This, ^^ this ^^ is how it started. A chance find on Facebook, advertised fairly as damaged and a poor runner. I wasn’t looking for one but the price vs condition made me think this is worth a punt.

The images here show what arrived, an early release 08 with missing steps, a broken buffer beam, no glazing, one set of brake rods missing, badly fitting body, some handrails broken and poor running. In particular it was reversed from normal polarity. That last nugget was the clue that should have lit a spark, but it didn’t..

These things are pretty basic models (no offence Bachmann), so the first tasking would be to get it apart and see what I’ve bought. I already know it’s got some screws missing (as do I), as the cab isn’t sitting flush therefore at least one is missing. Looking closely at it there’s a reason the body doesn’t sit flush and thats because there’s a wire trapped under the left hand exhauster boxes, a further clue someones been inside. Also, that little annoying little wire conduit, (the one you forget to remove), that runs around the bottom front of the bonnet, thats broken too.

I still think its value for money though, none of the above are game changers, they can all be easily addressed. Another Brucie bonus is in the spares box are a few Bachmann 08 running plates given to me by a good friend of the blog. Even before getting it apart the replacement and refurbishment list is generating in the back of my mind. If the running plate is knackered then swap it out with the ‘new’ one, thats a quick fix apart from the repaint required, all I’ve got is BR green or rail freight grey. However, the idea of a repaired run down 08 is appealing, make the broken beam look like prototype damage with a new buffer fitted, perhaps still in primer. If it’s an industrial loco the functionality takes precedence over looking pretty. The windows aren’t an issue, the excellent Shawplan laser glaze will resolve that and really make the cab sing, as will a Modelu driver figure. They’ll disguise the half depth cab. Couplings? not yet decided, probably Dinghams, the steps? well Bachmann’s excellent spares section has provided those, they’d be a PITA to make and if the motor is on its last legs, I’ll head there for that too. Coupling rods, they’re the original style, in the past I’ve used Brassmaster rods and Markits crankpins, and this may well be a route I’ll take again, if I’ve got the crankpins in stock. Gibson pins are an option but much more work.

So getting the body off the penny drops as to why it’s running in ‘reverse’ convention. Sitting on a pad stuck to the front of the chassis weight is a decoder. An even better result as I can now run this as DCC without buying a chip. I’ve tried it in DC and it works so it will almost certainly run better with DCC applied. The decoder is clearly functioning if it weren’t the loco wouldn’t move in DC mode, remember that clue I missed? Well I don’t know if it’s a convention, or was, but in the past I’ve seen DCC fitted model running ‘Back to front’ when retro fitted with chips and used on DC systems.

Probably a personal fitting thing rather than a convention, but there ya go. Obvious thing then, put it on DCC and test it. I tried a couple of times messing about with variations of the loco number, but then reprogrammed it to 3. And it worked, I had a rough running DCC 08.

Before getting into the cosmetics I sort the running out, pointless having a shed queen. The first thing was looking at the drive train and removing some of the white grease that is typical of early noughts Bachmann lubrication. then upside down and a Peco wheel cleaner applied to get the obvious accumulated dirt off the treads, this thing might have twenty years worth on it. It did give an immediate improvement on the running, and the next thing was to clean the pick ups too.

This is a Mk1 chassis with tread bearing pickups and as I thought, those too had twenty years of shite clinging on for dear life. Revell paintaclean on a cotton bud very quickly removed that. It should do, it’s basically MEK so be extremely careful if you do the same. The later chassis had revised pickups bearing on the rear of the wheels and increasing the reliability of them. With regular cleaning of track and the original pick ups these 08’s run really well. Does it still run rough? No, but it does run slowly, and that could be a variety of issues but not worth digging through immediately. The wiring loom, well that looks awful there might be issues due to poor soldering, or it may well be the decoder has been ‘tuned’ to give slow running.

For the moment though I have a working DCC 08, looking at it, for the time involved, a leisurely hour or so for a full strip down and tidying the loom will be a good base level for future work. And that all it takes for this initial part of the makeover. The chassis is straight forward to disassemble remove the wheels first and then the running plate. To ensure I’d got a good starting point I removed the motor, and then the motor housing to get the gear train cleaned.

You often hear from some internet ‘experts’ that the grease solidifies and sets like concrete etc etc. I must be buying the wrong trains because not one of the models I’ve had over the years from all the key UK RTR players have ever had that problem. I don’t doubt some on rare occasions do gum up, it does remind of one model many years ago brought into the shop at Kings Cross in that condition. Tony Dyer got it all cleaned up and working, and when returning the model asked what the grease was. Margarine was the answer! Even this one, twenty plus years old, obviously having never been really cleaned the white grease was still, erm, grease like. There wasn’t much of it so I removed it and the chassis as I type now is running on bachrus rollers. It’s still not fast, but that isn’t really a problem, to see if its the motor that is the problem I may remove the decoder and just let it run plain vanilla DC, that will tell me if the issue is with the motor. The gear train runs smoothly and the motor revolves freely. Even if it stays as is on DC that won’t be a problem it can stay a slow runner as thats all thats required.

When I say slow I’m just comparing it to my other Bachmann 08’s, they’re faster. but it really isn’t an issue. So thats the first steps in this makeover completed, no doubt if I were putting this on Facebook to sell I’d advertise it as ‘serviced’ which seems to be a thing. A ‘serviced’ toy train, I do wonder what that actually means….

Anyway, I can now look at the fun bits, the body and detailing and fine tune the running for me, at a later date. So thats how it started, just another Bachmann 08..