2024 07-25
Lately I have become interested in G-Scale trains. They are quite massive and heavy. They are often running outdoors. The locomotives are now powered several different ways.
Right now, I am only interested in the old, track-powered locomotives. Perhaps some day I will be interested in the new battery-powered engines using RC control or Bluetooth DCC controllers . Perhaps instead of using the old 24VDC analog voltage I will become interested in the modern DCC digital power systems. Perhaps.
Bench Testing
I use this test rig with Bachmann E-Z Riders to run locomotives when I need to test something. They work really well and let you run your locomotives on the bench.

They are a pain to get aligned but once they are properly mated to the locomotive are very stable even at high speeds.
Right now I am using an MRC Trainpower 6200 on the workbench. I really love these ancient controllers.

I managed to burn out the front headlight on a Bachmann Big Hauler but the locomotive motor can really move at higher voltages. Definitely has more power. If I could still see I would disassemble the broken one and see what value the resistor is on the LED.

The Aristocraft locomotive handles maximum voltage and really moves! (Yes, all I have are PRR diesels right now. I am going to get a Santa Fe locomotive soon but it will hopefully be the same model.
Diesel Trains
Aristo-Craft / Railway Express Agency Trains REA - 22006 PRR/Pennsylvania ALCO FA-1 Diesel Engine
This model diesel locomotive was manufactured by REA Railway Express Agency before they became Aristo Craft - ART 22006 ALCO FA-1. My particular locomotive was purchased new in 2024. It was manufactured in 1990. Aristo-Craft is no longer in business but they made excellent trains. They describe this Alco FA-1 as being #1 Gauge and 1/29 scale. In real life, this locomotive was a freight diesel. It began service in the late 1940s through the 1950s. The rated horsepower of this locomotive was 1300 HP. This was my first diesel locomotive model.

I found a very old stock, but NEW IN BOX locomotive that was made when Aristo Craft was REA. The box has the original red logo as well. How cool is that? I am most definitely not a collector and this diesel locomotive will be run hard. Then I found one more from all the way across the country from the last one. Last I found a smaller version of the same locomotive numbered 9621. AristoCraft Alco (FA-1?) I cannot seem to find any information about this version. I have also seen #9620 on eBay. No one seems to have a proper REA or AristoCraft part number. They are about 5-6 inches shorter but very close to ART-22006.

All three locomotives run so fast and strong on 18vdc and all functionality checked except smoke. I will test that someday.

Aristo-Craft / Railway Express Agency Trains REA - 22006 ATSF/Santa Fe ALCO FA-1 Diesel Engine

I always liked the Santa Fe color scheme. Since I current;y live in New Mexico I try to find ATSF rolling stock. The inner parts on all the REA/Aristocraft Alco FA-1 locomotives are the same, only the external shell is unique.

The switches are identical to the other locomotives.

Pennsylvania PRR Work Train

Pennsylvania Streamline Passenger Cars
This is the Aristo-Craft ART-32300.

It is all aluminum. It is heavy! I need to obtain two other passenger cars in this series but they are becoming very expensive. Someday.

Steam Trains
Bachmann Vintage "Big Hauler" series train sets are a great place to begin. Even though you have to replace the plastic gears.
The three vintage "Big Hauler" sets I have accumulated, mostly complete:
Liberty Bell Limited (Pennsylvania PRR)

I have a couple more rail cars for this train but can't fit all of it onto workbench.
I also have a spare locomotive that is really great once I repair it. It needs a new front-truck and I do have a spare. I could do it in 15-minutes if I could see. The hardest part for me would be to solder the spliced power wires going to the motor (from the front truck.) I have disassembled these machines before, it is easy. I am still going to try and repair it myself. It may take me longer than it should to get the soldering done right.

The smoke is thick and heavy! The locomotive is running on a set of EZ Rider rollers and pouring it on.

Royal Blue (Baltimore & Ohio)

I sent one of the Royal Blue locomotives back for repair and they installed a new chassis into the unit. It arrived back here damaged but I was able to fix it to the point where I didn't have to send it back again. It cost me $65 for shipping to Philadelphia. Then it cost another $125 for the repair and return shipping which is a really great deal but it adds up when you are on a fixed income like me.

I do not have space to put the rail cars on the workbench right now but in case you haven't noticed the passenger rail cars from the Big Hauler series are exactly the same. The line names and colors are all that changes.

