Well, my Buddy L 2-6-2 finally died today. I thought this would happen. After running for a while it would always start to slow down until eventually it just stalled, and the time to stall has been getting shorter and shorter.
This evening it started slowing down after just 4-5 laps. Then it stopped while I was taking a phone call. Found it stalled with “magic smoke” escaping out the sides.
My guess is that the motor overheated, but won’t be sure until I get around to taking it apart.
Ray,
one of the most frustrating locomotives ever built. When you think that you have solved every conceivable problem, the loco springs another fault onto you. Could be the solder pad located just above the sound synch sensor. Oil or grease here can lead to all sorts of problems. Easiest solution (apart from the nearest garbage bin) is to discard all the electrics and rewire directly to the motor, bypassing the sound board in the tender.
Thanks Tim. I’m hoping it’s that simple, and was planning to remove the electronics eventually anyway.
But just in case, I’m going to be scouting out options for a new (different) loco to replace it. Probably would have to settle for an Annie.
I do have a couple LGB Porters waiting for me to get around to customizing them, but they can’t replace the Buddy L for pulling power.
Thanks to Cale, I also have a disemboweled AC Rogers which I’ve been wanting to kitbash, but it probably can’t pull a long train either on my grades.
My Bachmann center cab too runs great, nice and slow and pulls anything. It’s not steam, but it will have to fill in as my workhorse for now.
The Buddy L pulls power from the front and rear truck. The wiring is terrible. With less than 10 hours use the wiring on both trucks broke.
When the wiring broke on my rear truck…it shorted causing quite a bit of smoke, but no permanent damage.
So rewiring the Buddy L is one of my winter projects.
Ralph
I think you will be suprised at how well and how much the AC rogers pulls. I have had great luck with the two I bashed.
Ow.
I was at a train show with a friend who has lots of trains in different scales. We were at a loud, smoky lionell layout watching a Zephyr when he asked the guy inside, “Hey, how come YOUR Zephyr smokes?”
Looking startled, the guy said, “What do you mean my Zephyr is smoking?!?!?!?”
(He’d installed a smoker.)
Ray…
Cale has an Annie (Fully Intact) on the shelf…and he loves Porters…humnnnmnmnmnmnmmnmnmn…
Happy New Year!
cale
I, too, have an Aristo Rogers, of the first variety. I am amazed by how much it pulls. I can usually get it to pull ten or so cars on dirty brass track, battery operated up a 3-5% grade. I hear that the new Rogers does even better.
Cale, thanks but I love Porters too!
I opened up the BL this morning, and it looks like the chuff detector circuit board was the source of the smoke. Cut out all the electronics and wired the motor direct, and tested the drive. No smoke so far, but haven’t tried it under a load yet.
Did some more testing… No smoke, but the gears are noisy going forwards. Still run quiet in reverse. I don’t know what’s causing this. Any suggestions? There’s nothing rubbing against the gears or anything like that.
Ray,
at some point in its very short lifetime, a Buddy L gearbox casing will begin to disintegrate. Think original B’mann Shay trucks. Main problem arises when the top cover on the drive works loose. It is held by four mounting screws. The srews tension down the motor onto the gearbox. The front two usually do not break through the plastic mount, but the rear two definately will pull away. This allows the motor pinion gear to separate from the gearbox. Eventually you will destroy the gears. The remedy is to replace the rear screws with longer screws (as long as possible). When you disassemble the drive you will be disheartened at the amount of disintegrated plastic within. Buddy L’s are a love/hate relationship - you love to hate them!
Ray,
That sucks, it sounds like you really enjoy that loco. All DC stuff has smoke installed into the wiring. Many have let the smoke out of the wires but few have figured out how to put the smoke back into the wires. I’m sure you will though 
Ray guess its time to upgrade to an Annie or an Aristo C-16, you sure got a lot longer life than alot of people expected out of that Bloody L engine
Especially given your terrain
Tim, I put in the longer screws a couple years ago. Currently the top cover still seems secure when screwed in place. I’ve had the drive opened up and there’s no missing or loose fragments of plastic yet.
The gears look fine so far, can’t see anything physically wrong with them, but I’ll check them again.
David, yeah I’m kind of attached to this loco, mainly because it’s what got me started in the Large Scale hobby. Also, it’s kind of nice to have something different from the usual Annies, Connies, Shays and LGB stuff – especially since I customized it. But I am starting to want something a little nicer, both in performance and appearance.
Vic, I had forgotten about the Aristo C-16! The current version of that loco looks really nice, and is more the right scale for my layout too. If I remember correctly, it can handle my 6.5’ diameter curves ok. Definitely something I will be looking into once I can afford to get a new loco.
I still have plans to fix up the Rogers and customize my two Porters, just haven’t found the time yet. Plus I’m still debating whether I can switch everything over to body mount couplers, or if I need to stick with truck mounts. I don’t want to start on the loco conversions until that’s settled.
Ok, I found the problem but not sure how to correct it. I opened up the top cover of the drive and ran it in place on rollers (Thanks, Greg E!)
There is about an 1/8" of front to back play in the shaft of the motor. When the engine is going forward, the shaft moves back and as a result, the end of the worm gear rubs against the nylon axel of the intermediate gear.
Is there any way to prevent this in-line movement of the shaft?
I tried pressing the worm farther onto the shaft, but it doesn’t budge.