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The Bachmann ON30 freight and passenger cars are ideal for conversion
to S. They are suppose to be "O" is size but run on "HO" track. Their size is is very close to the Franklin/Washington 4-4-0 size which is actual a bit large for S. My intention was to make some old time freight cars to run with my Franklin.I started with the gondola. This conversion was real easy. Here's what I did: 1. Remove the Flyer trucks from the donor by drilling out the rivets. 2. Remove the ON30 trucks by removing the retaining screw. 3. With a Dremel cut-off saw, cut off the coupler boxes on the bottom of the Bachmann, flush with the base. 4. Drill out the pivot hole in the Flyer trucks with a 5/32 drill bit. This allows the truck to fit over the Bachmann bolster. Be sure to de-burr the hole. 5. Put one #6 flat washer on the bolster, then the Flyer truck, then two #6 flat washers on the truck over the bolster. 6. Reinstall the original Bachmann truck pivot screw. |
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For the caboose I decided to use SHS #384 trucks and #359 couplers.
Rick Evans used these on his ON30 caboose conversion and I liked the more realistic look. This conversion took a little more work but can still be accomplished in an hour or two.Here's what I did: 1. Remove the ON30 trucks and cut the lighting wires from the trucks. 2. Remove the caboose body, interior and steel plate leaving only the floor. 3. With a Dremel or similar tool cut off the coupler boxes flush with the bottom of the floor. Be sure not to cut off the tabs above the coupler boxes that stick out at each end. These are necessary to attach the hand rails. 4. The original truck mounting screw is a metric M2 but not long enough to mount the SHS trucks. I couldn't find longer screws locally with a large enough size head, so I decided to use 4-40 x 1" long screws. I drilled out the bolster holes (both in the floor and the interior floor) with a .109" drill bit. I drilled the holes in the interior floor all the way through because I planned to put a nut on the end of the screw. After drilling, the bolsters are pretty thin so be careful. If you are converting a flat, gondola or tank car, you don't want to use a nut, so don't drill the hole all the way through. You may want to use 2-56 screws instead. 5. To assemble, put three #6 flat washers over the bolsters, then the SHS coupler, then the truck. The screw will be snug in the hole and needs to be screwed in. Be sure to route the wires from the trucks up through the floor before attaching the trucks. Run the screws up and take out all the slack between the truck and floor. Leave them just loose enough to allow the trucks to move freely. |
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6. Now place the steel plate and interior on the floor over the
screws.
Route the wiring up on each side. Put a nut with a drop of thread locker (Loctite, etc.) on the end of the screw and tighten enough to get the slack out but allow the truck to move freely. 7. Solder the new truck wires to the existing light wires in the caboose body and insulate with shrink tubing or tape. 8. Re-assemble the body to the floor and install hand rails and ladders. The caboose comes with an interior that includes a pot belly stove,
cabinets
The steam generator load on the gondola is from Ertl. It is actually
HO
S-Helper couplers
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