The Bachmann Plus B23-7

I was going through my "purgatory box" of vintage models and ran across this old Bachmann B23-7. I was hoping I might be able to convert it to DCC. The HO Trains Resource website has a page on this model and says it was released in 1992 for $39.95. I got a few of these at the time, though I possibly didn't spend that much for them. (By contrast, the Atlas HO B23-7 dates only from 2005, so the Bachmanns were the only game in town at the time.)

I did a fair amount of work on this to bring it up to snuff. I added Kadees, MU hoses, plows, grab irons, a brass horn, fuel filters, bell, and a radio antenna. I also blackened the vents. From a distance, this is still hard to tell from the Atlas model, though the handrails and fuel tank are pretty crude.

This model also came in the period where Bachmann was beginning to upgrade its line. It had a metal frame, 8-wheel pickup, and a motor with flywheels mounted lengthwise driving worms on both trucks through a univerdal shaft. On DC, it ran comparably to Athearn bluebox.

But on my most recent attempt to convert one to DCC, I ran into a problem I had with an earlier one of these -- you haave to remove the motor from the frame to insulate the bottom brush for DCC wiring. As far as I can tell, the motor is assembled directly into the frame, and twice in a row now, I've discovered that you just can't remove the motor. In the process of trying to tease it out of the frame in one piece, it disintegrates into scraps of plastic.

I wound up removing the motor and the worm shafts from the trucks and turned this one into a dummy, since I'd put work into it.

Bachmann issued a B23-7 in its Spectrum line later in the 1990s. (My memory is that I saw Bachmann Spectrum HO diesels in stores about 1998.) This was a better quality loco with nickel silver plated wheels, and the motor was easier to remove. It was possible to convert it to DCC, which I've done. I believe the Spectrum version was available only in Missouri Paciic and Burlington Northern.