I also have a spare Royal Blue locomotive that is now in really great condition once I repaired it. It was actually new when I ordered it but arrived damaged. I had some spare parts (front-truck.)

There is nothing unique about it other than it's line and color. I really prefer the track powered models.

Santa Fe ATSF (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe)


I have a spare locomotive which is in nice looking condition and runs well but has a very noisy gearbox. Once again I could fix this if I could see as I do have a spare gearbox that is not worn out. Besides that locomotive I have another for parts that can be shared among all the other versions as well as the shell which looks nice. I think it still has the bell too.
Emmett Kelly Jr. Circus
I bought this one from eBay and it as a broken gearbox. It was not mentioned and I could have returned it but I decided to send it back to Bachmann to get repaired. I forgot to take pictures of it before I packed it away. I plan on sending it in to be repaired but that will be awhile as I have 2 locomotives ahead of it. I have a Royal Blue 4-6-0 en route now to be repaired. It cost over $60 to send it to Philadelphia from New Mexico. Then Bachmann will be charging me $125 to repair it. I will probably try to do one a month if I can afford that. These locomotives will get the latest generation rebuild and they will be brand new! The reason I purchased this one in particular was they were including 3-times the normal amount of metal alloy track so I snapped it up. It was a great deal already even with the broken locomotive and I got them to give me a $20 partial refund. When I get this one repaired I am going to keep it all boxed up and sell it in a decade or so as "New" though the tender and rail cars are not. They are in pretty nice condition tool
I will use an image from the eBay listing until I can create a picture. This is the actual one that I purchased but I did not make the image.


Bachmann "Big Hauler" Series
When I speak about the Big Hauler series I am talking about trains from the 1990s with steel wheels (and cars with steel wheels) track-powered only. It can be very confusing since Bachmann has made huge changes to the "Big Hauler" series trains which seem to be battery-powered using RC control. They do not use steel wheels. Plastic. I do not like this so I am only going to gather the OLD ONES. I am not being a snob, I just happen to prefer track power. I also prefer using metal wheels on rail cars. The newer Big Hauler series uses plastic wheels on tender and rail cars and also plastic track.
With the exception of the shell and some various small detail parts with various colours the parts are all interchangeable among each model of this generation.
Smoke Unit
To enable or disable the smoke unit there is a door in the front of the locomotive. The clasp that holds the door closed pivots to rotate a catch away from the front of the door allowing it to open. I have broken a couple of these so far.

Front Truck

*Bottom*

*Top*
As you can see, this is a front truck from a track-powered locomotive as the dc voltage pickups are present. You can also see some corrosion.
I will add more pictures soon.
Track
Since I am focusing on Bachmann, they included the metal track in these sets. Someday when I run everything outdoors I will switch to brass track. I will only use these trains indoors or outside in dry weather. My backyard is rattlesnake territory so I need to eliminate a lot of weeds before laying out any track out there.
Right now, I am also buying as much used metal track as possible, because some day it will not be available. It is already in process of transmuting itself into unobtainium each day that passes. Perhaps some day I will only use brass track! Since I am not rich and my immediate future is an indoor layout (until I move from this wilderness back to the city.) If my eyesight were normal I would build my own brass track as I located a source of G-Scale brass track in 8-foot sections. I also have been looking at rail bender tools. Imagine being able to create your own custom curved sections. Oh well, I am not able to do this given my blindness.
I am sure many G-Scale trains are already running on brass track made by their owners.
I have studied the metal track and have decided it is good enough for indoors. I already know how to get it to fit well by making "adjustments" on track ends using a plastic hammer. It works well for me. If I ever did have an outdoor railroad I would again, only be using brass.
Since I am renting this house, I cannot make any modifications so I cannot lay any track permanently.
Big Hauler Tips
I recently tried to access www.girr.org and it appears to be down with a "Account Suspended" error page. I went to the wayback machine and tried to save the Big Hauler Tips page. Actually I tried to save the whole site but I kept getting a lot of errors so I settled on a tiny portion of the site that contained the Bachmann Big Hauler Tips. You can see what I saved in this file. GIRR Big Hauler Tips
Big Hauler Parts Diagrams
I have been on the net a very long time and I learned quite some time ago that critical data and information has a way of disappearing over time. So I have archived the Big Hauler Parts Diagrams in case something happens to the original copy on Bachmann's Pats Store. See Big-Hauler-Parts-Diagrams.zip