News:

Please read the Forum Code of Conduct   >>Click Here <<

Main Menu

Baldwin 4-6-0 52" Driver

Started by Barney R, December 19, 2008, 05:40:45 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Barney R

I just bought a 4-6-0 52" with sound. Has anyone had experience with this Locomotive?

NevinW

See my recent post below.  Mine is really impressive.  -  NEvin

Barney R

Yes- I read yours and was very impressed. I am having difficulty keeping the front truck on the tracks. I cannot travel more than 6 feet before the front wheels are off. I have code 100 and I have 11 other loco's that negoiate the track fine. You are right- this is a great little Loco, I just need some direction as to how I can solve this problem.

NevinW

I would look at the front truck to see if it is rolling free and has nothing touching it. Check the screws holding it on.   I've been running mine on code 70 and code 55 without any problems.  -  Nevin

rogertra

Remove the front truck spring.  In fact, remove the front and rear truck springs from all your steam. 

On well laid track they're not needed and you'll notice an improvement in the loco's pulling power due to simple physics.  For every action, there's an equal and opposite re-action.  If the spring(s) press(es) down with x-pressure it means it's also pushing up with x-pressure, thus taking a small amount of adhesive weight from the drivers.  Simple physics.

Barney R

Thank you Rogertra- I will try removing the spring. WOW - I visited your web site. Very very nice. Barney

Barney R

Well- I followed both suggestions. The wheels are free and the screws that are holding the truck are free.
There is no spring to remove. The truck is connected with a flat piece of metal and two screws. I checked the drawing and that is correct. As I said, this is brand new. Does anyone else have any further suggestions? Thanks. Barney  ???

Joe Satnik

Check the gauge of the wheels and the track with an NMRA gauge, or a caliper armed with HO specs from the nmra.org website. 
If your loco is too heavy to lift, you'd better be able to ride in, on or behind it.

Barney R

I currently do not own an NMRA gauge, so I am unable to follow this suggestion just yet. I will go to a train store in the next few days a purchase one. Meanwhile, does anyone else have any other suggestions ???  Barney

WoundedBear

#9
Loosen the screw holding the pilot truck, about 1/2 turn.....allow a little more play. Watch you don't back it off too far or it may hit your frogs.

I had to do this on mine....although a non-sound unit....to make it track my graded curves better.

Just a thought.

Also....check that the screw under the strap of metal isn't too tight as well. It comes down vertically into the center of the truck.

Sid

richG

#10
Quote from: Barney R on December 21, 2008, 10:39:20 PM
Well- I followed both suggestions. The wheels are free and the screws that are holding the truck are free.
There is no spring to remove. The truck is connected with a flat piece of metal and two screws. I checked the drawing and that is correct. As I said, this is brand new. Does anyone else have any further suggestions? Thanks. Barney  ???

If you remove the screw that connects to the bottom of the frame, You will see that your loco has a plastic bar with a "Spring" attached to the plastic bar. Here is a PDF of the document. Your paper work should show the same thing. Here is a photo of the lead truck on my Spectrum 52 inch driver loco.
There was actually a dab of glue holding the spring to the bar. You can see a little bit of brown adhesive.
Either that, or you have a new upgrade.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/H823-IS001.PDF

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/Spectrum%204-6-0/4-6-0truck.jpg

Rich

Barney R

Thank You RichG and WoundedBear-
I took the front truck off and there is no spring. It is just the plastic bar. I have taken pictures and when I figure out how to add them I will. 
So, I will try WoundedBear's suggestion to loosen the screw. Any further Idea's will be gladly  accepted. Thanks Gentlemen. Barney

richG

Hi Barney

Well, that sounds like some progress. I miked the piece of metal in my loco and it is about 0.004" thick It appears to be phosphor bronze.
I have a strip of phosphor bronze, about 5 inches wide by about 10 feet long  of 0.002" thick phosphor bronze. I could send you a small piece in case you cannot find anything suitable.
You might be able to manufacture your own. You might also just send the loco to Bachmann for a replacement. That would be much easier.

Rich

Barney R

Well- Success- Thanks to you Rich and WoundedBear-as well as others- I loosened the screws. Both the one attaching the truck to the plastic brace and the one connecting them to the frame and the locomotive travels the entire layout. Now the question is "how important is the missing piece". Rogertra suggested that I remove the spring to start with. I now have two remaining questions. The headlight is very dim and is green in appearance. It is not white. It does respond to f0 but it is not at all bright. Second is the Whistle. the f2 whistle is very low. It is one quarter the volume of the f4 steam blowoff. Rich- does this track with yours?
Barney

richG

My loco was DCC ready but it did have a fairly dim headlight. The headlight resistor on the PC board is over 2,300 ohms. Usual value for nice lighting is 1,000 ohms. I modified mine since it was fairly easy.
You have a sound equipped one but I do not know what the PC board and decoder look like. Apparently, the resistor value is quite high on yours also. Just a WAG. Quite a few people have noted low lighting with Spectrum steamers.
Don't know about the sound.
What kind of controller do you have? Maybe you have to configure the decoder.

Rich