whenever i run my steamer it always skipps currents and goes duuu-…duhh duhh duhh like a topwater
what can i do
Well said, I know EXACTLY what your issue is.
David B
Corey,
Which particular steam locomotive do you have? Are we talking about one of the inexpenisve Bachmanns? Does it lurch and hesitate all over the layout or just at a particular spot on your layout?
Tom
YES is a bachman and it lurches!!! please help
Do us ALL a favor. Find out EXACTLY which bachman steamer it is…they make close to 30 different kinds.
Even better, post a pic of it.
David B
Corey,
FYI: The “Standard” Bachmann line - both diesel and steam - are not very good quality locomotives so this is not uncommon.
What you might try doing is to gently pick up the locomotive and see if you find spots of black “crud” on any of the wheels. Chances are that both our track and wheels - locomotive and any rolling stock - are dirty.
The easiest way to check is to ask your mom or dad for a bottle of 70% Isopropyl alcohol and a Q-tip. Dip the Q-tip into the alcohol, squeeze out any excess (but NOT too much), and rub it along your track rail a few times in one area. If the Q-tip comes up black, your track is dirty. Corey, you’ll need to clean BOTH your track and wheels on a regular basis or this problem will reoccur.
For cleaning your track, ask you mom if she has a lint-free rag somewhere that you can use. A rag will make the job a lot easier. (A regular rag or paper towel will work, too.) After you are done, inspect your track for any small fibers of material and remove them. If you don’t, these will get into your steamer’s linkage and mechanism and gunk it up.
For your wheels, use a Q-tip moistened with alcohol. Hold the Q-tip and rotate the wheel to clean it. After a rotation or two, inspect your Q-tip for dirt. Keep rotating you Q-tip so that you are always using a clean part of it. When it’s completely dirty, toss it into the trash and use a new one. A wheel is clean when no more black crud shows up on the Q-tip.
Okay, Corey, that’s a start. Let us know if that helps or not…[:)]
Tom
its a USRA 0-6-0 & Vanderbuilt tender
Oh man! I have three of those, and none of them ever ran worth beans. Two of them adorn a display shelf and the third got made into a rusted steamer on my layout.
Tell me about it! i only use Bachman deisels they are good!
[banghead] Is this guy pulling our chain?
David B
I haven’t had much of a problem with most of the Bachmann diesels I have. If they’re properly maintained, they last a long time. I have one that’s thirty years old. I just recently pitched the old open frame motor and shoe-horned in a PPW can motor then converted it to DCC just to see if it was possible.
YOU SANCTIMONIOUS MORON!! NOT MONON.
DAVID, IF YOU CAN’T SAY SOMETHING POSITIVE THEN KEEP IT TO YOUR SELF!!!
Sorry Bergie but! I have no time for arrogance or those West of the Manitoba/Ontario Border, except those West of Saskatechewan.
Land locked flat landers!!!
Fergie
Nope. Corey is one of our younger members here and comes around now and then to ask questions. He’s just starting out and doesn’t have a lot, nor a lot to spend on a layout.
REMEMBER: Corey (and others like him) ARE the future of this beloved hobby of ours…
Tom
OK…he is just really excited, thats cool. Eventually he will learn the pleasures of Atlas and Kato.
David B
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Ferg, what do you have against arrogant people in Saskatchewan and Manitoba? If I understand you correctly, you have time for anyone in Alberta or BC with arrogance.[C):-)] I spend part of my year on an Island on the BC coast.
David B
David, I’ve so gotta agree with Fergie, if ya can’t be constructive don’t say anything. I’ve read alot of your posts that read very similar to what you’ve said today, PULL YOUR HEAD IN BUD!!
Ken.
Attention David B. and Fergie;
How can you two live west of someplace that you cannot spell correctly; have either one of you checked the spelling of SASKATCHEWAN lately?
I had a Bachmann steamer with a similar problem, it’s ended up like Jefferys, a junker by the trackside, even with a good decoder it just wasn’t a nice runner.
Sorry to tell you!! But save up some cash and get one from the Bachmann Spectrum line
Ken.
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It was tounge-n-cheek (he set himself up).
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Which posts “read very similar to what” I have said?
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Ill worry about my own head, thank you.
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Fergie has a ‘history’ with me and looks for anything to jump upon.
David B
Good call, but I can’t mis-quote Fergie to correct his spelling (perhaps there is a magical Saskatechewan land that I dont know about?).
David B