Tender engine runs but won’t move . Putting pressure on tender top makes it try to moved
LIKE tried everything I know, but no go.
The Rookie Al
[:S] Well, you don’t give us much information to go on.
Can you identify the make and model you’re talking about, maybe post a picture?? (You probably can access a pic from the manufacturer’s website, or post a link to a pic on their website.) “Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0” or “BLI USRA heavy mikado” is going to tell us a lot more than “Old 119”.
By “tender engine” do you mean it’s a locomotive with a tender, or that it’s a model with the motor in the tender (vs. in the locomotive itself)?? Are the wheels spinning when you apply power, or does it just sit there and hum?? When you say “putting pressure on the tender makes it try to move” do you mean if you place a finger or a weight on the tender, the engine moves a little, or ??
I assume #119 is a 4-4-0 steamer from a Golden Spike type train set? It is often possible to diagnose a well-described problem from a distance, but I agree that without seeing the engine on our own workbenches there is not really enough clearly expressed prose here to give us much to go on.
Still, the whole process of troubleshooting involves questions along these lines. Does the thing run better if you hold it upside down in a sling rather than on track and apply wires to the wheels? If so then perhaps the rail to wheel contact is the problem. Or do you have the same problems with it not running. Does it run if the wires are applied directly to the motor? If so then something about delivery of current to the motor is the problem. That sort of thing.
So here my feeling is that when something doesn’t run when it just sits there, but runs – even if just “a little” – when you press down on it, that there is an electrical contact issue. In other words it is at least in part a mechanical issue.
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It might be that the wheels that collect current from the rails are not setting properly. That can be due to bent axles or distorted truck frames. Careful study using magnification might show this.
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It might be that the ends of the axles that transmit current to the trucks when in turn pass it along to the motor are not making good contact with the inside of the truck journals (dirt and carpet fluff can do this). removing the wheels and cleaning the inside of the journal openings with a toothpick dipped in a light oil might help
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it might be that there are metal tabs that touch the axles and convey electrical current and they are perhaps slightly bent or distorted and do not touch the axles solidly. This is a common problem with AHM/Rivarossi engines particularly if the tender has been disassembled and reassembled. A very very slight bending of them downward with
I agree there isn’t enough info.
you say you “tried everything I know”…just WHAT exactly is “everything”??? did you check/clean contacts?did you remove old lube from the internal gears and relube? Did you check for dirty track? Are you trying to run a DC loco on DCC or vice-versa? Are the wheels dirty?
How old is the engine? has it sat in storage? Is it brand new? what brand?
By “tender engine” do you mean what was previously asked, or do you simply mean it’s a steam loco WITH tender? as opposed to a deisel engine with no tender? Or is the motor in the tender as asked?
How many of the wheels on both the loco and tender are electrical pickups?
We need lots of info to help you. Spell it out to us as if we were “dummies”.
[8-|]
W I’ll get back with more information. Have to do more research.
Thanks for ideas, The Rookie. Al
Yeah, learn to include details.
This sounds like a tender drive loco. The motor is in the tender and drives the wheels of the loco via a drive shaft from the motor to the loco.
Sometime ago, someone wondered why the loco would not move. The motor would run but the drive shaft was missing.
Disconnect both and use the drive shaft to see if turning it when connected to the loco will turn the loco drivers.
Your mileage may vary.
The only other tender drive I am aware of has the wheels in the tender actually pushing the tender and loco.
Rich
If “Old 119” is a model of the UP 4-4-0 of that number that met SP’s Jupiter at Promontory for the golden spike ceremony, it really IS old. So the question is, what kind of drive does it have.
If it’s a tender drive, it probably incorporates a neoprene flex tube. Those have a tendency to fail with age. If the motor runs but the wheels don’t turn, the problem is in the drive system. Some disassembly will be required.
Without having the loco disassembled on my work top, that’s about as far as I can go…
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with some locos that have had neoprene couplings die)
Bachmann still sells the 119. I have the newest one and one maybe fifteen years old, plus a IHC version. Looks nice with the UP Photographers car.
Rich