The 0-6-0 does not have pickups on the tender wheels, so the drivers are the only electrical pickups it has. It has a tendency to stall on things like insulated frogs on switches and crossings. Not sure why it's stalling on your reversing sections.

Are you running DC or DCC?

How are you handling the polarity in the reversing sections? Do they have a seperate reversing switch, or are you using autoreverse circuits?

Are your switch and crossing frogs metal or plastic?

If metal, do they have provisions to power them?

As an electrical engineer you are undoubtedly aware of the loading effect on power supplies. I tested a Bachmann controller I have on my test track and found the output read 26.9v at full throttle with no load. Placing a locomotive on the rails cut that voltage in half. I'd say given this that your controller is working properly. After all, this is basic first semester electronic theory.

I have been in this hobby for over 50 years, and I have NEVER come across a worm gear melting from friction. Neither has anybody else I've talked to. The amount of friction necessary to generate that kind of heat in a gear train would overload and burn out the motor long before the gears ran hot. The only thing i've ever seen or heard of in a model locomotive were the old pancake motors used in early Bachmann locomotives which had plastic motor bearings. If the motor overheated the bearings would melt and seize the motor. But that's not a gear train problem. And those motors were phased out of production well over 20 years ago so they wouldn't be in a set bought new.

Frankly, I'm more than just a little curious what you did to cause the gear train to seize up. I suspect that whatever it is, that's what caused your motor to burn out. This is simply not anything that would happen under normal usage.

The easiest way to convert to DCC is either if your locomotive has an 8 pin NMRA socket, you can use any decoder that will fit that has the 8 pin plug, If it doesn't have the socket, then the entire circuit board can be replaced by an NCE BACH-DSL decoder which is a drop in replacement. The NCE option does require some basic soldering skills. Neither of these is a sound decoder though. Sound is a bit more complicated to install, and I don;t want sound bad enough to attempt to install it myself.

I am going to assume that you don't already have a layout to run this one on.

Since the locomotive works well at the club on a full featured DCC system, why not try doing a decoder reset there. Take advantage of the Digitrax system's capabilities to do what your EZ command can't do. Start with a decoder reset, then program a single digit address at the club, then try your locomotive on your home layout.

I have to ask though, what is different about the locomotive that doesn't work, as opposed to those that do. If you can figure that out, it will help you solve the problem.

Have you looked at the Bachmann and Tyco groups on Facebook? I seem to recall somebody there modified a grade crossing to work the way you want it to, but I'm not sure what mods were made to it. The end result was pretty impressive.

I just bought one of those off ebay. They are nice running engines once you yours back together. Best thing is, most of the parts are available from the parts store.

Quote from: kek166@comcast.net on December 17, 2023, 05:38:23 PMI am interested in putting a track within my current  42in round  18 radius track    How do you figure out how many track pieces and the radius to use

If your track is 42" wide already, you should be able to put another loop of 18: radius inside what you have. Overall, an 18r circle should measure about 38" over the end of the roadbed. If you can do this it would be a much better solution than using a sharper curve like 15" radius.

Quote from: trainman203 on December 15, 2023, 06:01:11 PMOh. Jeffrey.  About diesels pulling better than steam engines.  At the old club, my Bachmann consolidation would pull 18 cars up a 2% grade on about a 36 inch radius curve, no slipping. On my current home layout, my Bachmann decapods will get about 12 or 14 cars up a 2% tangent.  I don't have any diesels to compare this to, but I've been pretty satisfied with their tractive effort.

My experience on a layout with 4% grades and 18r curves has been that the 0-6-0s like the Jingle Bell Express will pull about 3 cars up the grade. The Alco 2-6-0 does slightly better at 5 cars. My best pulling steam, a Roundhouse old time 2-8-0, will pull 12. By contrast, My Bachmann diesels range from the tiny Plymouth switcher at 8 cars, to the GP40s which can pull more than 20 cars. Every one of my Atlas diesels will also pull 20 cars.

