Hello,

I picked up a Bachmann Empire Builder Set #24009 last week Friday and have had some fun enjoying it since then.

I have a few questions regarding the Locomotive.

#1 My second drive axle inline has a horrible wobble to it that sometimes can derail the locomotive, worse at slow speeds. When the wobble is at it's worst the wheel does not make contact with the track. So every 1 revolution it will pound the loco back down on the track and you can hear and feel it on the table top.
The pistons are not binding and the axles are quartered correctly with the axle hubs seated properly. What happens is that after one rotation the right side binds and the axle will lift off the track like it wants to jump an internal gear. Maybe a high spot or warped drive gear? Bent or not seated correct axle?



#2 The rear guide truck side mounts hang far down almost touching the railroad ties. There is a lot of play in the axle in the seat of the truck. Not good. Mounting screw is properly adjusted to locomotive.



#3 The draw bar has a slight bend in it. Is it supposed to be straight or is the slight bend part of the leveling?


All in all the train does go around the track pretty decent but the front truck tend to derail when the loco wobbles from the out of shape second axle... is this a normal thing for these trains? Am I expecting to much from this train? I only say that because the other three axles are perfectly straight and do not bind or wobble and run very smooth, if that was the case with all four axles I would have to believe the train would run super smooth and perfect.

P.S. all of the rolling stock in the set function great with no derailments and the EZ track is so so much better than my set from the 90's...  

Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you for your time.