Access to motor

[Andy A]

I have a freind who's a newbie in the hobby and he's asked me to have a look at why his Prairie 2-6-2 Isn't running. Thinking this was probably a simple case of a shorted wire against the frame, etc. I said O.K. Even though I've been in the hobby for several years, I havn't had much occasion to get into loco workings except for some of the popular locomotive kits and I'm not about to mess with any of my brass stuff. Anyway I'm completely stumped at how to get the superstructure seperated from the chassis. I've pulled the rear screw which was obvious and that area is loose but I can't for the life of me see what's holding the front section between the cylinders together and I don't dare apply force. I figured it would be better to get advice than break something.  Can anyone out there help me save face and at least get the thing apart??

[ABC]

It may also be due to really dirty wheels.

[rich1998]

below is a link to a diagram for the bachmann 2-6-2.

http://www.hoseeker.net/assemblyexplosionbachmann/bachmann262prairiediagram1990.jpg

you can click on the picture to make it larger. store the link to this site for future reference.
lex

[Jim Banner]

If your friends locomotive has a flat "pancake" motor as in the diagram, it is quite old.  If it is not dirty wheels as ABC has suggested, it could be dirt between the axles and long "pick up shoes" or poor contact between the fingers on the pickup shoes and the frame halves or poor contact between the frame halves and the motor brush holders.  If your friend has a lot of hours on this locomotive, you might even be looking at worn out bushes.  Because of the larger diameter of the flat commutator compared to the cylindrical one in the later can motors, and because the brushes were short to start with, the old 2-6-2 wore out brushes much quicker than we are used to today.

I see that the diagram shows only that one screw at the back that goes up into the body.  But it looks like the frame halves extend into the smoke box at the front of the boiler.  Could that mean that you have to remove that back screw then slide the boiler slightly forward to unhook it from the frame?  You might even have to lift the back of the boiler as you push it forward.  No guarantees, but worth a try.

Jim

[Andy A]

Thanks Jim, Lexon, and ABC for the suggestions. Turns out there were a couple of small ears up inside engaging the superstructure which when spread a bit released the whole chassis. Knew it had to be a KISS solution. On that note, for those who havn't used them I highly recommend the Bachmann E-Z Ryders for running in and testing locos. I just bought a set the other day and I'm running in my On-30 recently "Backwoods  Miniaturized" logging shay as we speak. They work Great! Maybe Bachmann could come up with an adjustable version  that would also work with narrow gauge HO? Or--has anyone had any luck modifying them for that use?