An illustrated answer to a FAQ
MOTORISING A CORGI MODEL BLACKPOOL RAILCOACH OR BALLOON
These instructions relate to use of the Blackpool in the box adaptor set PC only. There are other methods available (see below for details)
Several trams were photographed during the course of preparing these instructions. At first glance it may appear that the conversion is very difficult. However, the amount of text and photographs doesn't mean that the task is complicated. A lot of detail has been gone into in order to make each stageas easily understood as possible. You don't need any special skills other than the ability to use a few basic tools and follow instructions.
The "donor unit is a Bachmann "PCC Streamline" tram which is available in a number of different liveries. If yours has a different livery don't worry, the instructions are exactly the same.This photo shows the "PCC Streamline" as removed from its packaging. The floor/motor unit has to be removed from the body.
This is achieved by undoing the screw in the middle of the floor as shown in this photo and gently easing out the floor unit using a small screwdriver if necessary. It will also be necessary to remove the grain of wheat bulbs and their associated wiring unless you wish to illuminate the interior of your Corgi model. The small black plastic mouldings at the centre of each pair of wheels each side of the bogies (also indicated in photo) should be levered off using a small screwdriver.
This photo shows what the unit looks like when stripped down. Please note that Bachmann have produced an upgrade of the motor unit but as some of the old type are still available both are shown here. The old type unit is at the top of the photo and the new type is at the bottom. The instructions are the same for both type of unit. The stripping down of the PCC is now complete.
This shows the Corgi trams as removed from their packaging. Again, these models are available in a wide variety of liveries but the method is the same in all cases.Although many of these instructions contain photographs of Corgi Railcoach trams, because the bottom deck of a Corgi Balloon has a very similar casting the process is almost identical on bothmodels. Where there is any significant difference photographs of both will be shown.
The dismantling process is started by undoing and removing the screw from the centre of the base. The location is shown in the photo.
Now remove the lifeguards from each end of the model by undoing the retaining screws as indicated in the photo.
Now drill a series of holes as close as possible to each of the two steel rods as shown in this photo(Balloon at bottom,Railcoach at top).
Now join these holes together as shown. This will allow the base to be removed.
If you have any difficulty removing the base it is possibly because there is still some plastic adhering to the steel rod(s, scraping the rods clean will solve the problem. This s what you will see when you remove the base.
After removing the wheels and seating unit (lower deck only of Balloon) your models will be as seen in photo)with the Balloon on the left and Railcoach on the right.DO NOT throw anything away at this stage of the proceedings!!!
If motorising a Balloon it will be necessary to separate the topand bottom decks by gently pulling them apart. Next remove the upper deck seating unit. You will now have three parts namely, the upper deck, the lower deck and the upper deck seating unit as shown in the photo. Retain all the parts.
In the previous photograph you can see two steel rods coming down from the roof of the upper deck of the Balloon and in this photograph you can see the two steel rods coming down from the roof of the railcoach. These steel rods have to be removed. Please note that although the rods appear to have screw threads, they don't! - these are merely ridges. If this task is undertaken carefully by bending the rods to and fro along the length of the tram it will be possible to ease the rods out of their sockets thus giving more room for the motor unit in a Railcoach. Be particularly careful when doing this on a Balloon as it may not be possible to remove the window glazing unit before removing the rods and its very easy to break the glazing unit.
.
It should be noted that the top deck of a Balloon will only fit one way round on the bottom deck. To ensure that the model is reassembled correctly there are arrows moulded into the top deck glazing unit and in the bottom deck glazing unit as shown in these two photographs. The bottom deck is shown on the extreme left and the top deck to the right of it.
The railcoach used to have a glazing unit similar to that in the balloon so had an arrow cast into the body. The glazing has since been upgraded to flush glazing strips so the glazing does not need removing during these operations anymore. In this photograph you will see a moulding indicated and its necessary to remove the small part of this moulding.
