Farish class 70

[Gloucester Road]

Ive become frustrated with my brand new class 70.

 

I have purchased a Farish class 70 (DC) and had it shipped to New Hampshire. After looking it over i put it on the layout to run, lights came on, it ran six inches or so started clicking and stopped. Then nothing no lights no movement sent so i sent it back for repairs. That was a month ago. Well it arrived back a few days ago and today i got to try it out. It doesnt run at all.

 

Ive checked and cleaned the wheel, taken it apart and looked at all the electrics and cant seem to find anything a miss. However if you press down on the top of the loco just above the fr in freightliner and behind the "fans" and apply pressure the loco will run as soon as you let go it stops.

 

Facing more international shipping back to Bachman wondering if anyone has an idea before it goes back.

 

Thank you

Stephen

[roundhouse]

Stephan

 

Its highly likely to be the following issue.

 

The Farish class 70 has a new kind of pickup from the bogies to the chassis. There are little phosphor bronze pickups that rise out of the bogie vertically then turn 90 degrees horizontally to rub on the underside of the chassis. A common problem is that with getting the loco out of its box you tend to squash the loco between the body and bogies. This causes these little pickups to bend and loose contact with the chassis.

 

There are two ways to resolve:

 

Remove the body then gently pull the bogies out then bend the pick ups back into position.

 

The other way is to try and do this without removing the bogies but its more fiddly and might take a few attempts.

 

To avoid this happening when handling, try not to hold the loco by the roof and bogies.

 

This has happened to both my class 70's and although they do not go back in the original box, it still happens occassionally. Not sure how many times the pick ups can be bent before they break though.

 

Ian

[Edwin_m]

I'm not familiar with the 70 but some other recent designs of Farish diesel the body can lift until the worm gear is jumping on the gear at the top of the bogie tower.  This can cause clicking and pushing it down will re-engage and allow it to move.  However the cure involves adjusting the tabs which form the pickups, and as the pickups are different I'm not sure how this would work on the 70. 

[roundhouse]

I'm not familiar with the 70 but some other recent designs of Farish diesel the body can lift until the worm gear is jumping on the gear at the top of the bogie tower.  This can cause clicking and pushing it down will re-engage and allow it to move.  However the cure involves adjusting the tabs which form the pickups, and as the pickups are different I'm not sure how this would work on the 70. 

 

The way the bogies fit into the chassis are quite different on the class 70. The 66's 60's  etc are more of a push fir into the chassis but the 70 are a much more chunkier arrangement and you do need a small flat screwdriver or similar to prize the bogies out, so the un-meshing of the gears shouldn't really be an issue on the class 70.

 

Ian

[Dr Al]

The Farish class 70 has a new kind of pickup from the bogies to the chassis. There are little phosphor bronze pickups that rise out of the bogie vertically then turn 90 degrees horizontally to rub on the underside of the chassis.

 

Is this new? Their class 20 has something similar, and I haven't heard of any issues with them?

 

Cheers,

Alan

[mercig studios]

Is this new? Their class 20 has something similar, and I haven't heard of any issues with them?

 

Cheers,

Alan

The ones on the 20 are larger and more robust where as the 70 has thinner versions as the running plate has a smaller width.

 

Roundhouse has explained very well how to fix the problem. Very simple fix and all you need to do is push the copper pickup up with a micro screwdriver.

 

It is very irritating and just the act of turning the loco upside down will often move the pickups away from the chassis..... I wonder how many returns Bachmann has had from customers thinking they had a dead loco.... would perhaps have been a good idea to post something on their website as it takes only a few seconds to push the pickups back up.

 

M

[roundhouse]

From what I have read on another forum aswell as on Rmweb, I suspect that Bachmann have had a lot of returns due to this issue.

 

One other problem with the class 70 is that its not very good at pulling long trains. my Farish 60's and 66's can pull 21 HIA coal hoppers but the 70 cant. There's a lot more plastic in the chassis so its a lot lighter. I have added small bits of lead wrapped in insulation tape (so it cant short on the chassis or circuit boards)  to just about every conceivable space inside the loco so that the 70's can now handle 21 wagons.

 

Ian

[Gloucester Road]

StephanIts highly likely to be the following issue.The Farish class 70 has a new kind of pickup from the bogies to the chassis. There are little phosphor bronze pickups that rise out of the bogie vertically then turn 90 degrees horizontally to rub on the underside of the chassis. A common problem is that with getting the loco out of its box you tend to squash the loco between the body and bogies. This causes these little pickups to bend and loose contact with the chassis.There are two ways to resolve:Remove the body then gently pull the bogies out then bend the pick ups back into position.The other way is to try and do this without removing the bogies but its more fiddly and might take a few attempts.To avoid this happening when handling, try not to hold the loco by the roof and bogies.This has happened to both my class 70's and although they do not go back in the original box, it still happens occassionally. Not sure how many times the pick ups can be bent before they break though.Ian

Ian,

 

That did the trick, 70006 is now happily running in on my boys oval. Thank you very much.

 

Stephen

[roundhouse]

Stephan

 

Glad to be of assistance and more importantly glad its working again without more shipping charges and waiting for it to return.

 

Ian

[Graham Radish]

I know this is a very old topic but i'm posting this just to let folks know about this loco instead of posting a new topic, while its body and chassis are superb the pickups are not great, what i did was solder on  bigger pickups, the factory ones don't always make contact with the split chassis, less than a drop of oil will kill electrical contact completely, its for this reason now that i never ever use oil of any kind, i use lithium grease, also a drop of DEOXIT D100 on the pickups will stop dirt and will ensure perfect contact.

 

I MUCH prefer the spring pickups on the Dapol n gauge stuff, they are a country mile better and need very minimal maintenance.

Edited June 12, 2020 by Graham Radish

[Number Six]

Although this is a very old thread, Bachman still don't seem to have fixed this problem. I found that my 70 was only picking up reliably from one bogie. On examining it closely I found that the contacts on the troublesome bogie were bent very slightly away from the chassis block. A few minutes work with a micro screwdriver seems to have fixed it, but I would have thought that the manufacturers would have sorted this by now!

[Cape Town Trev]

My issue is that the loco will not run but push body shell down it will. However, take the body shell OFF and the chassis alone runs perfectly so not a bogie pick up issue. Put body shell on chassis but NOT push to fit then runs perfectly. I suspect a “connection” issue when body is firmly in place.

Suggestions please.