One of the small wires on the tender chassis of one of my 4-6-0 On30 engines broke. I ordered from Bachmann a new tender chassis and when I received it I plugged in the engine and tried running it on my NCE Power Cab. It will not run on the default address 3 and when I try to program it to respond to address 2 since this engine is labeled 2, I get the message "cant read CV, main off". But my other three engines run fine. There is 12.5 volts to the track but this engine will not run at all. I'm puzzled. All I did was plug in a new tender chassis into the engine because the old tender chassis had a broken wire. Any ideas why this engine with the new tender chassis  does not respond at all? Thanks....Don

I have three DCC 4-6-0 engines on my layout. Unfortunately one of them has developed a "grinding"noise when running forward. It also keeps up with the speed of the engine increasing with more speed and decreasing at slower seeds. The engine is totally quite when I run it in reverse. I thought it may have needed some lubrication so I removed the bottom cover cleaned all the wheel contacts and lubed the white gear with LaBelle gear grease. Unfortunately now the noise is worse. Does anybody have any answers to this problem? Thank you, Don

Hi all. I have an On30 layout and currently run four DCC Bachmann engines consisting of three 4-6-0s and one 4-4-0. All were bought new and the problems occurred when I initially got them. These issues were as follows. One 4-6-0 had a very noisy motor that Bachmann fixed (a bad bearing). But this engine eventually stopped running so I purchased and installed a whole new power train for it and now it runs well. Other issues with my other two 4-6-0s included windows coming unglued and falling out of position in the cabs which I glued back into place and problems with the rear tender truck. There is so much play in the truck that either the wheels derail or the whole wheel actually falls out of the truck when you pick up the tender. I also fixed these issues by purchasing extra tender trucks and replacing the ones on my new engines. All of these issues makes me question the build quality of these engines, especially since I had issues with all three 4-6-0s when new. I fixed the problems but this should not happen on new engines. I had to purchase new parts and replace those defective ones on my new engines. I support Bachmann and I have many of their engines and freight cars on my layout, but I feel that issues like this should not happen and in my opinion points to build or QC problems with these engines. I just finally had to come on the forum and point these issues out.  

I am thinking of getting an On30 Bachmann Whitcomb diesel. Does anybody know the dimensions of this engine. Specifically the width of the frame at the bottom, the length, and the width at the top of the body? I am wondering about my layout clearances. Thank you.

Hi all. I have a number of Bachmann On30 passenger cars. But they are all empty. I would like to add passengers to them, but it isn't obvious to me how to take them apart to put people inside of them. Is there any instructions on how to remove the shell so I can get to the inside to do this? Also has anybody added better lighting to the cars? If so, how did you do that also. Thanks, Don

One of my engines is a Bachmann On30 4-4-0 DCC sound ready. I have decided to add the proper sound card to it. I can't find the part number or the price. Does anyone know where I might find that information? I have looked on the parts page and can't seem to find that info. Thanks. I will run this along with my new 4-6-0 sound equiped engine that runs great and the sounds add alot of interest to model railroading.

I just want to be sure I'm not damaging my engines so I'd like this question answered. From what I understand Bachmann DC/DCC On30 engines can be run on both DC and DCC layouts without me adjusting anything in the engines. I have two 4-6-0 and one 4-4-0 DC/DCC engines that I have been running on my DC only layout. My layout has two independent mainline tracks with one powered by an MRC Tech II Railmaster 2400 transformer (pulse power set to off) and the other mainline powered by a Tech 3 Model 9000 Power Command transformer (momentum and brake set to off). I understand by reading the literature that came with these engines that they should run fine on this setup and as long as I keep the pulse, momentum, and brake settings off, the engines will not be damaged in any way. Am I correct? Thank you.

Hi all. I'm new to the forum. Please excuse my long first post but I do have a quality concern. I have been an On30 model railroader for years though. Raised in the fifties with Lionel Trains as a kid and the hobby stuck with me. So here I am still "playing with trains". I have a number of Bachmann On30 engines on my RR. Initially I had two of the typical 2-6-0 steamers that ran well for years. They were very reliable. Now I run a 4-6-0  and a 4-4-0 along with an 0-4-0 and 0-4-2 Porters. My layout is standard DC using Peco On30 track. Both the 4-6-0 and 4-4-0 are DC/DCC engines. A while back my 4-6-0 was making a loud screeching noise as it ran on my layout. I sent it in to Bachmann and they couldn't find a problem. So they returned it to me. As soon as I got it back it ran ok for a while but then strangly the screeching noise came back and got worse so I returned it to Bachmann with a video of it exhibiting the problem. They found that it had bad bearings and replaced them. After getting it back it ran good for a while but now it hesitates and makes a kind of grinding sound while running. So I removed the bottom cover and cleaned and then lubed the bottom visible gears with Labelle 106 grease. I also lubed the side rods with Labelle 108 oil. The engine still runs poorly and makes a grinding noise. My question is,  where can I find instructions to take apart this engine to get to the actual mechanism and see what is the problem? I don't want to have to send it to Bachmann a third time for a "repair".  I also just bought a new 4-6-0 to replace it but have not run it yet. So I do support Bachmann, but it appears that my original 4-6-0 is basically a "lemon". I would like to see if I can figure out what the problem is and maybe order replacement parts. I'm also hoping that the new 4-6-0 that I just bought turns out to be as reliable as my old 2-6-0s were. I know this is my first post on the forum and I don't want to appear as a complainer. I just want to get some information so I can get my original 4-6-0 back to running like it should. Thanks all for reading this and if anybody can help me out with this I would appreciate it. Don