judging by the labels on the powerpack.