JohnH Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I've an early Bachmann 66 - EWS 66135 (DC only) that has never run very well from new and I've recently tried to get the thing working properly after months of storage. It's the 8 wheel pickup version. Despite my live frog SMP points and reasonably clean track it has a tendancy to stall, especially when traversing curved sections of pointwork. (I've got around 30 other Bachmann/Heljan/Hornby locos that run very well on the same trackwork) I tried adding extra pickups to one bogie but that didn't seem to help. I've cleaned the wheel treads/backs and the pickup wipers. I've 'tweaked' the pickup wiper bronzes to make sure they're contacting the backs of all the wheels. The motor appears to run fine when I connect dc to the pickup wiring on the loco. The fact that it tends to stall more on slight curves suggests that there may be a problem with the pickups or possibly the wheel bearings?. Then again, I may just have a duffer... Any help or ideas greatfully recieved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Might be worth checking the pickups are touching the wheels again, particularly when the wheels are pushed to one side as they would be when going around curved pointwork. I have seen pickups that are fine with the wheels central but as they move from side to side the pickups lose contact. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Seen this very behaviour in a couple of Bach diesels. No trouble on the bogies, wipers in good contact with wheelbacks, wires soldered on to the pick up strips secure, no grease or dirt. But inside, where those pick up wires reach the board, they are clipped on. This can be a bit flaky, as it is entirely dependent on the assembly operative's skill. On some locos 6-7mm bare wire ends have been inserted through the tab hole and bent over, then clipped = 'fine'; other locos have barely 2mm of bare wire lying on the board tab and the clip applied = 'flaky'. On the latter as the wires move as the bogies swivel for curvature, the connections 'come and go'. Solder them up, and all is well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted December 21, 2011 Author Share Posted December 21, 2011 Thanks very much for the replies Gents - I'll try your suggestions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmnp Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I had exactly the same problem with my Bachmann 66. The problem in that instance was the pickups, while they looked to be touching the back of the wheels when you picked the loco up, if you applied a little pressure to the wheel to push it sideways the pickup immediately lost contact with the back of the wheel. This wheels will move side to side slightly as the loco runs over point work and thus will stall. I gently bent the pickups to apply more pressure to the back of the wheels and the problem was solved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 The old invisible ink again.... B) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete2210 Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I've an early Bachmann 66 - EWS 66135 (DC only) that has never run very well from new and I've recently tried to get the thing working properly after months of storage. It's the 8 wheel pickup version. Despite my live frog SMP points and reasonably clean track it has a tendancy to stall, especially when traversing curved sections of pointwork. (I've got around 30 other Bachmann/Heljan/Hornby locos that run very well on the same trackwork) I tried adding extra pickups to one bogie but that didn't seem to help. I've cleaned the wheel treads/backs and the pickup wipers. I've 'tweaked' the pickup wiper bronzes to make sure they're contacting the backs of all the wheels. The motor appears to run fine when I connect dc to the pickup wiring on the loco. The fact that it tends to stall more on slight curves suggests that there may be a problem with the pickups or possibly the wheel bearings?. Then again, I may just have a duffer... Any help or ideas greatfully recieved. John, I purchased a Bachmann 66 in GBRf livery with all wheel pickup and suffered the same problems, turning over the loco showed that of the twelve pickups four or five of them were not making contact with the axle concerned at it's furthest point of "Play", as the other folk who have replied said, check those pickups again. Best wishes Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 it has a tendency to stall, especially when traversing curved sections of pointwork. Sounds to me like a classic B2B issue - especially if all other locos (especially other 66xxx's) go through the same curved section of pointwork. Even if not I would still check the points - if you are depending on the switch blade providing continuity then I'd be even more suspect of the point as the 66 is more like 2 separate locos as the bogies are a long way apart. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 Just a quick update on this. I revisited the pick up tweaking option and after some delicate(!) work with tweezers/pliers mananged to get 7 of the 8 pickup strips actually touching the wheel backs on all sections of my trackwork. I unfortunately damaged the final one... I then added additional pickups to the previously non-current collecting wheels on that particular bogie and the loco now performs perfectly. Many thanks again for everyones help and all the best for 2012. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ELTEL Posted December 30, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 30, 2011 How nice to read a story with a happy ending. I will now go and sort out my 66135 which from time to time Has had the same problem. All the best to all railway modellers for the new year ELTEL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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