# Another Bachmann 2-8-0 Question



## sandbarn (Feb 13, 2010)

OK, OK! Relax everyone. It's not a question about gears.
In fact it's not a question about the loco at all. It's about the tender. Specifically the coupler. I'm trying to replace all my couplers (7







) with Kadee's. I've done my two cars and my 4-4-0 and didn't have any problem. But when I unpacked the Connie and flipped the tender over and removed the coupler, the Bachmann coupler pocket stumped me.








It's not really a pocket at all, just a post and brace.
The Kadee site says to use #901 or #902 with a #791 gear box. Well, I don't think that's going to work unless I do some serious hacking.









I should have used a flash on the above pic to show where the bottom (top) of the Bachmann gear box sits in relation to the coupler tie plate(?). The stock coupler is so low it actually slips under the coupler on my coupler height gauge.
With all the threads about how to fix the loco gears, I would think someone here has actually tried to pull cars with one and hopefully with Kadee couplers.
Any help will be gratefully accepted.


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## StanleyAmes (Jan 3, 2008)

What I did is mount Kadee 830s to my 2-8-0 tenders. It requires some filing of the Bachmann mount and rear tender plate. Use a Kadee coupler gauge to mark the tender level to cut off. 

The screw in the center of the 830 box goes into the same hole that Bachmann provides. 

Stan Ames


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## steam5 (Jun 22, 2008)

Trust Kadee, they have been in the business for a long time, they know there stuff. The instructions they provide are good and it will work, it did on mine. I can't remember exactly what needed to be done right now.


Stan's solution sounds good too. I have also seen Accucraft couplers bolted on the back.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

For the 2-8-0, forget the Kadee pockets, and get an Accucraft 1:20 coupler and bolt-on coupler pocket. Cut off the cast-on bolt detail on the rear of the tender, drill 4 new holes, bolt the new pocket in place, and you're off and running. The Accucraft coupler is compatible with the Kadee (and Bachmann) couplers, so you can really just use that. If you "must" have the Kadee coupler, buy the #901 coupler (their new "type E" couper, which is fully compatible with the older style, but looks much better) and replace the Accucraft coupler with the Kadee. They both use the same draft gear, so all you're doing is swapping out one coupler for the next. 

You can also use Kadee's #781 conversion, which gives you both a front and rear coupler mount for their G-scale coupler. 

Later, 

K


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## StanleyAmes (Jan 3, 2008)

Kevin 

Your experience and mine are indeed different. 

On our railroad we do a lot of switching during our operating session. True indeed you can get the various styles to mate but not easily. That is why over time all our cars will have a single brand. Our experience is that over an extended time the Kadees work best outdoors. We leave our cars outdoors much of the year and over time the Accucraft couplers lock up and are hard to operate. The height difference also is a good motivation for change to a uniform height. 

Personally I lake the slack action of the 830 (or newer 900 series coupler). The slack action is especially useful in pusher service. 

The Bachmann 2-8-0 is an easy installation and all 6 of my 2-8-0 tenders have this conversion. Installing the 830 on the Accucraft cars is a little more challenging. Several are complete and over this winter I will try to convert the vast majority of our couplers to Kadees none of which will be truck mounted. 

Stan


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

I did my coupler mounting, on my Connie, EXACTLY like Kevin did. Attached the SCALE, 1/20.3 Accucraft coupler. ALL my rolling stock uses Accucraft couplers.


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Yup. I did the same but I used a Bachmann 1:20 box and Spectrum coupler. It really wasn't very difficult to get the coupler heights to line up. Now, if you're talking about doing the same thing to an Annie then you will have to do some cutting! The Connie though is almost a "bolt on."


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Actually, Stan, our experiences are quite similar. Choosing one single style of coupler is always the ideal, and should be done whenever possible. But the Kadee/Accucraft/Bachmann combination does work about as well as you could expect couplers of different designs to work. I use a mixture of the Accucraft 1:32 and Kadee #1 scale couplers on my line, and--as one would expect--there are occasionally issues with coupling the different couplers. For the most part, though, they work very well together. I just have to keep the foliage trimmed back so it doesn't reach out and pull the cut levers. 

I can echo your experiences with the Accucraft couplers being left out in the elements, though. The pins on the 1:32 couplers have a tendency to get a coating of rust on them which keeps them from operating well. Best if you're going that route to keep the cars protected from the elements. 

Later, 

K


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## Fred Mills (Nov 24, 2008)

Just use an 820 coupler or the "G" gauge one....cut away the crap and build up a styrene pad, using the proper Kadee coupler gauge as a guide....problem solved..... 

I've done several this way with no problem... Why create a problerm....just deal with it....


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## sandbarn (Feb 13, 2010)

All,
In my post above I miss stated the recommended replacement as #791







. That should have been #781. However the #781 shows a truck mounted gear box for the tender







. 
Stan,
I like the idea of using the #830 gear box and just cutting the coupler plate to match the mounting hole that's there. I will probably do that.
Kevin,
I had though about using Accucraft couplers on all my equipment, but when I saw the AP11-730 next to the #901 coupler I just didn't like size difference between them. Personally I like the smaller #901 with what I'm trying to build (I'll explain that in another post). I do like the idea of using the Accucraft gear box bolted on to the plate on the tender and then just swapping out the coupler itself with the Kadee #901. I can try that, as I have both on hand. Although I don't intend to use Accucraft couplers, weather will not be a problem. I have inside storage space.

However, being the day before Thanksgiving and expecting the kids and grandkids tomorrow, I think I will be busy getting ready to put things on my plate







. Thanks to all of you for helping. 
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone !!


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

However the #781 shows a truck mounted gear box for the tender 
I thought that when I looked at the drawing first, too, but now looking at the photo of the tender, I'm reminded that the 2-8-0 doesn't have truck-mounted couplers (which I should know, since I've got three pair and a spare tender frame in my parts box), so it's got to an offset mount designed to go on the pad on the tender body. 

Good luck! 

Later, 

K


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