Will it work?

[andyandtherman]

Hello everyone. I'm completely new to model trains so be patient

My 7 year old boy is a train nut so I got a bachmann set with the old NS passenger locos. I've added a bunch of freight cars as well as tracks so it's getting some size to it now. All that said, I have 2 questions that hopefully someone can answer.

1) The locomotives spin their wheels when pulling cars, but they operate perfectly normal on their own. What needs to be done?

2) He's interested in getting some freight train locomotives such as UP, etc. I see some advertised on E Bay or Amazon that are HO scale. Will they work on the bachmann set or do they have to be made by bachmann in order to work?

Thanks very much for your help!

Andy

[jward]

if your locomotives are spinning their wheels under load it begs two questions. 1. are they running on level track or on an upgrade? 2. how many cars are you trying to pull?

as for locomotives on ebay, with the exception of marklintrains, any ho train should run on your track. that said, not all locomotives are create equal. ebay can be a crap shoot, expecially for a novice. there are a lot of 20+ year old locomotives out there that were poorly made even when they were new. the years have not been kind to them. bottom line: if I were you, I'd steer clear of ebay until you better understand what is being sold, and buy new locomotives instead of used. most newer locomotives run at leastas well as the really good ones from 20 years ago. they have inproved in quality that much.....

[jonathan]

Welcome to the world's greatest hobby and to the forum!  Lots of friendly folks here who will help as best we can.

1) Many a post has been written concerning locomotive traction.  Would take an eternity to answer.  Basically each locomotive can pull a limited amount of cars depending on the locomotives' weight and the free-rolling ability of the cars it has to pull.  Passenger and frieght cars can be adjusted by reaming out the truck journals (where the wheels attach to the car).  Most folks add metal wheels.  If your set is old it probably has plastic wheels and trucks that don't spin real well. 

Secondly you can add a small amount of extra weight to the locomotive, over the driver wheels.  I tend to remove locomotive shells and add some lead to dead space inside.

2)  Most rolling stock of other companies will work well with Bachmann or the like.  Pay attention to the couplers.  The current standard uses knuckle-type couplers.  Real old cars and locomotives will have horn-hook type couplers (X2f).  The old couplers can be replaced with knuckles.

Model railroading involves a certain amount of tinkering to get everything to work well together.  One question will lead to another, which leads to another...  We've all been there before.

Good Luck!

Regrads,

Jonathan

[bobwrgt]

Make sure the track is clean and has no oil on it.
If the engine has rubber traction tires make sure they are ok, clean and are not loose on the wheels.
Check each car to be sure they roll free. No drag. If you have to oil the ends of the axels with very little oil. You may have to spread the frame of the trucks so the axels roll free. Don't break them.
If it is a steam engine see if the drawbar between engine and coal tender is lifting the rear of the engine off the track. Adjust so it doesn't.
I don't use or have a lot of switches on my railroad so I have removed about 1/2 the metal weight inside each car so I can pull twice as many without over taxing the engines. On level track I can pull 25+ cars with one engine.
Get another engine and run two together.
Bachmann (4-6 axel drive) engines are good  stay away form anything with only 2 drive axels. Athearn, Kato, Atlas, Life Like Proto are all good brands.

[Jhanecker2]

andyandherman : HO train come  in several  basic  types depending on their  electrical  systems .  Those systems are  DC ,  DCC , and AC .  DC  .  Direct Current  is the original  system that  HO scale trains operated on .  DCC is Digital Command Control which  allows control of  locomotives  and  DCC  turnouts   by utilizing   decoders to address individual components  .  AC is similar to the system that is used in the "Lionel " type  O scale trains    Maerklin  in Germany   utilizes  this system.  All   HO scale trains fit on  HO scale track but the correct operating system must be used .   Most cars will run on DC  &  DCC  operating  systems if they do not draw power from the track ,  AC system cars should  not be operated on  DC  & DCC  systems as their wheel sets are not insulated  and will short the systems . You should go to your local library  and  find  books on model railroading   or your local book  store  to  obtain books on the subject   Kalmbach Publishing  makes many books on the Subject . 

1.  Check to see if your cars rolling freely , the plastic wheelsets should be checked with an  NMRA  gauge to make sure they are within tolerance .  You might want to make sure your track is clean .

2. Almost all locomotives  will work as they are made to  NMRA  standards   . Bachmann  trains are either  DC  or made  with dual mode decoders to allow  both  DC   &   DCC   operation . 

Welcome to Model Railroading  it has a learning curve  just like  any other endeavor   , but it is worth the effort.   J2

[jbrock27]

All solid advice.  Particularly jward's regarding EBay.  I would also add Walthers and Proto 1000s to bobwrgt's list of quality running, currently available, locomotives.

[jward]

of course, Bachmann is on the list of current good runners. but older, 1970s and 1980s Bachmann were among the poorest runners. like I said buy new not used and you'll be fine.

[richg]

Hello everyone. I'm completely new to model trains so be patient

My 7 year old boy is a train nut so I got a bachmann set with the old NS passenger locos. I've added a bunch of freight cars as well as tracks so it's getting some size to it now. All that said, I have 2 questions that hopefully someone can answer.

1) The locomotives spin their wheels when pulling cars, but they operate perfectly normal on their own. What needs to be done?

2) He's interested in getting some freight train locomotives such as UP, etc. I see some advertised on E Bay or Amazon that are HO scale. Will they work on the bachmann set or do they have to be made by bachmann in order to work?

Thanks very much for your help!

Andy

What type of locos do you have, steam or diesel?

How old are they? You did say old.

Do they have knuckle couplers or the old horn hook couplers?
How many cars are the locos pulling?

Some Bachmann diesels only power one set of trucks.

If you are going to continue with model trains, getting a Photo Bucket account to post photos here with help a lot, that way we don't have to guess at what you are trying to run.

http://photobucket.com/

Rich

[Terry Toenges]

If you do buy from EBay, check the sellers feedback. A lot of negative feedback is not good. Check how much feedback the seller has. If it's a lot, then the seller has been doing it for a while.