Fitting Lenz Gold to Bachmann WD 2-8-0

Guys and Girls, I just spent 3hrs pulling my Bachmann WD 2-8-0 to bits again this time to fit a Lenz Gold Series decoder. Aww what a nightmare! Whoever designed this model deserves a medal for making something that should have been simple very difficult. First Bachmann, don't just provide an exploded diagram with your models how about some instructions as to what screws to pull out. There are three, one at the drawbar, one at the clyinders and it's the front one and one right in the middle of the chassis. Don't forget to unscrew the eccentrics. A bit of a wiggle and some swearing helps the chassis pops out to reveal ......... no space! Couldn't even get a gold mini in ! Everything is weight on this one. So I decided to fit this one in the tender and even it was difficult to get apart. A few more rude words and the chassis pops out of the tender. I removed the steel weights and replaced that with the equivalent weight in lead, mounted the decoder, drilled two holes in the tender floor to pass the wiring with it's plugs through. Also had to machine a couple of slots on the loco footplate where I passed the wiring through as it was getting crimped between the chassis and the footplate. Just about finished ready to test and one of the original pickup wires snaps off just as I was finishing up. Well it's going to have to wait now as it got moved down the list.

Ozzie 21