Flakey power pickup, Bachmann On30 Forney, DCC.

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I finally got a forney! :smiley:
sound equipped…and she’s a beauty! [:D]

arrived with some damage though… [:(]

one cylinder took a hit at some point in its long journey from China to me, was nearly broken off, but I was able to glue it back and straighten the piston rod…appears to be no lasting damage done…(I think…unless its related to issue described below…)

engine runs smooth, (when its running) sound working fine…
except the engine appears to be getting power ONLY from the tender truck!
no power pickup from the drivers at all…is that normal?
and when im testing the engine, sometimes the engine loses power…if I jiggle the tender truck, the power comes back on…

im sure its the tender truck causing the flakey pickup…other engines run fine on the test track.
I can lift the drivers right off the rails, and the wheels keep spinning, picking up power from the tender truck only…
however if I lift the tender truck off the rails, leaving the drivers on the rails, the whole thing goes dead…I have never heard of a model steam engine that doesnt pick up power from the drivers! [:O]

oh…one other thing…I switched tender trucks!
and…I never tested it with the original truck, because I didnt own a DCC system before I swapped trucks…
the wires to the tender truck appear to be uninsulated bare metal?!
how is that possible?
varnished wire or something??
im wondering if I scraped something loose when swapping trucks, and now perhaps im getting an intermittent short through those wires?

so…two odd things…(odd to me anyway!)

  1. power pickup from the tender truck only.
  2. tender truck wires, going to both rails, that appear to be uninsulated wire!

This is my first ever DCC engi

2

Your problem is more than likely related to your statement that you changed the tender trucks. You have possibly damaged the tender’s internal wiring, and have definitely voided your warranty by changing the trucks.

3

“definitely voided your warranty”?? I dont think so…and even if I did, I dont care.

“You have possibly damaged the tender’s internal wiring” hmmmm…maybe, but I highly doubt it.

I dont see how removing two screws, taking off the truck, putting on the 2nd style of Bachmann forney truck and screwing back the wires could “damage the tender’s internal wiring”…not terribly likely with such a minor modification…

and as to “voiding the warranty” I NEVER worry about that! [:D] not even the slightest concern…

im planning on taking this engine apart, cutting down the frame, slicing the axels in half and converting it to On2…so do you think that will void the warrenty? [;)][8D]

Here is what two of my Large Scale bachmann big haulers looks like at the moment, they are 4-6-0’s, here is a current picture of both of them:

If they run when I get them, thats the last time I worry about the warranty…

with all my engines, the warranty is void about 2 minutes after I take them out of the box and take a hacksaw to them! :wink: the warranty just isnt a big concern of mine…

on the Bachmann forum one of the guys said the drivers are supposed to have pickups…maybe a wire is loose, I will check it out…

thanks,

Scot