My son received the Bachmann John Bull set (HO) some time ago as a gift. Now that my son has finally reached what I consider a “responsible” age, we sat down today and opened the package. We set up the track and placed the locomotive on it. I turned up the thottle, and the locomotive took about two laps around the oval then simply stopped running.
Unsure of whether the problem lay in the locomotive or the power supply, I went into the basement and found my own boxed trains and dug out my trusty Tyco Santa Fe F-series. Well, sure enough it runs fine, so I have to assume that the John Bull had a service life measured only in seconds.
So the question is how to proceed. Should I try to open up the tender (which has the motor) to look for anything obvious, or just try to get it fixed via warranty?
Does Bachmann have a website? Has anyone else had difficulty with this locomotive?
I feel bad about this as my son was quite disappointed in his first train, which was a gift from his grandpop.
I would check the electrical pick up and wiring to the motor. Beyond that it becomes a question of much you want to tinker with it. This is a pretty small, light engine, if your son (and Dad) are really interested in trains I would get a larger engine. By the way Tuesday Morning has this set and the other two early sets for $49.99, at least as of last Tuesday when I bought mine.
Good luck
Paul
you can conntact bachmann’s service department via their website: http://www.bachmanntrains.com/
then after clicking on the right country, click on the service/parts link and follow those directions.
I had a john bull that used to run fine, but I let it sit for a couple of months. When I went to run it, it just sat there stupid. I suspect that it is a problem getting power to the motor. The wheels looked a little pitted and since it has only four pick up wheels, this is not a good sign.
Start with the obvious -clean the tracks - clean the wheels and if it still doesn’t run call Bachmann.
Thanks for the help folks. Hopefully the wheels & track weren’t dirty, as the entire set had been sealed inside the original packaging until sunday. The track is probably OK because I was able to run a different locomotive, so I’ll have a look at the wheels and contact Bachmann.