Cabrider

Hi Mossdp, You're spot on! I suspected the controllers from the start before I got sidetracked with looking for other reasons. Like many I have read many comments on the Hornby R8250 Controllers most of which are less than complimentary! You can now add my comments the that chorus. I bit the bullet today a bought a Gaugemaster D controller and guess what? The loco now runs perfectly and has completed a one hour session without fault. So there we have it. I guess it must have been putting a new motor in made it draw more current which was more than the Hornby controllers could stand! Thanks to everyone for their help in trying to identify the problem but once again it shows one should trust one's instincts when it comes to fault finding. I done the same thing many times on cars over the years only to find it was something simple and not the complicated reasons I was looking at.

I am now running the chassis with the body placed on but not fully down. Let's see what happens. UPDATE: Running okay. Have now put insulation tape to cover the DCC ready chip completely. Now test running with body fully pressed home. UPDATE 2: No luck. Ran for 10 minutes and stopped. There is no logical reason for what is happening. It's like your car engine running with the bonnet up but stopping the minute you close it! I am now ready to admit defeat!

I have now narrowed the problem down. The chassis runs perfectly on its own but as soon as the body is fitted, hey presto! it stops after a short while. So I agree with those who say it must be a short somewhere. I resoldered the red wire to the motor as it had a stray wire. I have placed insulating tape over the motor wires and motor top but it still doesn't cure the problem, so it must be somewhere else. If it where the wiper strips surely it happen whether the top was on or not.

I have tried all combinations of running, loco first, tender first, clockwise, anticlockwise, on inner and outer circuits and it only exhibits the cut out problem going forwards loco first in a clockwise direction on the outer circuit and is the only loco to do this.. I have tried again this morning and it runs for exactly 31/2 minutes and then stops. I am now at a loss to know where to look to solve this.

It only stops on a curve; loco will run straight away after resetting cut-out. Can't see it being the curvature as outer track is 3rd radius and the inner is 2nd radius and the problem is on 3rd radius track. Can't see it being the resistance in the wiring as I interchanged controllers which have identical lengths of wiring. Haven't tried it in both directions - I'll give that a try and see what happens. I should add I am using the Hornby R8250 controllers which I read are not the best, so if it is the loco drawing too much current would a different controller such as Gaugemaster make any difference? I also recently fitted a new motor to this loco but it has been running fine until the other day. Thanks for your replies, much appreciated. Incidentally, the loco in question is the Bachmann 76079 as featured in my avatar.

Just recently I have a loco that has started to trip out the overload cut-out. My problem is that I have tried everything to find out what's causing it but without success. The loco runs for 3 minutes and trips the controller out. The problem is that no other loco does it, and, here's the problem, it only does it on the outer track and runs perfectly on the inner track. I have renewed sections of track, swapped over the control units and it still trips the other unit, checked the wiring in the loco, and nothing makes any difference! So it's not the control units because both trip out when used on the outer track, not the loco because it runs perfectly on the inner track, and not the track as every other loco runs perfectly. I am at a loss now and can't see what it can be. Anyone any ideas? Answers on a postcard please!!

Thanks everyone for all the replies. As I said it seems to be running better than ever now but I have ordered a new motor just in case so at least I will have one if the old one should give up the ghost! Like 34th I hope I never need it but at £19 it's worth having it and hoping never to need it!

Good Morning RFS, I wondered if the DCC socket could be affecting it so I've cleaned that up as well. I released the motor from its cradle and tested it and it ran but only for short spells intermittently. I then fiddled with the little brass contacts that presumably are the brushes and hey presto it worked! So it looks like it is the brushes but as they look to be unreplaceable I'll probably get a new motor anyway just in case as if the brushes are on their last legs it will only be a matter of time before the problems reoccurs and it may then not be fixable. Looks like it benefited from all the cleaning too as it seems to run quieter and smoother now than it ever did before! Thanks for your help with this, I've now learned a little bit more about what can go wrong and how to fix it.

I don't think there is a decoder fitted, it's just DCC ready, so what are the 2 small PCB's one on top of the other at the front end of the chassis? I will give testing the motor a go if I can get it out of the chassis without breaking something, which is of course what I'll have to do anyway if the motor needs replacing!

Hi RFS, thanks very much for your help. If it's only £14 as you think it's definitely worth a go before replacing the whole loco! I'll contact Bachmann quoting the part number. Thanks again!

Hi, I think this is my first post on the site, and not one I welcome! My Bachmann 4MT 76079 suddenly this week started to slow and today has finally ground to a halt. I have taken the chassis out and cleaned the drive and worm, lightly oiled the motor bearings, and generally cleaned up any dirt I could see. Sadly this is all to no avail, it refuses to run. I suspect this to be a motor problem but cannot find anywhere that tells you if these motors a capable of being serviced at all, with new brushes say. Has anyone had this experience with Bachmann locos, and if it means a new motor where can I get one.

Apologies for going slightly off piste, but who makes the best backscenes. I recently had one from Gaugemaster, the industrial backscene and it's terrible, so blurry that I don't think it's useable! It looks like it was taken on some cheapo camera with colour fringeing from the poor lens.

I recently bought a preowned Bachmann 108 which had a quite loud growl which I guessed meant the motor needed a drop of oil. Having read this thread I tried to remove the bodyshell using the method described here. I didn't manage it and was fearful of breaking something by trying to hard. I decided that it might be easier if I could push something in which released all the tabs at once. I found some clear stiff plastic packaging, the sort that cuts your skin to ribbons trying to open the packet! I cut two lengths just slightly shorter than the body so as to give a bit of movement and once I had got one end of the plastic in using my fingernail to lift the body, I was able to push the plastic over all the tabs. I repeated the process on the other side and hey presto! off it came no trouble at all. Replacing the bodyshell was just as easy. Place one of the plastic sheets inside the body. Then offer the chassis to the bodyshell. Offer the rear of the chassis first as it does push back slightly to lock it in. Before you try to push the chassis in, place the other piece of plastic between the chassis and bodyshell on the opposite side. The chassis will then go in quite easily. Once you're happy the chassis is fully in, carefully pull the plastic sheets out one a time from each side making sure you keep the chassis and body firmly together. As you pull the plastic sheets out you can hear the clicks as the tabs engage in the slots. Sounds complicated, but it works a treat, and once you've done it this way you won't be frightened of doing it again!