Hello all.
Twas the night before Christmas and from my 2-6-6-2, there’s not even a sound.
To the big “B” I sent it Oct. 27th, and now Dec. 22nd, It’s no where to be found.
I called the nice lady, to hear her say.
Hang tight it will be there someday.
Now I know, that neither sleet , snow nor gloom of night shall keep UPS or Fedex from their appointed rounds…wait a minute I’m getting confused.
Maybe I better stick to modeling. [:-^]
If I understand correctly my Spectrum was sitting somewhere waiting to be repaired. I’m told it was shipped yesterday, hope they sent a new one.
If no one remembers, this is the Bachmann that surged going down hill about 1&1/2" at a time.
Have fun all.
Lee
Mr. Bachmann, Mr. Bachmann,
Where are you? Where are you?
I’d really have more hope if
You’d ship my locomotive
2-6-6-2. 2-6-6-2.
From the “other” Mister B.
In my experiance with Bachmann, having sent back two or three of the thirty plus Spectrum locos I have, 6-8 weeks is not unusual for this time of year.
Again, they have a small staff, and you are not the only customer.
But in the end my results with the servicedepartment have always been good.
Sheldon
Hi!
Normally I would jump right in to this throwing rhymes right & left… But, the caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet, so I’ll just write my usual prose.
Bachmann will come through for you - but it will be by their timetable (which is privy to few). Have faith, keep communicating (so they don’t forget you), and your loco will arrive when you least expect it.
As I wrote on a few postings here last month (one even got locked), I had an episode with Bachmann repair service that really “got to me”. As it is now resolved, let me bullet the time line of events:
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One week old Spectrum HO 2-8-0 “threw a screw” that attached running gear to drive wheel.
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Bachmann Repair was contacted for a new screw, and I was told they would send a whole new chassis. As I only needed a very small metric specialty partially threaded screw, I thought this was overkill, especially since they wanted me to mail the old one back to them.
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I communicated with a couple of folks at Bachmann, asking only that I get the special screw, which I would even pay for. I was told that they had none available, and it was impossible for that to happen.
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I finally accepted the offer of the new chassis, but was told I needed “proof of purchase”, even though they had my warranty card.
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I had thrown out my original invoice (not my usual practice), but did manage to get into Paypal archives and get a copy of the payment - which had the loco details on it.
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I sent in a cover letter & proof of purchase via snail mail, and bolded in the letter that I also needed the small spacer as well as the screw. This was only noticed on this day.
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Three days later, guess what the postman brought me? Yup, an envelope with THREE of the type screws
HO HO HO
Santa came early. The UPs man dropped off a new 2-6-6-2 from the big “B”.
I did not expect it before Christmas. Happy days are here again. [swg]
You all have fun.
Lee
HA! Like I wrote - Bachmann WILL come thru - but when you least expect it.
ENJOY !!!
Mobilman44
And all’s well in Hooville! “God bless us, each and every one,” Tiny Tim, A Christmas Carol.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with a non-Bachmann 2-6-6-2T)
Lee,
Now that you have your replacement, being the owner of some 30 Bachmann Spectrum steamers, three of which are 2-6-6-2’s, may I suggest the following:
Test run it for a reasonable time to verifiy no problems.
Than add about 2.5 oz of weight to the tender to improve tracking and electrical pickup.
Adjust the drawbar up slightly so it is parallel to the track, not hanging down in the back.
Neatly arrange the wires to avoid the drawbar as much as possible.
Many miles of happy operation should then follow.
If any one needs or is interested, I have a number of other adjustments that have enhanced the performance of my other Spectrum locos as well.
Merry Christmas
Sheldon
Yes I have learned to do these things when I had the loco before. I have been running it for break in and found when running in reverse the tender wants to derail. I dropped a few weights on top of the tender.Works great.
I find that the 2-6-6-2 is a lot slower than the rest of my Bachmann steam. The top speed CV is set at full (255).
I wonder if it is geared lower or does the extra weight and amount of moving parts slow the motor down? [%-)]
Thanks for your help
Lee
Lee,
I’m sure their geared lower, they run slower than the 2-8-0’s on DC as well. They may be geared similar to the the 4-8-2, but with the smaller drivers that would make them slower.
The prototype was not a fast loco, so slow is good.
Sheldon
Lee, I have a Spectrum 2-6-6-2 and they are geared lower. When I bought the first release around 5 years ago, I returned it to my LHS for another one convinced that something was wrong. When the second one also ran slow at top speeds, I talked to a technician at Bachmann who indicated that the gearing was set up to provide slower speeds like the prototype.
Rich