Bachmann Spectrum 2-6-6-2 speed and traction

Model Railroader Electronics and DCC
1

Hey Guys

I just got back to working with my MR. I spent a couple weeks removing wallpaper and painting. YUCK!
Bachmann sent me a new 2-6-6-2 after I complained about it jerking while descending a grade and lack of speed.[:)]
Now to my concern.
On my Power Cab it draws about a quarter amp. Top speed is a scale 29.5 MPH reached at about half throttle. With five walthers short heavy weight cars it slows to a crawl on a grade. 1.8% I tried it with 2.5 oz. of weight lain on top of the engine, no help, so it’s probably not slipping. With the engine running by it’s self the speeds are about the same except for the low speed, which is slightly faster (maybe).
it’s as slow as a snail and won’t pull anything. Does this sound normal?[%-)]
My 4-8-2 heavy mountain runs the same track at good speed and no apparent effort.

I appreciate any insight.

Lee

2

…stop buying Bachmann steamers…[:P]

Seriously, though. I would let it break in for a few hours before I would put it in revenue service. It sure sounds like the factory lube job is gumming up the works. You could always look at removing and replacing it, but that is a whole lot of work.

David B

3

I have this same engine with a Tsunami decoder that runs very well and has good top speed. It is a little

light in the britches but pulls 10 hoppers up my steep grades. Any more cars and it will slip.

Gale

4

If this locomotive is DCC equipted you may need to read your CVs and look at the speed tables ,check your Vstart Vmid And Vmax and adjust the last two to a higher value.

5

Take note that the OP mentions that the amp draw for this loco is high…hence, it has gunk in the gears…nothing to do with Cv values.

David B

6

You may be right, so I should just run it for a while and see if it loosens up?
I was just very disappointed that this loco is so anemic.

Thanks for the help

Lee

7

Absolutely give it a good run-in. Hopefully it will loosen up for you. A rollerstand is a great solution for running in equipment.

David B

8

David B.

I went down to my basement to run the 2-6-6-2 and it ran even slower this morning.

The basement is cool probably 65%. I am wondering if I should take it apart and lube the gears. Question: how do I get it apart? If the screws are under the sand domes and the steam dome can I just pry them off? [%-)]

Lee

9

Lets be clear here…you dont need MORE lube…you need less. I would study the exploded parts diagram and see how to take apart the trucks. Even better…I would send it back to Bachmann and instruct them to take the goop out.

David B

10

Lee,

David is likely on the right track about the gear lube.

This is not the easiest loco to disassemble, but, since the gear grease issue is likely in the worm gears, not the gear towers in the trucks, you would only have to take it about half way apart.

Do not try to take the covers off the drive trucks with the loco assembled, you will break the pickup wires.

Carefully remove the dome in the center, remove the screw. the boiler will then lift off with a little wiggling/unsnapping of the cab.

To get to the worm gears you must then unwire it and remove the upper weight.

The worm gear tower covers then unsnap like most models.

So that should get you into it if you choose to, but you might want to just run it in good first.

BUT, 65 degrees is a little on the cold side for these models. My layout is above my garage, and in the winter I only heat it when I’m out there. EVERYTHING runs sluggish and poorly until the room warms up and the locos warm up.

I can’t say I remember clocking a top speed for my three 2-6-6-2’s, but 29 smph seems slow for a top speed. That aspect may be a DCC issue in combination with the cold gear grease issue. Since all of mine are DC (no dual mode decoders) I cannot comment on how DCC problems or Bachmann’s bargin basement decoders may be effecting the loco. I do know that the Bachmann decoders do not run well on my Aristo Craft Train Engineer throttles with DC.

As for pulling power, its not the strongest puller, but not bad either. From the measurements I have taken, it pulls nearly as well as my Spectrum Heavy Mountains. But the gear grease/cold weather thing will effect that too.

I know you have had problems with the first one of these you had, did you run this one right away when it came?

11

Hi [:)]
OK, I’m in the process of running the little beast for break in. I sure hope it works.
It doesn’t lunge going down grade as bad but I’m thinking the gears might be so stiff that it can’t roll when the decoder backs off a little.
Here is a picture of the miscreant. I guess I’ll put a road number on it now because I don’t want to ship it back an forth anymore.

Are we having fun yet? [(-D]

Lee

12

Lee,

In addition to the gear grease being stiff and the cool temperature making that worse, and based on how well mine run on DC, I would be very inclined to replace the Bachmann decoder with something better before passing anymore judgement about the locos performance. I can’t help but think some of the problems you discribe are the bare minimum decoder, not the mechanical aspects of the loco.

Sheldon

13

Sheldon

It does have the Bachmann Tsunami decoder. I have the decoder in other steam and they seem to work very well. Are there problems?

Lee

14

No, it´s Bachmanns “standard” decoders that stinks [:-,].

15

Lee, I was not sure if you had the sound version or the DCC only version. I don’t know of any problems with the sound versions, but again, I don’t use DCC personally and I don’t use sound either. The DCC only decoder is known to be very “basic” without the full range of programing features. I have not heard anything about the sound versions that come in the Spectrum locos.

But again, common sense says if they run good on DC, than they should run good on DCC - with a good decoder that is.

I don’t buy sound equiped Bachmann locos. And when I do buy DCC versions the decoder is the first thing to go, along with the RF filter capacitors on the lighting board, so they will be compatible with my Aristo Train Engineer throttles.

What puzzles me the most is your complaint about slowing down on grades? Are you sure about the grade percentage being 1.8%? I have a grade of 2% and none of my locos slow noticably under too much load, they just start slipping - there is a difference between those two things. And the surging thing, only ever saw that down very steep grades (more than 3%) with any kind of model loco.

Sheldon

16

This may sound like an odd suggestion, but I wonder if the decoder could stand a full reset. It is entirely possible that a bit got scrambled, or input specifically and not purged later by a technician. A full factory default restoration may result in the slow speed disappearing because the factory default speed table would be restored.

Look at it this way…I couldn’t hurt.

-Crandell

17

Crandel

I use decoder pro and I did tell the loco to use the straight line speed chart with 255 for the max CV. but you may have something there. It won’t hurt to try a reboot. My engineering son says when your’ having a problem “reboot”

Thanks for reminding me.

Lee

18

Sheldon

On the grades thing, I did have all less than 4% grades but I stretched the layout and I believe every thing is less than 2.2% now. The grade that I was watching was I believe the 1.8%. It’s one of the long grades.
I’m going to run the loco as much as I can and see what happens.

Thanks and I will report back in a day or two.

Lee

19

Is that free running are when loaded down? If that’s when loaded down, it sounds about right because according to the Model Railroader review of the DC version(you have to be a subscriber to view it), it draws 0.26 amps when slipping.

I’m not sure what you mean by this statement. Are you saying that it reaches it’s top speed at half throttle, as in if you continue to advance the throttle it does not go any faster? If so, then that sounds like a decoder problem. Or are you saying that the fastest you run it at is half throttle and it runs about 29.5 scale MPH at that setting? If that is the case, then that actually sounds high because according to that same review, the top speed at 12 volts is only 45 MPH.

20

The standard break-in time for a Bachmann is usually about an hour. I’ve only had 3 and they all took about a half hour forward and another half in reverse to break them in. It’s almost strange how they quiet down and smooth out as they run.