Bachmann Hirail maintainence truck (HO)

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Gloriousnse
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Bachmann Hirail maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Gloriousnse »

A few companies have made working hi-rail vehicles in the past, but none have struck me as particularly plausible looking - either they had 'bulked up' a smaller vehicle, or messed with proportions to fit the demands of the chassis.

I've grown up somewhat sceptical of the majority of Bachmann's US diesel offerings, but they have recently started showing signs of applying the same cleverness and attention to that range as they have with their UK models, and their US steam, for many years. Good on em!

So when I saw this I had to give it a go, the Bachmann part number for this one is 16901, this is the plain white, they do some in other railroad schemes...

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The prototype is a heavy hi-rail fitted truck (not a 'pick up') - so its proportions are not thrown out by trying to fit it to a working chassis. The cab looks to be maybe a GMC or Chevy, but appears to have been 'genericised'? It's the kind of thing that might get used for heavy welding work maybe, or by a car repair dept. It has a 'utility' rear end with a light crane (positionable)...This shot shows up it's 2 biggest compromises though, the 'road' wheels have become rail wheels and so are positioned much further in than they should be, and the 'deck' in the middle of the utility body has been raised to cover the mech.

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Of those compromises, the deck is reasonably hidden from most angles. My current musing on the wheels is whether I can apply 'dummy' road wheels outboard of the rail ones, the Boley ones may be about right but the 'faux' wheels would need to be slightly smaller than the rail ones...

Turning it over, all 8 wheels pick up which is very useful on something so small, the hirail wheels are left very loose to follow the rails, but are restrained from going high and climbing over the rails by blocks, a nice bit of design!

As the DCC symbol suggests, it comes pre-fitted with a custom dual-mode decoder, that appears to give reasonable control straight from the box on both DC and DCC. Head and tail lights work on both, and are continuous (and switch-offable) under DCC. The beacon on the cab roof sadly doesn't though...

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Undo 4 screws under the rear half and the utility body comes off, no part of the mech sits higher than the lower cab windowsills so there is a lot of scope for putting an alternative body on here. One that jumped to my mind would be a Sperry truck...both parts of the body are in easy-to-kitbash plastic...

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Once you've removed the rear body, the cab just clips off - this is the complete mech with decoder...easily visible is the weight which isn't awful for a small vehicle that won't actually have to pull anything. You might be able to add some more up inside the body which could help with keeping pickup reliable however...

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Three more general shots, plus a comparison for size with a Boley truck...

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Martyn Read
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Gloriousnse
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Re: Bachmann maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Gloriousnse »

Bigger versions of the images should be available here:
http://ukrailwaypics.smugmug.com/ModelR ... 3-Bachmann
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Re: Bachmann maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Mike_R »

Hi Martyn, where did you get it, I have been looking out for it to arrive in this country.

Many of these truck do have the wheels set in so they fit track gauge, although not with flanges! Looking at photos of bigger trucks they drive on the inner dual rear wheels, the front wheels are outside of the rails. So adding dual rear wheels (add a wheels to the existing axle) would improve it's looks and making it rest on the front guide wheels, with a wider front axle and normal wheels. Perhaps replace the front wheels with pickup shoes if there isn't enough pickups. A flashing light should be fairly easy to add to the cab roof.

I do have a part done project where I used the Broadway Limited pickup chassis with an Atlas body. I have a working light bar to fit above the cab and some guide wheels to fit. It runs quite well.

Image
Mike Ruby
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Re: Bachmann maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Gloriousnse »

When I knew they were out in the US I got the local model shop to put an order in, they don't generally do American (apart from Peco track) but are a Bachmann dealer...

I like the pickup Mike, looks like a fun project!
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Re: Bachmann maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Mike_R »

Just ordered a UP truck from Hattons, I've got enough MOW stuff now to hold up an operating session for ages!

The pickup is one of many projects to get back to, along with a working MOW crane.
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Re: Bachmann maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Gloriousnse »

Mike_R wrote:Many of these truck do have the wheels set in so they fit track gauge, although not with flanges! Looking at photos of bigger trucks they drive on the inner dual rear wheels, the front wheels are outside of the rails. So adding dual rear wheels (add a wheels to the existing axle) would improve it's looks and making it rest on the front guide wheels, with a wider front axle and normal wheels. Perhaps replace the front wheels with pickup shoes if there isn't enough pickups. A flashing light should be fairly easy to add to the cab roof.
Looking at various pics, the front axle should be unpowered, so the front wheels shouldn't go round when it moves, but they do on the model. As you say the inner rear 'dual' tyre is the one that moves it on the real thing, so the rear wheels should go round when it moves.

Current musing is to see if I can mount a 'dummy' front wheel outboard of the rail one, that can be stationary, and should mostly hide the faux rail one behind it. For the rear I'll need to try and glue a wheel on the outside of the 'rail' wheel...that's harder, and the wheel will need to be a fairly exact size (or preferably slightly smaller?) in size...Hmmm.

There's some helpful proto pics and links in this thread on RMWeb:
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ail-truck/

I quite like the idea of the ones near the bottom, with a bigger HIAB and racks (for rails?)
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Re: Bachmann Hirail maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Gloriousnse »

Some more proto inspiration - what becomes quickly apparent is these trucks are all very unique in configuration, the Bachmann one won't exactly match any, but as a 'flavour' it's good, as kitbashing fodder for other types it's also good!

This NS one has an International crew cab, which I think Boley have produced:

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Norfolk Southern hi-rail truck by channaher, on Flickr
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Re: Bachmann Hirail maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Mike_R »

My truck arrived today, looks like it needs wheels about 11mm in diameter to fit on the rail wheels, they look big, but on measuring Boley and Athearn wheels they are about 12mm, so a bit too large. I'll have to dig out all my trucks and see what is on them.
I'll give the truck a run on Saturday when we have a bit of track work to do on the crossing module. In fact the closest UP truck to this I've found appears to be used by a track gang as a photo shows it carrying a length of rail and a welder is working on track along side it.

I also bought the Bachmann step van, the body is not bad, once again the wheels are a bit rubbish, too small, but there is plenty of space for a small decoder, I have a spare TCS that would do. The head lights are clear plastic so easy to fit LEDs behind and loads of roof space for a flasher. I have a photo of a very similar van.
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Re: Bachmann Hirail maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Gloriousnse »

Spent a few hours on this one last night...

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I think that looks much better, it's had a bit of detail painting, a driver, some proper mirrors and a few decals added to enliven then look a bit, and then some very slight weathering. I found wheels the right size on an old Athearn piggyback trailer. The front ones are mounted on a piece of plastic and so don't revolve, the rear ones are superglued to the 'faux' wheels.

Whilst it looks good I need to try again with the rear wheels, as a test run confirms I didn't get them centred properly!
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Re: Bachmann Hirail maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Mike_R »

Good find on the wheels, I've got a couple of old Athearn 20' trailers, and it looks like the wheels are suitable. I was going to use them as old trailers left in a lot on my module, looks like one will be wheelless!
I think 1 1/2 wheels on the rear will bring them out a bit further and provide a better gluing surface.
I'm going to try and fit a working flashing light on the roof.
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Re: Bachmann Hirail maintainence truck (HO)

Post by Mike_R »

I've done some work on my truck. It now has mirrors and a large air horn (all UP trucks seem to have a large horn on the roof). I've fitted wheels as shown by Martin, I know the front wheels should be mounted the other way around but I only had spare rear wheels. I put dual wheels on the rear. Finally I added a pole with a strobe light on top. I wasn't sure if the light outputs would take the strobe, so added to the decoder's d.c. after the rectifier.

Mike Ruby
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