Bachmann Connie split gear

Sad to here that Wod has passed away - I wondered how you'd got the K27 - it took him about 4 years to build, and I think he named it after his Dad.

You shouldn't need to change any other gears in the Connie - the drive axle is usually the culprit, and from what I've seen - all two of them - my money is on manufacture stress rather than use.

My old Connie had been used a bit, and the nylon gear looks just fine. The Connie that I recent;y bought second hand has had far less use - minimal wear on the drivers - and the gear had four splits at the hub, close to the axle, but they hadn't spread out to the rim - the point at which you'd expect it to fail.

Unlike me, it's not the teeth that fail, it seems that it's the bonding to the axle.

Hi Ian and Max
Yes it was pretty recent.
Rod's mallet bash (which a friend bought) is stunning. Not only the detailing but also the reworked running gear was flawless.
I have posted a piccie of it here.
When we were looking through his 'project' bin we discovered a couple of 'Connie' chassies which he had already worked on as part of his last unfinished endeavour...a garrett. I have got the one with a brass drive gear.

The mallet (photo is not so good as it was the one sent to us as part of the collection to show what was available). It was taken while it was nearthe top shelf.
My friend also got the dock switcher loco (top right)

Wod's 2-8-8-2 Garratt from 2 Bachmann Consolidations was a fantsatic project and a great thread that was actively followed at the time by many on GSC.

In Nov 2014 on the anniversary of Rod's last post I had asked the GSC mods whether they had any news of it. Unfortunately the thread, and apparently the project, was never completed.

Now we know why and I wonder how members can best communicate to his family their gratitude for his inspirational work and generosity of spirit.

mike

Hi Mike
When my friend and I went down to look at the locos that were being let go we also had a delve into Rod's parts draw and 'project' box.
There were the two connie chassis (now motor-less) that rod bashed for the garratt but no other parts from the project. I bought the 'garratt' connie chassis with the brass gear and my friend had the one that still had a plastic drive gear. There was no sign of tenders or boiler/cab so maybe Rod had abandoned the project before completion and had given some of the parts away. Perhaps someone had already been to see Rod's widow and taken the parts for their own project..his widow did not know anything about it.

The beginning of the story of how we acquired Rod's bashes was.... My friend had contacted a friend of Rod's who is a member of the NMRA and who had sold the tank loco bash to my friend at this year's Ally Pally show, to see if there were any other of Rod's projects on offer. Rod's son and widow wanted to keep some of the locos like the straight Bachmann geared jobbies (shay, hesler and climax) and one or two of the 2-8-0 kit-bashes that Rod had carried out. The NMRA member did not model G scale so was only handling the sale for Rod's widow, including a whole load of ~N scale kit.
Between my friend and I, we bought all of the completed loco bashes and some bits and bobs (garratt chassies being amongst the bobs).
There are no locos left except those that the family want to keep in memory of Rod.

Ah, I have one of the Connie cabs - minus roof - I acquired it from Wod when I was building the 10-wheeler

Here is the 2-6-6-2 in its full glory