Bachmann OO Gauge Split Chassis Steam Conversion

Mistakes may damage your locomotive, controller or other accessories. Use a multimeter to make absolutely sure you have completely isolated the motor from the track before testing. Always use the Programming Track for testing. Our guides are provided for reference only, and you proceed entirely at your own risk. Unsure about something - try our DCC Conversion Service instead.

Buy Bachmann OO Gauge DCC Sound Conversion from £85.00

This guide covers Bachmann OO gauge split chassis steam models, for example:

• Bachmann Class 6P Royal Scot 46100 in BR Green livery (31-020)
• Bachmann Class 6P Rebuilt Royal Scot 46102 'Black Watch' in BR Green livery (31-225)
• Bachmann Class 6P Rebuilt Royal Scot 6133 'Green Howards' in BR Green livery (31-226)
• Bachmann Class 6P Rebuilt Royal Scot 46162 'Queens Westminster Rifleman' in BR Green livery (31-227)
• Bachmann Class 6P Rebuilt Royal Scot 46141 'The North Staffordshire Regiment' in BR Green livery (31-228)
• Bachmann Class 6P Rebuilt Royal Scot 46159 'The Royal Airforce' in BR Green livery (31-230)

Step 1 - Disassemble Loco

Undo the two screws underneath the loco and lift off the body. Remove the two baseplate screws, and remove the baseplate.

Very gently pop off the plastic conrod guides. They are very fragile and the pins break easily. Drop out all three sets of wheels.

Step 2 - Modify Chassis

Remove the two screws holding the two chassis halves together. Separate the two halves.

Remove the motor and the two contact springs.

Solder two wires to the motor contacts and add some heat shrink sleeving. Ordinarily, these wires would be orange and grey, but they will be visible between the loco and the tender, so use black instead.

Step 3 - Refit Motor

Refit the motor and replace the front chassis screw.

Scrape away the black finish from around where the rear chassis screw goes. Tin two wires and trap them in as you refit the screw. Ordinarily these wires would be black and red, but they will also be visible between the loco and tender, so use black for both.

Step 4 - Refit Wheels

Refit the wheels and the base plate.

Step 5 - Reassemble Loco

Drill a hole through the cab and pass the four wires through. Refit the loco body and screw the two screws back in underneath.

Step 6 - Modify Tender

Remove the two screws from underneath the tender and lift off the tender body.

Drill a hole in the tender body and pass the four wires through.

Unscrew the two screws holding the flat metal weights. Remove two of the weights. Add a piece of plasticard cut to size to conveniently insulate the components we will fit later. Alternatively, the metal can be simply covered with kapton tape.

Step 7 - Fit Decoder Socket

There is plenty of room inside the tender, so here we are fitting an 8 Pin decoder socket for convenience. Solder the four wires coming from the loco onto the decoder socket. Glue the socket in place.

Step 8 - Fit Speaker

Here we are using an ESU Large 4Ω Passive Radiator Bass Reflex Speaker which is perfect for this model: very loud, with excellent bass reproduction needed for the steam sound file. The speaker screw clamps have been removed for a better fit, and it is glued in place.

Step 9 - Fit Stayalive

We are fitting an optional stayalive, which should keep the loco going for at least 2-3 seconds over track dead spots. The Train-o-Matic Power Pack is great, and works well with the ESU LokSound 5 decoders with the three-wire connection arrangement.

Glue the stayalive unit in place.

Step 10 - Fit Decoder

The decoder used here is an ESU LokSound 5.

Solder the two brown speaker wires from the decoder to the speaker. Solder the red, black and grey wires from the stayalive to the decoder.

Put some kapton tape around the decoder to insulate it, and fit it into the tender using black tack. It's usually a good idea to only semi-permanently fix decoders in case they ever need taking out.

Finally, plug the 8-pin plug into the decoder socket.

Step 11 - Refit Tender Body

Refit the tender body, and replace the two screws underneath to secure it. Hook the tender back up to the loco.

Step 12 - Test

Place the loco on your programming track and try reading the loco ID. If all is well, you should get the default ID of three back. Test that the sound functions as expected, and the conversion is complete.

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