Hey Jeff,

Well color me embarrassed.

I took your advice and started with just the loco, tender, and caboose.  All axles were in their correct places.  I put a little oil, and I mean little.

The train went around the track with no slippage. 

Every time I added one more car, the train would start slipping. 

The set came with loco, tender, oil tanker, flatbed car, and caboose.  I was pretty sure Bachmann would not have put that many in the set if the loco wasn't made to pull that many.

I got ready to oil the tanker car, checking to see if the wheels were in the trucks correctly.  I popped them out to check and found hair and dirt.

Almost all the cars had some hair wrapped around.

So I took out all the wheels, cleaned all hair and residue off, re-oiled, and re-assembled.

I was able to add all the cars in the set with no issues.

let this be a learning opportunity for all of us!    

Thanks again for the help!
-j-

Hey Jeff,

thanks for the reply. i guess i did leave somethings out.

Is all your track level, or do you have any upgrade sections like an incline or trestle set?
  On Hardwood living room floor - completely flat

How many cars are you attempting to pull when you have problems?
    3 at most, but i am also getting spinning with just caboose

Are you using smoke fluid in the locomotive?
  no, i didn't think this model had the smoke feature.

Are there certain areas of your track where the locomotive spins its wheels or does it do it at random spots?
  Random spots,no matter how i spin the oval track, it always stops behind something i can't reach

The answers to these questions will help us determine exactly why you are having problems, and offer solutions.
this set was purchased last Christmas, and was put away until last week.

Thanks Again!

hey folks.  I have the jingle bell express set. 

I am having issues with the engine spinning the tires and the entire train stopping. 

I have wiped the track off with alcohol and cleaned the engine wheels.

when cold, i can run this train wide open with no issues, but as it warms up, it starts slipping more and more until the train completely stops.

is this engine supposed to have rubber traction on wheels.

other trains run on same track with no problems.