Bachmann class 03 poor running

[Dan Griffin]

hello there, i have a modelzone limited edition class 03, 03179 in NSE livery. however im having a bit of trouble with it. on normal track it runs fine, but it stalls on almost every insulfrog point on my layout, regaurdless of direction,( i have a loco thats got a smaller wheel base than the 03, a Bachmann ho gauge percy,, and it runs fine over all my points) and it als seems that the rods somtimes 'lock' when going bonnet first, then i have to reverse direction to unlock it so it runs again. has anyone else had this problem with the 03? apart from that its a cracking loco with plenty of detail. any help people can give would be great. cheers.

[Jenny Emily]

The stalling sounds likely to be one or more of the wiper contacts not touching the wheels. Careful prodding with a small screwdriver to bend them to touch will be the best way to fix this.

 

My 03179 in NSE toothpaste livery runs sweetly with no issues, however my Rails Exclusive 03371 locks in one direction (the same way that you describe). I have yet to investigate the reason, but I suspect the quartering being ever so slightly out.

[Gwiwer]

Can you test each pair of wheels individually to check they pick up power? For example by inverting the loco and taking track power via probes or cleaning brushes to each wheel set in turn. This will quickly show up which wheel(s) require(s) attention. Sometimes it's more than one. The wiper contacts are quite fine so you need to be careful with them but they should be sprung so that they maintain contact with the back of the wheels at all times. Test that they do this by moving the wheel sets as far as they will go with the free play allowed to left and right.

 

It only takes one wiper to not be in contact with its wheel to cause a stall on such small locos but on straight level track they will run just fine with only half the wheels picking up power this giving no indication that anything is amiss.

[big jim]

ive just got my modelzone 03179 back from bryan at howes for sound chipping, it sounds like we have similar problems regards the rods locking, mine does it now and again but when running cab first, if you lift it off the track you can see the rod is bending slightly at the jack prop end, i quick jiggle releases it, springing it back into place, or as you say change direction cures it

 

i have yet to give it a good running in, only had about 10 mins each way onthe rolling rd, my Hornby 08 benefited from leaving it running for about 8 hours each direction!!

 

regards the sound chip in it, when its running without sound it is a great runner, runs well over my electrofrog points but put the sound on and it runs like a dog, stalling all over the shop, i will have to have a look at the pickups on it as it seems to pick up on one side better than the other, for example putting it on the track with power and pushing the whole body to the right will make it move, pull the body back to the left and the loco stops as if one set of contacts is only just touching the wheels

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

As above you need every wiper on every wheelback, maintaining contact through the full side to side travel of each wheelset. I would take the keeper plate off to make this adjustment if required. This is an inspection I do without fail on every new RTR purchase, although of late both Bach and Hornby are doing better than they were five years ago in this matter. Obviously any fluff, grease or other contaminants should also be removed.

[bluex5]

+1 for the wiper suggestions. I've just been chasing perfect running on mine, tracked down hesitancy to one of the rear wheels not making full contact with it's wiper. If you have facility to hold the loco upside down and apply power to each axle you'll soon track down any lazy pick ups. Then it's an easy job to unscrew the baseplate and bend the pick ups to create more "pick up".

[Butler Henderson]

Took the body off mine today to try to find out why it was very noisy in one dirction and discovered the rear part pf the plastic motor mount had snapped so there was nothing holding the back of the motor in place. Its now gluing back together hopefully.

[ThaneofFife]

as well as the contact tension mentioned above, pop the wheelsets out and clean the faces of the contact strips where they rub on the wheelbacks too. also does no harm to clean the wheelbacks whilst youre at it. bit of meths should clean off any muck caught between wheel and contact. on an 0-4-0 it doesnt take much to cause ropey running.

[Sam Moss]

I've got two 03's, one DC and the other with sound. I found that the DC one straight out of the box it jammed up on the fly cranks. Seeing as they are hidden behind the cab steps I did away with them and it now runs lovely. The DCC sound one behaved well for a while, was prone to stalling though at the slightest hint of dirty track so its been wired to a match wagon which pretty much doubles its length of pickup. This has all of a sudden started jamming on the jack shaft when running at the higher end of its maximum speed. It will get the same treatment as the other one when I get round to it.

[ThaneofFife]

Well even on the real network BR had to do some jiggery pokery and hook them up with a wagon (to trigger the signal box track circuits during light engine station pilot moves).