All the wires are still soldered to the board, I had checked that before posting. The wipers do seem to contact the posts as well. I am going to go ahead and send it in for service because I think it's well beyond my limited knowledge. Thanks so much for all your help.

Thanks so much for your response.

Again, newbie alert-- are the "wiper wires" the copper colored wires that go from the locomotive to the tender? And are the "pins" the silver rectangles inside the wheels with nubs on top poking through the tender? If so, then yes, the copper colored wires are both inside the silver rectangles.

All the wires between the tender and loco visually appear to be intact. Nothing is torn or seems especially stretched. How would you suggest checking for other/internal issues?

I am not sure what else to check or how to proceed. I would hate to have to junk an expensive loco for unknown reasons but repairs aren't anywhere near my wheelhouse (as you may have noticed, LOL).

Hello,

I am new to model railroading so this may be a newbie issue. I have the Bachmann 4-6-0 locomotive. It has been running fine on my layout, but today I tried to switch the couplers to MTL magnetic couplers and it has been having running problems ever since. The first time I tried to run it, it sputtered and barely moved, and now it acts like it's not getting power at all. I opened up the tender and all the wires still seem to be attached so I am not sure where else to look for problems.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Edit: If I leave the power on a low speed it'll sputter forward a tiny bit every few seconds. If I try to turn the loco's light on it flickers. If it hadn't been running perfectly until this morning I would think it would be a wiring problem, but all I changed was the coupler-- nothing with the track. And I've taken the coupler off now and the problems persist.