[Steve Stockham]

Like many of us here, I have acquired a Bachmann Big Hauler or two. When the Anniversary Edition or "Annie" appeared I bought an undecorated and figured I would eventually get around to lettering it for my pike. As the years went by I installed a Sierra sound system and ran it occasionally but when I started converting my engines to battery r/c it soon became a shelf queen. I thought to sell it on ebay but decided not to. I already had a BBT Bumblebee schemed Annie that had been converted to a 2-8-0 which I dearly love but there was something about that Black 10-Wheeler....

Fast forward to January. It was finally time to do something about the Annie. I decided to keep it and have it converted to r/c battery. Since it doesn't look like Bachmann will be coming out with a 4-6-0 anytime soon in 1:20.3, I decided to letter my engine for the D&RGW with the Moffat Herald rather than the Flying Rio grande. I have a K-27 that uses the Flying Rio Grande lettering and my Connie bash also utilizes this scheme but I have a lot of rolling stock that has the earlier markings so I decided to go that route. Personally, I prefer the older style especially on the Annie!

There were some minor changes that I made to the engine that anyone can do. I added a "visor" to the headlamp which helped considerably but the profile of the engine just didn't look right to me! (I know, it's a Tweetsie engine and not a D&RGW!) My goal was to make it look better without getting out the saw. I opted to purchase an Accucraft C-19 smokestack which came silver but which I repainted to match Bachmann's graphite smokebox. The lettering is Dry-Rub from CDC which I acquired from Caboose Hobbies. One thing more: that coal pile is the same one that they used on their very first battery powered Big Hauler and looks as cheap as that engine was! It had to go. I utilized the method for making a realistic coal pile by using real crushed coal and the resulting improvement was significant! The beauty of this bash is that on a scale of 1 to 10 this one comes in at a 2! Anybody could do one!

I now had an Annie that I could be proud of that didn't require a massive bash. The only thing left was to cut out a rectangular hole in the back of the tender for a body mounted Bachmann 1:20.3 coupler so it will mate with the rest of my Fn3 cars. With that done my 10-Wheeler joins the roster of the KC&CRR as it's seventh r/c battery locomotive. I hope you like it.

Here are some shots:

 

[Don Gage]

Nice job Steve,
A very credible rockyish loke.
Thanks for sharing,
DG

 

[joe rusz]

Looks great, Steve. You are way ahead of me, who has yet to bash any loco.

 

[Rods UP 9000]

Steve,
That looks great. I like the new coal load.

Rodney

 

[pimanjc]

Nice job, Steve. I am motivated to replace the coal load on my LGB Mikado.
JimC.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Seen that one in person.
Ran it for a bit, too.
Nice changes.

 

[Steve Stockham]

Thanks! Yeah, there's something about having your engine modified so that it can be run anywhere and anytime! Hard to believe now, seven RCS r/c battery w/Sierra digital sound conversions by Dave at Northwest Remote Control Systems....(Life is good!!) Oh yes, in the interests of being completely forthcoming, there is one other modification. Dave asked if I wanted to have the original pilot mounting replaced with one from Barry's Big Trains (a much superior pilot mounting!) and I did indeed! The Annie runs smoothly and the Sierra unit is one of the nicest digital systems with a beautiful sound! (I know that Soundtraxx discontinued the Sierra units but I had four units stockpiled for future use. In my opinion, they are still the best units for r/c battery use and if you can get one I would recommend doing so!)