The only Bachmann steamer i have thats church mouse quiet is my K4.....and with the NCE decoder she crawls nice carrying 6 lighted model power (lighting by me,battery powered 12 leds,2 per car) Old time PRR
truss rod passenger cars and a bobber caboose.

Im surprised how smooth it glides along now.......Shes got a few hours on the clock now.

My Connie is a Close second but still breaking in.......The Mountain is running fine now,and getting her share of track time.

Jim

There may be a dimming function on the headlight and a cv to adjust the volts,,,,,feed a LED too little volts from the decoder and they can flicker.....check it out it could be your problem.....get the bachmann instructions for the cvs.

Or you may have its  headlight cv programmed to a lighting effect instead of steady on.
Jim

Yea.............lets all run out and buy new DCC systems (MTH) and start over yet again with everything being UN compatible with ALL the rest of the worlds Dcc, Just to run 1 train.

This stuff will die its own Horrible death........and in the future when these locos and systems get split up from estate sales ect ..they will rot away because no one will have whats needed to run them.......Unlike standard DCC that will survive to become tomorrows classics......and still be runable on any basic DCC system.

Heck why don't they go ahead and make their own goofy hard to find track gauge/spacing  also that no store will stock, and
be shure no one can run the things.........

Loco has a Belt drive and 2 bushings on the worm shaft that cannot be reached without splitting the driver frame from the motor frame...and these bushings will screech and chatter when dry.

See my post on Heavy mountain racket fixing

Jim Hail

My Brand new Heavy mountain started making a funny noise like a wheel wiper dragging.....Nope.....it was the worm shaft endplay letting the shaft (belt pully end) touch the frame casting.

There are NO thrust bearings ect to keep the shaft endplay at bay......this is also where the surging comes from in worm driven locos.......Worm shafts MUST not have eccessive (.010 to.025 thous.) endplay!!!

I pulled the driver frame from the motor/belt frame and installed a small brass shim,formed in a L shape between the frame and the worm shaft and pully taking out the shaft endplay and BINGO.......problem solved.

There were also little clear yellow shims on the driver frame where it mates with the motor plate/frame around .003 or so thick (that look like stickers)used to set gear mesh....these can get loose(adheasive and gearbox lube mix ruining the adheasive and the shim may float around if its loose and not pinned down by the frameset ) and foul the gearbox/pully also if not secure....Use a hobby knife and dip the tip in CA and wick into the shim/frame to secure.


Att:  Bachmann factory........Worm shafts need thrust bearing surfaces....Basic 101 drivetrain "math" folks.

This has been a issue in train gearboxes since dirt was made.....!

Lots of Endplay and Worms don't mix....The worms get upset 8oP

Jim Hail

Are they out of gauge ie smashed together on the axle and rubbing the plastic frame of the truck?...Is there plastic mold scraps(flash) left in the axle slots?

Always check a new loco to be shure all the wheels are turning,a half hour or so of run time will flatten and ruin a wheelset if its not rotating freely...then it will hop and click forever and maybe derail often.

Jim

If the Train is DCC ready then there should be a socket to plug a wired and socketed decoder into.Keep in mind the decoder will need to support the required amp draw of the motor and lighting and also support the required function outputs for the light setup on the loco. And you might need to know if the lighting is LED or incandescent bulb to chose a proper decoder.

There are several decoders under $20-25 clams that would be shure to work....Sorry i do not have this engine and cannot advise further on its requirements.

Jim

Nice job.....Did you use powders acrylics or enamels?

Jim

I just opened my third DCC Equip. 2-8-0 Spectrum...After a complete lube (screeching bearings on worm shaft outa the box same as #2) and setting address shes
running good so far with 2 hour break-in.And CV 2 (start volts) set to 31(max)and running in 28 step.

Had loose crank arm (?) screws....all three had this.....were the nubbins index the crank arm ,the crank sat crooked and screw was loose.

Wheel clack is gone with this one......and the wheels seem truer on the axles....

So far its a keeper.......

Thanks for everyones suggestion to return to dealer........2 weeks later i have a runner.

Jim Hail

Try these Bachmann files for CV settings for headlight dimming ect.

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/xml/XSLT/pages/Bachmann_EZDCC.xml.html

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/xml/XSLT/pages/Bachmann_EZDCC_4fn.xml.html

Two different decoders ...one on the bottom is 4 function ...Both Bachmann....Hope this helps....there is a dimming function you can adjust via CV's...

Jim

Common means that wire will go to one leg of every light bulb/led in the loco.

The other light leads will be the function leads (fo f1 f2 ect) for each bulb/led you use.

one common connection to every light,one function connection....No frame connections to anything BUT the decoder power input.



Jim

Jump on in and Learn Mike............Soldering and DCC wiring are not that hard at all.....Give it a try , Get a iron and some rosin core solder and some old track and make some coffee and Learn a new skill.

To isolate a rail with insulating jointers is easy.....Laying the track then dremmeling a notch is harder but it lets you isolate right where you want...then fill the notch with plastic to fill the gap.

Your power to the main track is say Wire A and Wire B....If you isolate B from the parked locos....then run a jumper from B on your live side of the layout through a simple toggle switch (single pole) and over to the isolated parkinglot that you have.....then when you need power on this track just hit the switch.

Simple as a d cell and a light bulb.....from gradeschool.

Soldering is not magic or hard at all.

$20 bucks should get you what you need at RatShack..Soldering Iron Kit that will come with solder no doubt...(If they havent replaced ALL the good electronic stuff with Toys....the store is a joke now)

As for help..your already here........Ask away.

Just a guess...mine out of the box had a dry bushing on the small,lower shaft with the worm gear....made a racket and left brass shavings around inside.....It got a free trip back to the seller for replacement as it had out of round wheels and other issues.

Could also be a wheel wiper (power pickup underneath that rubs the wheel backs at the rim) If the wheel back is machined rough or the wiper is bent wrong making it dig into the wheel it could have a "hiss" sorta.

Some good/some junk.

Jim

Just an idea.....I just installed 12 white leds in 6 Old time Truss rod Pennsy Passenger cars....I made the lead car the battery box (9 volt with dropping resistors) and hardwired all 6 cars together...small flexable black wire right across the couplers.going car to car...in a parallel circuit...hardly noticable and they look great when running....2 leds per car....with foil reflective tape in the lids of the cars....and i sanded the leds to diffuse the light.

Battery powered = NO annoying flicker....when the track pickups fail....and no decoders to buy ect.

Walthers prices are insane on everything. I never shop there,Who does?.....