This part of the moulding hasto be removed to allow room for the motor unit topivot freely. To remove the moulding adrill, slightly larger than the diameter of the moulding, is used drilling until the larger portion of the moulding is countersunk as shown in this photo. There is no need to repeat at tye other end of the tram. This moulding is not present in balloons.
The parts contained in the PCC adaptor kit are shown in this photo. To conform to WEEE and POHS regulations the adaptors are now cast in lead free pewter which is much softer than white metal. It is possible that the adaptors may have become slightly distorted during transit and it may be necessary to bend the sides out slightly using pliers to get a good fit into the Corgi body. Alternatively, it may be necessary to file the sides of the castings to get them to fit properly. The sides of the centre platform will need to be filed to get a firm but not too tight fit into the Corgi body to enable the removal of the chassis when necessary. It is recommended that you check the fit after every few strokes of the file.
Once a satisfactory fit has been obtained (see photos) the three castings can be painted black except for the sides where glue will be applied. This will make them less visible when viewing the tram. After checking that the end platforms are correctly located and that the ends of the Bachmann unit are resting on the platforms. If the platforms need moving closer to the ends of the tram (very unusual) it may be necessary to round off the corners of the platforms as the Corgi casting narrows. When satisfied with fit and location the platforms can be glued into place at each end. It is essential that the full length of the castings is resting upon the glazing unit/flush glazing. The photo on the left shows a railcoach and photo in centre a balloon with platforms fitted.
The centre adaptor platform should now be fitted directly to the Bachmann chassis using glue ensuring that the wires pass above the platform as in the photograph. Try to ensure that the centre platform is in line with the doors on the model. Please note that on a small number off these chassis the wires are quite short. Shouold you wish to use the uniton very small radius curves it may be necessary to lengthen the wires in order to prevent derailments. Please note that when using glues it is advisable to leave everything for 24 hours for the glue to cure. Ensure that the full length of the castings is resting on the glazing pieces.
After fitting the Bachmann chassis, as seen in the photo on the left, it will be necessary to produce a packing piece for each end of the tram in order to retain the chassis at the correct height. This can be be done by cutting off the ends of the base unit as shown in the photo to the right. Care should be taken to ensure that the packing piece isn't too long as it will foul the bogies. Approx.10mm behind the screw retaining hole is sufficient.
Having cut off the ends of the base as shown in the photo on the left it will be necessary to to file off the moulding around the screw retaining hole flush with the rest of the plastic. In order to avoid the bogies fouling the lifeguards the lugs shown on the lifeguard on the left in the centre photograph should be cut off as shown by the lifeguard on the right of the photo. If you will be using the tram on very small radius curves it may be necessary to remove the rearmost bar of the lifeguard as well.
It will now be necessary to drill a hole to retain the Bachmann chass, the packing piece and the lifeguards (The Balloon tram has been used to illustrate this point as the silver packing pieces show up better against the black chassis). The packing pieces will fit exactly against the ends of the tram and you should drill through the retaining screw hole, using a drill slightly smaller than the retaining screw you will be using, through the chassis and into the castings.
Without moving the packing pieces, the lifeguards are placed in position and retained using self tapping screws - those originally retaining the lifeguards are ideal. The work on your railcoach is now complete. Please note that in this photograph the lifeguard has been turned slightly sideways for illustration purposes only and should, of course, be square to the body as originally supplied.
The upper deck of the Balloon is now ready for fitting. First clip the top deck seating unit into the top deck casting as shown in the left hand photo. Spread glue at the ends and centre part of the seating unit as indicated in the photo to a point level with the inner ends of the lower deck casting at each end. Ensuring that the upper deck is the correct way round fit the top deck complete with seating unit to the lower deck casting. After a few moments for the glue to settle, carefully remove the top desck casting again and leave the glue to cure for 24 hours. The upper deck casting can now be clipped back into place but will still be easily removeable for access to the opper deck at any time should this be necessary. The top deck can be more permanently secured to the lower deck casting by putting a bead of glue around the rebate on the lower deck casting which the upper deck fits into.
