Just getting into the hobby and looking forward to a steep learning curve. I bought a 2-8-0 engine on line after building a table and positioning some track, and tried to run the engine to check it's operation. It is Bachmann item #0651, and appears to be brand new and unused, but I realize it's probably an older manufacture. The engine doesn't move, but a motor is spinning inisde it. Any suggestions about how to proceed?
Well, there are basically two ways to go about this. One would be to send the locomotive back to Bachmann for a replacement. That would be the easy one, but perhaps it's me being old-school and all, but I would look into fixing it myself.
In this case, it sounds like the drive belt inside may have broken. It's not a real horrible fix, and the belt is available and very inexpensive (curiously, you have look for a "Decapod" part number, but it's the same part), but it does require disassembly of much of the locomotive, and typical of models built after this one first came out, there are a fair number of parts and small, small screws to deal with. That can be daunting, but it's not impossible (heck, someone had to put it together!), and you can probably do it. You would have the advantage of seeing what this looks like inside, and you would gain some experience in maintaining your own equipment--a most valuable lesson.
The choice is yours. . .