Three duff locos in a row - any advance?

[rodshaw]

After a run of excellent purchases on ebay, I've hit a rough patch in the last few weeks.

 

First, I bought an Atlas U30B with sound and it was completely dead so I sent it back.

 

Then I saw a nice looking BLI SW7 with sound from another seller and it stalled intermittently for no apparent reason. Also, I couldn't set any of the CVs with my Roco Multimaus. So I sent it back.

 

Then I bought a Bachmann GP38-2 with factory fitted DCC from yet another seller, described as new (which I think it was, apart from maybe having sat on a shelf for several years) and it was so noisy I sent it back. (I've since seen an old thread on here about similar experiences, the locos are apparently just made like that).

 

Just the luck of the draw I suppose. Pity because all three were nice looking locos. To be fair all the sellers were very good about handling returns.

 

Interestingly, the locos I have that run best are DC ones I bought cheap, one for as little as £9 and none over £35, and converted to DCC myself. A lesson there somewhere, methinks. Maybe I'm getting impatient but increasingly, I can't be bothered faffing with such mods, or coaxing badly behaved purchases to go better, and just want something off the shelf that goes properly.

 

Ah well, as I'm a glutton for punishment now I'm waiting for a 4th loco I've ordered from a 4th seller so fingers crossed.

 

So who has had a longer run of American turkeys..?

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

I don't buy American but have had good and bad experiences from Ebay.

 

A Mainline 56xx some years ago advertised as "As New" didn't go so I got a refund. A couple I have had for projects advertised as poor runners just needed a clean out and service, so turned out to be real bargains.

 

The last one that was a bit iffy running I wanted to keep as it was a particular number I wanted. I bought another of the same class advertised as a good runner but with body damage and found that the original one had been reassembled with an incorrectly fitted part causing the damage. I swapped the parts as necessary, kept the motor for a spare and sold the surplus serviceable bits for more than I paid for the second loco. 

[Alcanman]

I guess you've been unlucky Rod. I've been buying US locos for years and never had a problem. Most of my purchases have been brand new from retailers in the UK and US.

 

Recent purchases have all been sound fitted locos and I'm particularly surprised that your Atlas U30B was a lemon. My U30B was one of the smoothest runners and great sound.

 

Don't give up, I'm sure you'll find 4th time lucky!

 

Mal

[Zomboid]

My Bachmann S2 is a bit of a dog (helpfully for a switcher it won't go slow), but I'm hopeful that a good running in session will cure that, when I can get a circle set up. My GP60 was the sweetest runner I've ever had straight out of the box, though.

The bad stuff I've had was Hornby/Lima from the early/mid 90s. Looking at it now, they looked bad and ran worse...

[pmackinnon2004]

I have a Bachmann GP38-2 with factory fitted decoder, it was unbelievably noisy. I swapped it out for an NCE BACH-DSL drop in decoder and it's now as quiet as the proverbial church mouse. It seems that this is a fairly common fault with these locos/decoders, according to the tinterweb.Just my experience, for what it's worth.

 

Cheers

[stock_2007]

I think it is just down to bad luck, but in saying that I keep a list of the locos I've had and the problems if any I've had with them so I know what to look for. Its not just s/hand you can have problems with I paid full RRP for a loco and it just sat dead on the track smiling at me. I've never had a problem with Kato or the newer Atlas, but Genesis can be trouble. I try and keep away from the older Atlas that are pre-fitted with a DCC chip as I always have to swop the chip out

[F-UnitMad]

I have a Bachmann GP38-2 with factory fitted decoder, it was unbelievably noisy. I swapped it out for an NCE BACH-DSL drop in decoder and it's now as quiet as the proverbial church mouse. It seems that this is a fairly common fault with these locos/decoders, according to the tinterweb.Just my experience, for what it's worth.

Cheers

Agree with that. The only really duff loco I've ever had off Ebay was a Bachman Geep, DCC-fitted (non sound). I bought it only because I was just getting into DCC; had got a Powercab & thought a Factory-fitted loco would be a good 'benchmark' against which I could judge the success - or failure - of my own attempts to fit DCC chips myself.

It ran very noisily, & also wobbled a lot - a result of the way the trucks were mounted, so was put back on ebay after a few months & I'd gained more confidence with CV programming etc.

My first Weaver GP38-2 in O Scale failed to impress. Turned out to be a late-run model which had much in common with it's 3-rail counterpart, including a rather rough "China Drive" twin-motor set-up. When I've later bought two other Weaver Geeps I made sure they were the earlier versions, with a central motor & flywheel drive; much better!!

Many years ago another Lemon I got was an N Gauge Geep by Model Power. It had only one truck powered, & in fact could barely even pull itself along, never mind any stock! I was only just getting into US outline at the time, so didn't muck about with it, & soon traded it in at a model shop.

