A test run of the Sprite Valley Railroad pulling a four-car passenger consist around the test track…
Did have some issues with the Bachmann cars. Two of the cars kept derailing on the R1 curves. One was a used car, which didn’t really surprise me. The other, though, was the brand new never-been-run car. In both cases, the trucks were spreading, allowing the wheels/axles to drop out on the sharp curve. A quick fix was zip ties around the truck to keep them from spreading open. After that, the cars ran great, especially considering the fact that the track is just laid on bare ground with no real attempt to level it. I figure if it runs there, it’ll run anywhere.
Have to decide how to fix them, which may be changing out the trucks to something else. They are not confidence inspiring.
I wonder why that was happening…
Now, I did have to swap out silver coloured trucks for black ones on a Bachmann passenger car. The black plastic is stiffer and less susceptible to flexing (spreading). But since I retired the silver trucks, I have had no issues, and I have 7 or 8 Bachmann passenger cars that I run.
These are black.
I see. Now what wheels are in them? Bachmann metal wheels don’t usually fall out, but I recall having issues with some other ones. I don’t remember if the ones I had issue with were Aristo or who’s they were.
You can put nylon #4 washers on the ends of the axles, to eliminate side play in the wheel axle assembly. if the axle is centered in the truck, then the side-frames will have to flex pretty far for the wheels to fall out.
They have metal wheels and axles.
What David is getting at is if the wheel sets are not Bachmann, the axles may be too short.
No idea. didn’t see any markings.
Daniel Collins said:
No idea. didn’t see any markings.
Bachmann metal wheels on the latest “Jackson & Sharp” coaches with wipers for the light pickup have big silver metal rims and plastic centers. Like this (without the wipers, pic from eBay).
David’s point about the washers is that they keep the axles centered and reduce the chance of them falling out.
Personally I have never had a problem with axles dropping out of the trucks. Something else is going on . . .
Thanks Pete and Joe, for explaining my points better.
The side frames are held onto the bolsters with screws. Could the screws be loose?
Good point David.
I have had axles fall out when using other than Bachmann wheel sets in a Bachmann truck. The axle was a bit shorter, that’s how I know it can happen. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Joe yes, I had it happen too. But I forget what brand wheels they were.
Alright, one of the cars having the problem is a brand-new, still sealed in the original box when I bought it, car.
The cars are lighted, but with 9-volt batteries, not with track pickups.
All the wheel sets are identical to the factory new car, so they have not been changed out.
The first thing the wife and I did when the problem reared it’s head was check to make sure all screws were tight.
This appears, to me, to be a Bachmann quality problem. I still.have to try the washer solution, but suspect that it may be of limited success, but we’ll see.
In the meantime, though, the black zip-tie is not noticeable and allows me to run the cars until I figure out a permenent fix.
Thanks to all for the suggestions.
So, maybe I should hold off on purchasing any new Bachmann passenger cars…