I bought a Spectrum 2-8-0 about 6 months ago and have had nothing but good luck with it. I got the unit off the shelf and put it on the track and threw some power to it and it was making this terrible noise like something was slipping and the speed was going up and down to!!![:(!] I have not took it apart yet to see what the problem is, the thing ran fine a week ago. Any ideas guys before I do surgery on it! I have not serviced any of the Spectrum engines ever and would like to know what not to do here. Thanks!
Sure!
There is an issue with the motor to gearbox that needs to be addressed.
This was well covered on the Bachmann website, and in Finescale Railroader when the unit first came out.
I have the data.
Of course, you ARE talking about the 1:20.3 scale, #1 gauge Spectrum 2-8-0 by Bachmann, right?
TOC
I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did!
The best thing to with it is toss it in the trash and find a QUALITY locomotive!
gtr
This is the first I have of any problems with it. I use it as a regular runner, I just cannot figure out why it acting up now. I need to get a few new steam loco’s but am not sure which brand to buy. The BL steam are nice, but there so expensive, are they as good as they say, seen a few on freinds layouts, they seem about the same as some other manufactuers, better detailing though.
I am going to try and fix the Spectrum loco though, are Bachmann parts still hard to get?
Scale might help.
HO scale.
I havent worked on any either but I need to know how, too.
ICMR
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
Is it DCC? Apparently the yellow capacitor (inside the “C1” square on the decoder board) has to have one of its wires cut and the capacitor slightly bent up so that the two ends do not regain contact. Do a search for Spectrum 2-8-0 and a couple of pages in you’ll run into the threads dealing with that problem.
ICRR;
Sounds like you have the problms that has cropped up in some of the 2-8-0 & 2-10-0 early runs. The gearbox/driver gear mesh is incorrect and the gear on the wheel has been “cupped” by the gear in the gearbox. Its an easy fix but its up to you whether or not you send it back. If you do send it back, be sure to remove any decoders, sound units etc that you have installed, because you won’t get those back. They’ll just send you a new locomotive.
Remove the screw from under the front that goes up into the steam chest. thats between the cylinders. The ends of the ladders from the pilotdeck have two plastic tabs that fit into the boiler at the walkway. Pull straight out from the side to release these tabs.
Remove the drawbar screw and drawbar, which makes it easier to get to the other screw under the cab. Slide the frame back and down and the frame and drivers should come out easily. Look at the main driver gear. I bet it has a “cup” shape in the teeth. Now remove via the same pulling back and down method the boiler weight. It too should come out easily, and set the boiler aside. Now look at the part of the weight that fits down into the steamchest. If this section is slightly rounded, you’ve found the problem. This part is supposed to be completely flat. If rounded, this decrease the gear mesh and causes excess wear.
There are two ways to proceed from here. Neither is difficult but one is more tedious than the other.
One way, (the tediuos one), involves a complete disassembly of the weight, with complete removal of all gears, bearings and insulators from the weight. Depending on your experience, this may not be the best way.
The other way is to take several pieces of tissue paper, paper towel, and stuff the exposed gear and bearing part to prevent metal chips from getting into them and cover with a small piece of tape. This seals the gearbox. Take a small to medium flat file and carefully file the “round” off the end of the weight.
Ok! Great, thanks for the detailed fix, going to print it out and do the work myself! The parts page that came with the Spectrum engine is pretty loose on disassembly! Thanks for the info guys! Surgery is in the works for Thursday night!
Um, doofus…the Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 is the best consolidation that has ever been released, in plastic, white metal, or even most brass.
I’ve got six, including one with over 100 hours of runtime on it. None of them have ever given me any problems. Heck, one of mine has a broken wire to the tender, and it STILL runs fine!
I have to side with O’Roy on the 2-8-0, as they run as well as my three BLI lokeys… they are great “pullers” and I just finished putting Soundtraxx Plug n Play sound decoders in them, and they are really fantastic now. Have you tried calling Bachman’s service department ? If not, I think I would do that before opt’ing for “surgery” !!! Good luck…
Bob
I agree Ray.
Whilst I only have 2 consolidations and one decapod, they all run well with Soundtraxx LC decoders and make for a nice ‘generic’ 2-8-0. Here’s one I’m dabbling with at the moment - all parts Bachmann.
Jon
Found the problem guys! After surgery was started, I found a very small peice of plastic wedged in next to worm and weight, this caused drag in the running! This is not to bad of a loco to take apart! Thanks for the help guys.