Thanks guys for the helpful comments. Believe I will concentrate on the 2-6-6-2. I've checked the Internet for 2-6-6-2 for sale, but I think I need to start a new thread to get help on that.

We have 22" radius ez track. Will that work with articulated locos? My grandchild has a plastic model of a Big Boy. He wants a working one. I have very low sales resistance with this child, so it is likely he will get one. What radius would you suggest for him to be happy while running it? Thank you.

Quote from: dansin on January 12, 2010, 11:47:25 AM
Greetings.  This is my first post, although I've been reading along for some time.

We have been slowly acquiring some of the HO scale Thomas and Friends engines, and through random chance, it seems as if we have only gotten the short ones (Thomas, Percy, James, Toby, and Mavis).  It is our intention to build a shed with a roundhouse for our small layout.  As our local hobby shops never seem to have them on the shelves, my question is- what are the dimensions (length, especially) of Thomas' longer friends (Emily, Gordon, Henry)?  I have briefly searched the web for engine specifications, with no luck.

Thank you for your time.


Dan

Gordon and Henry are both 10 &3/4" long including the tender and couplers. Subtract 1/2" for each coupler to get just the engine & tender. Spencer is 11&3/8" long including tender & couplers. We (my 6 yr old grandson & I) also own Thomas, Percy, and James. We're hoping to get Edward, Emily, Mavis, Salty, and Toby when we can find good deals. Ask if you need any info on the engines we own. Regards.

I took our new Gordon engine out of the package and started to break him in. My partner in railroading, my 6 yr old grandson said "Look, Gordon is limping".  Sure enough, he has a little hitch in his stride, more evident at low speeds, but present at all speeds. It's evident when in a cradle also. So, I lubed the external linkages lightly with Labelle, but the very regular hesitation is still there. I can't see any binding in the drive linkages, so it might be internal. We have other 3 axle engines; namely, Spencer and Henry, and they run smoothly. Gordon is still under warranty, but I would rather not send him back if I can fix this easily. My questions: 1) might it smooth out if I ran him some more?, and 2) is this a design quirk of Gordon's?. Appreciate it if other Gordon owners could tell me if they have experienced this with Gordon.

Thank you, ABC. Will do.

I took our new Thomas Gordon engine out of the package and started to break him in. My partner in railroading, my 6 yr old grandson said, "Look, Gordon is limping". Sure enough, he has a little hitch in his stride, more evident at low speeds, but present at all speeds. It's evident when running in a cradle also. So, I lubed the external linkages lightly with Labelle, but the very regular hesitation is still there. I can't observe any binding in the drive linkages, so it might be internal. We have other Thomas 3 axle engines; namely, Spencer and Henry, and they run smoothly. Gordon is still under warranty, but I would rather not send him back if it can be fixed. My questions: 1) might it smooth out if I run it some more?, 2) is this a design quirk of Gordon's? If there are other Gordon owners out there, I'd like to hear if they have experienced this.

Ah, at long last I understand what to do. However, at the risk of appearing ungrateful to all those who responded, I am going to send these 2 Decapods back to Bachmann for repair or replacement. My reasons: 1) I am the original Mr Fumble-fingers when it comes to this sort of repair, and I would hate to screw up these beautiful engines. Something external I might undertake, but "inside the engine I do not go".  2) They are under warranty, and I don't think I should have to undertake something risky in order to fix what is apparently a design flaw. I am truly grateful to all those who took the time to respond.

Dear Bach-man,
Thanks for your reply. Sorry,  I got my reply to you stuck up in the quote box, so you might miss it. I need more info on these copper strips rubbing on the tender axles.

Quote from: the Bach-man on January 17, 2010, 11:26:30 PM
Dear Frank,
There was a batch of decapods some years ago that had this issue. There is a contact strip that shorts out against the axles. It's easily fixed by putting a piece of tape or other insulating material between the strip and the axles.

Dear Bach-man. Now I'm confused (not unusual for me). Yes there are copper strips rubbing on all 4 tender axles, but it appears to me that is their intended function. Otherwise why would they be there? I bought these new from an official dealer on the Internet who sells old new stock.

Quote from: Daylight4449 on January 17, 2010, 09:54:51 PM
could they be from the bad batch?

Daylight, what "bad batch" are you speaking of? Are you referring to Larry Smith's post of 3/06/3008?

Quote from: ABC on January 17, 2010, 09:13:54 PM
This is going out on a limb, but your locos may be over lubed.

ABC, I haven't lubed them. I know most of my Bachmann stuff is dripping with lube.

I have 2 Spectrum Decapod 2-10-0 steam locos. These are DCC ready, I think. I'm running DC. I tend to buy a whole bunch of train stuff at one time on the Internet, to save shipping. About 6 months ago I took these out of their boxes and found they did not run. After testing the rest of the new locos I tried these again. This time they ran OK. So, I put them aside to worry about some other day. Yesterday was that day. I took them out to run on my layout. Each one ran OK for about 15 minutes then stopped. One of them started up again and ran about a foot, then stopped again. Each time I've checked the track voltage after failing to run and found it shorted out. Anybody know what is going on? Is there an intermittent short? In two different locos? Seems unlikely. If the track or wheels are dirty the track wouldn't be shorted, would it? I found a post "HO 2-10-0 disaster" by Larry Smith with the same sort of problem. It was suggested that the tender trucks could be reversed. In that case it wouldn't run at all, would it? Larry Smith sent his back to Bachmann who found they ran OK and wouldn't replace them. Like the car that runs only at the repair shop.

Mr Bach Man: Do the Thomas locomotives have the same warranty as other Bachmann locos? Thank you.

Thanks guys, really helpful stuff, just what I needed. This forum has provided so much helpful info for me in the past year. Thanks also to Bachmann for hosting the forum.

I've noticed my Silver Series cars roll a lot better than my older stuff with plastic. I'm thinking of slowly going to metal wheels over time. Questions:
1) wheel sets are listed as 36" or 33". What do I measure on a particular car to determine which is needed? Cost to go this way would be $3-4/car.
2) Will simply popping metal wheels into plastic side frames give the smooth running of my Silver Series, or should I swap entire trucks?
3) If answer in 2) is new trucks are needed, any problems in attaching new trucks to old cars? There is a bewildering variety of trucks available. Which to pick? Also cost is now approaching cost of new car on Ebay.
4) Should I just bite the bullet and buy new cars slowly. Also I am not very handy, and I've noticed on past projects fiddling with old plastic produces breakage. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.