Rebuilding a Bachmann

D

Dan McDonald

New Member
Sep 21, 2006
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Miramichi, NB
Hey guys, I have an F style Diesel I'm trying to get running again. Made by Bachmann.
When it is on the track it humms alot and goes nowhere, most times it smells as if it's burning. I have no idea where to start but if I can get this running, naybe there is hope for the other 4 that are in similar condition...

Here is the motor, so I can't see anyway to get at it to clean.. I tried to get a shot of the wheels but the camera just died.. they are nice and shiny silver though so I assume they are clean.

Oh yeah, i thought it was CN but it's a CP( he likes it either way!)

Ftrain.jpg
 
Well, I decided to dive in and I managed to get this sucker running. I couldn't have made it work less, so I figured why not..
I took the pick up wheels all apart and cleaned everything up, I wasn't sure how to take em apart but they went back together in the end so all is good.
I cleaned the steel wheels, sanded the pickups, and removed half a cat from in there too. Apparently he had been running this on the carpet like a hotwheels..
Anyway it powered right up and started chugging around, it got faster as it ran so I'm thinking it could use a bit more tweaking. But I have no idea what to do next.

Also the light is burnt out, is it as simple as aquick solder job to switch in an LED? do LEDs have a +/- to them?
 
Cat fur. Nemesis to model trains. Look in all of your other ones for the same problems. Good job getting that one running!

Next? Well, you could add a little more weight to make it able to pull the rolling stock better. But, with this loco(it's not considered a top end one) you may have done all you can. What you should do is clean your track with track cleaner scrubber, called a briteboy. If you don't have one of those, there are house hold materials you could use to clean the track, again, do a search on track cleaning.
As for the bulb, you need to add a resistor inline with an led if you put it in. Again, do a search both here and on Google for this procedure.
 
Good job Dan! Cat fur is definitely a problem when it is no longer attached to the cat... ;)

It may have run faster as the lubrication and/or remaining gunk was "redistributed" reducing overall friction. :D Cleaning the track may also improve performance.

As J said, you'll need to add a resistor if you go with a LED, and yes they have + and -, usually indicated by the length of the lead wire. But a simple replacement of the 12-16V bulb that is probably already there would be easier and cheaper.

Andrew
 
Well it's still running smoothly on the test circle(this is all new track). I'd never find a replacment bulb around here, unfortunaltey I'm in the dark ages here..
I'm not a electronics genius but my brother is into it, I'll run it by him about a LED, in the meantime it's day runs for this train!
Time to dive into the other broke down units!
 
Dan
3 things, first a CP is far better than a CN for road names (big smile), second I have added a door to my basement level to keep our 3 cats out. I had a similar problem as well as the cats jumping on my layout, so in January I hung a door and since I have had a great amount of peace and am hairless :thumb: Third I like weighting my powers, go for it :thumb:
 
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