Sterling wheels goes off/ No smoke coming out

[phuanh]

Dear everyone,

I just got a Bachmann HO Scale - Liberty Bell Special.
And I dont know why but the original pack doesn't have the Smoke Liquid with it.
Anyways, I set up the rails and the train goes smoothly..

Today, after like 1 week untouched, I am back to the set.

01. I find out that after 2 or 3 rounds at maximum speed, the first pair of wheels in the locomotive (the directing wheel, I guess) has the TENDENCY TO GOES OFF THE RAILS I don't know why but I fix again every wheel, make sure they are all on the right track, then the train go smoothly couple rounds, at slow speed. And then I speed up a bit by abit, it's still very smooth. But in the maximum speed, after a little while (3-4 rounds), the directing wheels comes off the rail... this is weird, because the first time I set it up a week a go, everything was fine and smooth.

02. I just got a Smoke Fluid from Ebay (authentic Bachmann), I put on 10 drops and NO SMOKE coming out. I wait until it drid up, use the QTip to clean over the whole making sure no any leaft over liquid. And tried again with 20 then 5 drops... But no any smoke coming out  ???too... (Also, the reason why I don't have the original fluid container is that it did not come with the original pack, even though the instruction paper did mention about it)

So someone experienced please kindly give me advice, I would appreciate!
Thanks!

PS: Sorry for my bad English

[Stephen D. Richards]

Your English is fine.  First, the locomotive you are using, I do not believe that it has a smoke generator in it.  Use a small flashlight and check inside the smoke stack.  You should see a fairly large cavity for the smoke generator.  It should also have a stem with a wire coil around it.  If you can't see anything like that then the locomotive does not make smoke.  Second, be sure your track is assembled correctly.  It is very easy to misalign your rails.. They need to be together as close as possible and even across the rail at the joint.  If your track is OK then make sure the pilot truck/wheels have a small spring under them.  This is used to keep tension against the rails.  If the spring is there then I would try a small amount of weight on top of the truck to help hold it against the rail.  Hope this helps.  Stephen

[phuanh]

Dear Stephan,

Thank you for your prompt reply. Yes, you are right.
I just called Bachman customer service today and sadly they said my Liberty Bell Special set doesn't smoke :-(

Anyways, regarding the "pilot truck/wheels have a small spring under them" that you mentioned, I don't see it there.
Mine is more like a teeter-mechanics.... and the wheel supposed to "fall" onto the rails without any spring's pressure.

Also, I discovered that the smoke fluid was just absorbing through the gaps of the locomotive and then drops onto the rail... make it a bit wet. Maybe that's why it keeps falling out... I tried to dry it up and now seems to be back to stable.

Thanks again Stephan and nice day to everyone.

I would check back this forum often.
Phan

[Doneldon]

phuanh-

Keep the smoke fluid cleaned up. It is mineral oil and will interfere with your train's operation if allowed to stay on the track.

Check with Bachmann service about getting a replacement spring for the one which is AWOL from your pilot truck. You
can also check at a well-equipped hardware store to see if they have a small, low-compressability spring which you can use.
In the meantime, glue a little lead (fishing weight, buckshot or BB maybe?) to the top of your pilot truck.

                                                                                                                                                    -- D

[jward]

smoke fluid dripping on the track doesn't cause derailments. improperly assembled track does. having too little weight on the wheels does, a pony truck which doesn't pivot freely does.

my suggestion to you is to get the brightest light you can, get up close to where the locomotive derails, and watch the wheels carefully as it goes by. often the wheel flange will ride the top of the rail beroe is derails. find out where the wheel climbs on top of the rail and you can often find the problem.