My son bought me the “Silver Moon Express” train set last year for Christmas. It is ON30, so it really isn’t going to be used on my HO layout, but is great for under the Christmas tree. So today I set the everything in place, and the 2-6-0 engine , tender and two passenger cars ran around the track just fine. I set the speed slow to break in the locomotive. I watched the train make at least 15 passes around the tree with no problems whatsoever. I left the room for about 15 minutes, and when I got back the train had stopped. It had not de-railed and power was still ON, headlamp and cars had their lights ON also.
Upon checking the locomotive, the gearing on the right side was all bent and jambed at the cyclinder and slide gear, and I mean badly. I cannot see how this could happen on it’s own, but there is no other explanation!! No kids, no pets in house. I just can’t believe that moderate power range can cause this much damage…what is going on here?? The engine is made by Bachmann.
Yeah, all that valve gear can be flimsy or poorly assembled. If a piece is slightly bent, it could jam up and the force of the motor could crumple the rest of it before it stops. They might repair it for you, though, but I wouldn’t be too hopeful about getting it back in time for Christmas.
Oh, don’t feel bad about leaving the room. It probably all happened in a couple of seconds. Being there wouldn’t have helped any.
I had the same thing happen with a Model Power Pacific with less than one hour of slow running time. Fortunately I had sent in the warranty information on all three of the M P steam locos that I own. I returned the engine for repair. It took about four weeks but M P honored the warranty and replaced the engine with a new one. It cost me only $5.00 USD for S & H.
Send in that warranty information when you buy a new loco. It’ll be worth it.
Check the crank screws or pins. One or more probably loosened up and allowed the gear to jam. It is a good idea to secure these with blue or purple Loctite.
Anything that moves can break. Years ago I had a Mantua Mikado gear come apart on me while I was running it for my club’s open house. The loctite is a very good suggestion.
Can you imagine what it must have been like when this kind of thing happened on a real locomotive? No wonder camelback crews were never really fond of the location of their cabs - right over all that mass of moving steel![:O]
I had a similar problem with one of my locos. I was giving it a little TLC, and after I finished, it ran forward for a bit, and stopped. Thankfully the motor stalled out and didn’t ruin the running gear… fixed the crankpin, and off we go… until the OTHER set of running gear just falls off! turns out that both sides were loose, and I had backed out the pins on the second side as I was fiddling with the first side…
At least there was no damage, other than the motor getting a bit warm - but it’s an old Mantua open frame one thats slated to be replaces as soon as I can figure out what it needs as a replacement motor, and how to rewire the thing to fit a decoder in it…
I was not so lucky with my Mantua Mikado. One time near Christmas, I was running a train down in the basement and some guests arrived. I went upstairs and forgot about the train. No big deal because I usually left engines running all the time. This time however it was a steam engine, not the usual diesels.
After about a ½ hour I went back downstairs and saw the circuit breaker indicator on. The train was stopped so I assumed it was a derailment causing the short.
When I inspected the engine I discovered that the crank screw had backed out and dropped the rod causing it to jam. I replaced the screw and attempted to run it but it shorted out again. I found out the motor had burned out one of the windings because it could not turn and was locked in place on the track. As the windings got hotter the insulation melted and enough of a short occurred opening the breaker.
It would not have been so bad except it was an expensive Sagami replacement from NWSL. To make matters worse I found out the Sagami factory had burned down and it took almost a year till NWSL had replacements.
I now use Loctite on my crank screws and never leave one running unattended for long. It can and does happen.
Well, I guess the wife didn’t hit when she moved something near the tree as I suspected…I just could not believe this could happen. The rods are all still attached, nothing broke or fell off, just bent badly. I am going to call Hawthorne in the morning to see if they will let me return the locomotive. Seeing I am “barely” within the 1 year warranty period, even though it was just run for the 1st time, they may accept this back for replacement. Nothing came loose or fell off, that is what surprised me so much. The ghost of Casey Jones strikes again!
True. But while Bachmann’s loco designs and running performance have improved markedly in the last few years, their quality control still leaves much to be desired. Although I have had great luck with my Spectrum HO scale 2-6-6-2. : )
This topic has evolved (devolved?) into a series of horror stories about self-destructive steam engines so I’ll add mine:
I was “breaking in” a Bowser M1 once - thankfully before adding details - when a crank pin came out. A rod dropped and literally catapulted the engine to a concrete floor about 48" below. I was sick but the damage fortunately turned out to be pretty minimal.
Seeing that my son bought this at Hawthorne Collectibles, I contacted them today and they were very accomodating, that told me to ship the locomotive and tender back in the same box ( I save everything…luckily ) and affix the return postage paid label to the front. So, it is off to Hawthorne as of 12 noon. I will receive a replacement, but receiving it before Christmas will be very much in doubt. They do have it in stock, so hopefully it will arrive by the 24th.
To be honest these little things need to be checked every X hours of running or when put in service again. I just finished a check of valve gears on a Berkshire that was in storage for 15 years and the main crank pin was loose and the rivet in the reverse was loose. this was a PFM United that was in storage. Murphy works in the storage area also.[:D]
It happened to the prototype, more often in the “old days” but not unknown right at the end of steam.
One MILW loco broke a main rod (lubrication failure) while running at speed. The flailing rod end cleaned EVERYTHING off the engineer’s side of the locomotive - power reverse, running board, piping, even the streamlined shell and lagging. By some miracle, the loco stayed on the rails, but it never moved under its own power again.
On the N&W a J broke the eccentric rod on the fireman’s side. Once again, the rod end made a mess. The generator (mounted under the running board) was launched a half mile into some farmer’s field. After disconnecting and chaining up the disabled motionwork, the loco was run under its own power to Shaffer’s Crossing, allegedly achieving a speed of 85 mph running light on one cylinder! The peerless shop crew promptly repaired the damage and returned the loco to service.
