Maybe someone out there can help me out on this one...
I bought three Nscale Amfleet passenger cars and a Amtrak HHP-8 all made by Bachmann. Sure they look great - but they won't run! Actually, the engine runs well and can pull one car, but that's it. Two Amfleet cars - and there's some wheel slippage, three cars can't be done...too much engine wheel slippage. (My layout is level with no grade.)
Here's the question/problem...I checked the wheelsets, and they're set correctly (compared to an NMRA standards gauge). The track is clean and correctly gauged. The wheel sets of the cars themselves do not allow the car to roll freely - or another way to say it is that there is too much friction within the axle housing. These cars have metal encasing the wheel axles to allow for electrical pickup to power the car's interior lighting (if I understand the electrical pickup and construction of these cars). Unlike every other passenger car I have, these really require a lot off tractive effort to overcome the wheel axle friction. I don't want to add a lubrication and possibly mess up the electrical pickup, and possibly introduce problems. Has anyone else seen this problem? Does anyone else have these cars and already figured out the fix? I've gotta ask for help on this one - I can't figure out why they won't roll as effortlessly as they should...plus, I've got a really expensive set here that I can't enjoy because the engine can't pull its cars.
Thanks.
I bought three Nscale Amfleet passenger cars and a Amtrak HHP-8 all made by Bachmann. Sure they look great - but they won't run! Actually, the engine runs well and can pull one car, but that's it. Two Amfleet cars - and there's some wheel slippage, three cars can't be done...too much engine wheel slippage. (My layout is level with no grade.)
Here's the question/problem...I checked the wheelsets, and they're set correctly (compared to an NMRA standards gauge). The track is clean and correctly gauged. The wheel sets of the cars themselves do not allow the car to roll freely - or another way to say it is that there is too much friction within the axle housing. These cars have metal encasing the wheel axles to allow for electrical pickup to power the car's interior lighting (if I understand the electrical pickup and construction of these cars). Unlike every other passenger car I have, these really require a lot off tractive effort to overcome the wheel axle friction. I don't want to add a lubrication and possibly mess up the electrical pickup, and possibly introduce problems. Has anyone else seen this problem? Does anyone else have these cars and already figured out the fix? I've gotta ask for help on this one - I can't figure out why they won't roll as effortlessly as they should...plus, I've got a really expensive set here that I can't enjoy because the engine can't pull its cars.
Thanks.