These tests were performed with a test train made up entirely of Bachmann Silver Series 40' gondolas, to take the randomness out of the equation. My 4% grade is about 20 cars long, so adding more to the train wouldn't make a difference because part of it would always be on a downgrade. The Silver series cars were chosen because they are free rolling, and thus present a best case scenario for pulling power. The railroad they are running on consists entirely of hand laid code 83 rail. I am not sure what, if any, effect using code 100 rail like EZ track would have on pulling power. I suspect due to the slightly larger contact area between wheel and rail it might slightly increase traction, but not by much.

On a related note, I have stayed away from older locomotives with traction tires, finding them to be underpowered with the rubber tires an atttempt to compensate for their poor design. I've also found that when a traction tire locomotive does spin its wheels under load, it has a tendency to bounce itself off the track. In short, they are not worth the aggravation to me, especially when newer locomotives with all wheel drive are available on Ebay for a similar price. Know what you buy, before you buy.

Quote from: joe.snyder.77 on December 15, 2023, 04:07:32 PMHey 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-

Hair and lint in the trucks would definitely cause problems. I never thought of that. My trains have always run on permanent layouts set at least 30 inches off the floor where the dog can't reach them so it's never been a problem for me. Your problem solcing skills will definitely come in handy in this hobby.

Take a good look at the wheels of your cars, particularly the caboose, and the coal tender behind the engine. Are all the axles properly seated in the trucks? They should spin freely by hand. It does sound like you have something dragging like an axle not seated properly.

Also, given that your train seems to bog down at the same spot no matter how the track is oriented, I suspect your floor is not actually level. Your locomotive is a good little runner, I have several of them myself. But they do not pull well on the slightest upgrade. There isn't alot you can do about that except to level your track. A cheap carpenters level, and cardboard shims placed under the track will fix the problem.

I've also run into issues with them bottoming out on the rerailers that come with the sets. You can gently file either the plastic part of the rerailer between the rails, or the bottom of the gearbox cover on the locomotive. It shouldn't take much to provide enough clearance so it doesn;t bottom out anymore.

One final note, not directed at you but as an aside to anybody following this thread. Diesels generally pull better than steam locomotives. In this case, the FT or GP40 diesels used in Bachmann's sets will outpull that little 0-6-0 in your set by a factor of 3 or 4. If anybody is planning on building a layout with steep grades like I have, this can be the difference between pulling 3 cars and pulling 12 or more.

No this engine is not supposed to have traction tires on the wheels. Traction tires are a sign of a cheap, poorly designed, underpowered locomotive and they tend to cause alot of problems. That's why most manufacturers did away with them and upgraded their product line. Bachmann is no different.

You didn't provide much info in your post so here are some questions:

Is all your track level, or do you have any upgrade sections like an incline or trestle set?

How many cars are you attempting to pull when you have problems?

Are you using smoke fluid in the locomotive?

Are there certain areas of your track where the locomotive spins its wheels or does it do it at random spots?

The answers to these questions will help us determine exactly why you are having problems, and offer solutions.

You don't have to run them off DCC even if the rest of your layout is DCC. I find it easier to use the traditional way of wiring them with a control panel and the pushbuttons. With DCC EVERYTHING is assigned a number (address) and I find trying to remember all that is more trouble than it's worth.

Quote from: Wooglin on December 11, 2023, 09:16:23 AMThanks all for your replies.  @jward, yours was particularly helpful when it comes to working with Anyrail, which I just started using.  I appreciate the advice on tolerance settings and I will play around with that.

Could you please elaborate on the "parallel track tool"?

The parallel track tool works with flex track. But in your case it could be used for sectional track as well.

You have a long straight that you'd like to have a siding next to. You'd place the switch where you want, then instead of using sectional track on the straight, you use a section of flex track instead. Right click on the flex track once you have placed and connected it. In the drop down menu you will find an option called "add parallel flex. click on that, and it'll give you options for how far away from the existing track, and what side of the track you want the parallel track to be placed.

Once you have the track placed, you can go back and replace the original fles track with sectional pieces, and you can bend the end of your parallel flex track to connect with your switch. It comes in handy if you want track on specific centers. I find in HO a 2" center to be the minimum practical distance between tracks.

Are you sure you have a terminal rerailer and not a regular rerailer? They look similar but the regular one has no contacts in the plug in recepticle. It can be maddening to have everything hooked up the way it should be, but to a rerailer with no internal wiring.