Bachmann Ivatt 2-6-0 2MT Loco

The ads on the back page of Model Rail magazine can be a very dangerous place for ones bank balance! This where I first saw Bachamnn's new branch line engine, I have always been very attracted to the small steam engine classes so this one caught my eye.

After the initial positive impression all I could think about was the horrid looking electrical wires running between engine and tender! I considered this for some time before deciding I could paint them black thus hiding them a bit.

Well the engine arrived today 8th August 2007 and it is a very nice looking loco indeed.

Here then are some pictures showing it off and a guide to removing those wires.

This only applies if you will never use DCC with this loco!

The reason for the four wires is that the DCC socket is mounted in the tender!

Above you can see the wires indicated with the white arrows, yuck!!!!

The wires unplug from small sockets on the underside of the tender, this allows you to separate the loco and tender by simply unhooking the draw bar.

You are now going to need to remove the body!

This is not so simple as the supplied instructions are not clear!

First remove the middle screw under the pony truck.

The red arrow show the screw that holds the body in place at the front! the white arrow shows the pony truck spring, I found mine was not very free moving causing the pony truck to derail! the answer is to clean the pivot hole out with some wet&dry then re-lubricate.

The spring is removed.

The screw at the back of the loco is NOT the one that passes through the draw bar! instead its hidden under the brake actuator! you will need to flex the two plates apart and then ease the actuator out to gain access to the rear body screw. Below the red arrow shows the screw. The white arrow shows the brake actuator being removed with tweezers.

Above, red arrow shows body screw and white arrows show direction to remove brake actuator.

With the body off you can now pull on each of the wires to see which ones are attached to the motor! the other two attach to the pickups.

Make sure you have it right then remove the pickup wires. (See important note at end!)

Keep the motor wires and carefully strip the insulation back.

Now solder the wires from the motor to the small brass eyelets on the underside of the bottom plate.

What you have done is connect the motor direct to the pickups. See below!

The white arrows show where to solder! use some flux and keep the heat quick to avoid damage.

Replace the body and I think you will agree this is a big improvement to this fine loco!

Next I fitted the extra detailing parts! try each part before adding glue!, I also fitted the cab doors, these seem to snap into place.

OK, modifications done its now time to show off this engine!

The cab detail is great! (note the horrible wires and plugs yet to be removed)

Lastly another view showing the 'lack' of any horrible wires!

So there it is a very pretty 2-6-0 that would look good on most layouts.

Important update note! Since doing this modification I have found that the contact through the brass eyelets brakes down! it will therefore be necessary to connect the underside of the eyelets to the contact strip! to do this you need to remove the bottom plate, use the solder point where the cut wires attached and a very small fine wire from this point to the underside of the eyelets.
If you need help please e-mail me and I will offer some support.