Bachman Spectrum steam operation

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have three new Bachman Spectrum steam locos in HO, a 2 6 2, 2 10 2 and a 2 6 0. They all ran great in the beginning but now after one or two hours of use the operation in erratic. They struggle with starting and once moving, they stop in curves ( 18" to 22" raduis ) and turnouts. I have removed the bottom cover on the engine and cleaned the copper contacts that touch the drivers, and double checked the Tender connection, They run better but after one hour of operation, they stall again? what can I do to correct this. Is this common for Bachman Engines??

They all have Tsunami Sound decoders and run on a NCE DCC system. Good wiring under the layout for BUS operation, Diesels all work well with no issues. No more than 50 ft run on the mainline…Help!

2

Have you cleaned the wheels regularly…how about the track?

3

Could it be that a little operation got the wheels dirty enough to cause trouble? Perhaps a good track cleaning session, combined with a wheel cleaning session for all your rolling stock?

My two Bachmann steamers have run well for years, so when you say that three of them ran well right out of the box and then got erratic, it makes me think of dirty track.