 

But in general, all my other US locos I've owned, in N, HO or O, have been good or exceptional runners. After all, one of the reasons I - & many others in the UK - were drawn to US outline years ago, was the vastly superior drive system compared to the then-standard British 'Pancake' motor.

[Loconuts]

I only had one bad experience with a duff loco which was a new MMI K-28 from the States. First time I tried to run as a DC powered loco the lights flared and then went dead as with the loco. No obvious cause came to light on examination.

 

Several years later I spent a day on trying to sort out the problem rather than sending back to the retailer in the States. Result is I now have a very nice running K-28 DCC fitted with all the lights working. Cause of fault, a short on the valve gear. So rather than ditching a badly working model try spending a little bit of time trying to sort it out is my moral.

 

Loconuts

[w124bob]

If the Atlas U30B had QSI sound decoder they seem to have a life of their own. Basically don't expect the loco to run if it's been used on another DCC system, been off the layout for any lenght of time or if there is Y in the month.

[rodshaw]

One of the things that intrigued me was that my Roco Multimaus wouldn't recognise the BLI SW7 decoder so I couldn't try a reset or anything else. It just kept giving errors. I've since read that if the decoder's rated amperage is too high (or something) some controllers can't cope.

 

But I agree with the general comments above that US locos are generally very good runners.

 

I've bought a fourth loco now and it's excellent. A Bachmann Alco S4 with factory fitted DCC. Oh just one thing...it's N gauge, not HO like the others. Thought I'd dabble a bit!

[Gene]

My Bachmann S2 is a bit of a dog (helpfully for a switcher it won't go slow), but I'm hopeful that a good running in session will cure that, when I can get a circle set up. My GP60 was the sweetest runner I've ever had straight out of the box, though.

The bad stuff I've had was Hornby/Lima from the early/mid 90s. Looking at it now, they looked bad and ran worse...

 

I received a brand new Sound fitted S2 direct from Bachmann a few weeks ago...noisy as heck!  and a dreadful hum at the standstill when the sound was muted...truly the worst of the recent Bachmann sound-fitted locos I have bought in recent years. It took a lot of tweaking and hours of running-in to get it where it sort of should be.

[NickBrad]

I do wonder how Bachmann managed to go so wrong with the American stuff, yet their UK stock has been great from what I've experienced. 

[Oldddudders]

My senior lemon was a new BLI Santa Fe 4-8-4, which had a dead short on arrival. Investigation showed the tender-loco connections to be rather over-soldered under the cab. Judicious use of a blade sorted it.

 

As far as other sad purchases are concerned, a Mistral SNCF Picasso railcar, the last digitally equipped one in the shop, turned out to have a broken driveshaft. More recently, a Hornby King Arthur, bought on ebay as unused, did indeed seem to be so, but ran appallingly because something had seized solid. Attempts to gently free it off resulted in a snapped joint. And when I bought the parts to replace it, the old ones proved impossible to shift. Sigh.

 

Good job it's only a hobby, eh?

[F-UnitMad]

I do wonder how Bachmann managed to go so wrong with the American stuff, yet their UK stock has been great from what I've experienced.

 

As far as I know, a lot of Bachmann US stuff pre-dates their UK outline by many years, & was contemporary with the likes of Model Power, Mantua etc; i.e. verging on the 'toy' side of the hobby. A Bachmann HO F-Unit I once had actually had the same pancake motor as the original Palitoy/Mainline Class 45 - I think they were made in the same factory!

[jjb1970]

Bachmann US used to be aimed at a very different market than their US models and were pretty much bargain basement alternatives to products offered by Atlas, Kato, Athearn Gensis etc. Interestingly that is changing, the SRP of their SD70ACe seems to be higher than the Athearn Genesis offering despite not being as good.

[rodshaw]

I received a brand new Sound fitted S2 direct from Bachmann a few weeks ago...noisy as heck!  and a dreadful hum at the standstill when the sound was muted...truly the worst of the recent Bachmann sound-fitted locos I have bought in recent years. It took a lot of tweaking and hours of running-in to get it where it sort of should be.

 

As a matter of interest, what sort of tweaking did you do to improve it?

[Gene]

As a matter of interest, what sort of tweaking did you do to improve it?

Not in order of importance.....extensive running-in on the rolling road, about 2 hours in each direction at 50% power,.........cleaning all the excess grease out of the running gear........carefull oiling of the worm-gear assemblies and all the motor bearings.

And although it is much improved in both noisiness and running qualities it is still the noisiest of my 9 Bachmann Sound-Value locos.

I just recieved a new Bachmann Sound-Value S4 that has perfectly silent running gear....smooth as silk.