Congratulations, you have now scuccessfully motorised your Corgi tram which will look similar to these completed models and will run on OO/HO gauge model tramways or railways. It should be noted that your conversions may not run very well on very old types of track. Unfortunately this problem will almost certainly be due to incompatible wheel and track standards and not a fault in your conversion work.
The parts from the Corgi trams which you have not used can now be consigned to the scrap box for possible use sometime in the future butplease note that the wheels and axles which have been removed may not be insulated for 2 rail working and may not be to OO/HO gauge.
Billy has asked how to convert his Bachmann PCC unit to run from a live overhead instead of two rail power.
Its a very simple operation to convert from 2 rail to live overhead as it just requires a small change to the wiring of the motor terminals. In the first photo, above left, is the chass/motor unit as removed from the Bachmann tram with the plastic mouldings in the centre of the bogies removed.. The grain of wheat bulbs are numbered 1 and 2. The wires numbered 3 and 4 are the wires carrying current from the trailing bogie to the motor. The motor unit is shown in close up in the photo above centre. The wires numbered 3 and 4 are the wires from the trailing bogie whilst those numbered 5 and 6 are from the pick ups on the powered bogie. In the photograph above right the motor unit is shown from a different angle after the grain of wheat bulbs have been removed. This shows the wire from the pick ups on the motor bogie to better effect.
It is now necessary to remove both the wire from the trailing bogie (No.3 shown in green instead of black for clarity) and the wire from the power bogie pick up (No.5) from one terminal of the motor and attach them to the other terminal together with the wires already attached. That is, there are now four wires attached to one terminal. A new wire is now taken from the overhead supply and attached to the motor terminal which doesn't have any wires attached to it. The photograph on the left illustrates the new wiring arrangements. Please note that as the black wire from the trailing bogie didn't show up too well in the photo it has now been coloured green but there isn't any need to change the wires on your model because of this. If you wish to retain the grain of wheat bulbs to illuminate the inside of your tram it is quite easily done. Just ensure that one wire from each bulb goes to the overhead power supply and the other wire to the opposite motor terminal joining those already there. These wiring arrangements will provide a common return from all eight bogie wheels to the rails with a supply from the overhead. If your tram runs in reverse when compared to the other trams on your layout then it will be necessary to reverse the connections to the motor terminals. The over riding criteria is that all wires from pick ups on the bogies go to one motor terminal and the supply from the overhead goes to the other terminal.
Neil e-mailed to ask why his Corgi Blackpool trams powered by Bachmann PCC units were derailing on the very tight (6 inch) curves on his layout. He also complained of wheelslip.
Len's answer: You will find this derailing problem on very tight radius curves (generally about 7.5 inches and below). The solution is quite easy. All you need to do is to file away some of the plastic at each "corner" of the bogie cut out in the chassis, leaving just enough to keep the chassis in one piece. You will need to do this on both the motorised and unmotorised bogie cut outs.
as seen in this photo. The larger cutout which results after filing is seen on the right with the original cut out on the left. The wheelslip problem is normally due to the higher rolling resistance when traversing very small radius curves. When you have increased the amount of bogie "swing" as detailed you will find that the situation will improve. However, as the scale wheelbase for Blackpool trams is approx 16mm and the Bachmann unit has a bigger wheelbase, the rolling resistance on the sharper radius curves could mean that slight wheelslip remains a problem.
The Corgi die cast model trams can also be motorised using different methods to that described above, using Bec Models motor bogies and David Voice and Tramalan motor/bogie kits whilst specially designed motorising kits for the various Corgi die cast model trams are available from Bec Kits and from ABS models. Contact details will be found on the "Contacts" page.
Return to Welcome Page To Next Page
