I have a Spectrum USRA LIGHT 2-10-2 locomotive, DCC/sound. There is something about the connection between the tender and engine draw bar that prevents the front driver wheels from resting on the rails; in other words, the front driver wheels are raised up off the rails.
Does anyone know how to fix or correct this problem?
Steve
P.S. Can someone tell me a good resource about “HOW TO DECAL LOCOMOTIVES”.
Put the engine on the track. Look at the draw bar and wires between engine and tender. The draw bar may need to go between the wires to float up and down. The draw bar may also have been bent up. Most of the time the draw bar will let the engine on the rail but will lift the tender front wheels off the track.
Bob
Steve. I would look for packing material or plastic packing plate under or near the front truck.
Steve
I don’t own a 2-10-2 Spectrum so I need to ask you a few questions, When you opened the box was the tender already coupled to the locomotive? Also does the drawbar look like the standard drawbar on any other locomotive a dog bone sort of shape or rectangular with several holes in usually no more then three, or does it have a drawbar similar to the one shown in the picture which is in a Spectrum J class.
If it has one like in the picture, welcome to my nightmare. I was under the impression that the J was the only locomotive that had this poor excuse of engineering but I’ve since learned from a fellow forum member that now the K4 has it also. This thing will drive you crazy and I wish you better luck then I’ve had dealing with Bachmann customer service.
As mentioned place the loco on a straight piece of track and get down and look at it at eye level and see if you can see any daylight under the pilot wheels, If it has the standard drawbar try disconnecting the tender from the locomotive and then inspect how the drive wheels rest on the rails. If I am not mistaken that 2-10-2 has a pretty long tender and if the drawbar is not in the right position (perfectly horizontal) it will tend to lift the locomotive up off the track.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions this has been a problem that I’ve been addressing for some time now
Indeed, it was the packing material. thank you.
I bought two Spectrum K4s with the wishbone drawbar and wiring harness. One ran perfectly well and the other gave a lot of trouble. On the latter engine I finally replaced the wishbone with a straight plastic drawbar, an exercise in minor surgery that turned out well. To tame the harness I had to add extra weight to the tender and take some of the slack out of the harness ( there is a lot of extra length tucked in the tender ). Now it runs pretty well, better with a train behind it than as a light engine. It seems the train weight sort of stabilizes the tender. These engines have the potential to be good runners at a reasonable price but some need more tinkering than others…
Also note the Spectrum engines have an apron between the cab and tender that can get caught beneath the “lip” at the front of the tender, which causes the front of the engine to be lifted up a little causing similar problems.
I have a Spectrum J HO N&W 4-8-4 as well; it was a complete replacement from Bachmann. It ran beautifully straight out of the box, until I took it off the track. The next time I tried to use it, nothing, but I could hear the engine. I took off the bottom plate and applied a very tiny amount of some Marklin oil, & presto- I had my engine back…but it would derail every ten feet. Those drawbars, both front & back! I can get the 8’s on the track, & the 4’s are up floating in the breeze. If I try to get the 4’s on the track, it pushes the eight off. It finally stopped, but that’s only because now it only works in reverse…A real shame; I was looking forward to doing a repaint to CN’s 1961 livery & to have it pull my Rapido Supercontinental.
Any ideas, short of shipping it back?
Thanks, Paul
Paul, is it a Bachmann Class J? I read the Class J’s had some bad problems with the draw bar. I think Sheldon brought up the problem.
First thing I would check is to make sure there is no packing foam anywhere. More that likely you would have seen it when lubing the drivers. Second, I would unhook the tender and see if all the engine wheels will now rest on the rails.
You might want to start your own post as well, it was just luck I went down this far after the OP problem was fixed.
Cuda Ken