Enhancing James' Perfomance

[kman781]

Excuse me if this has already been discussed, but any suggestions on how to improve James pulling strength by adding weights? I thought about using aquarium gravel in his cab, but i don't believe thats heavy enough...

[ThomasFan247]

Excuse me if this has already been discussed, but any suggestions on how to improve James pulling strength by adding weights? I thought about using aquarium gravel in his cab, but i don't believe thats heavy enough...

U can remove his cab and put in two nickels, 1 on each side of the cab 

[jettrainfan]

Excuse me if this has already been discussed, but any suggestions on how to improve James pulling strength by adding weights? I thought about using aquarium gravel in his cab, but i don't believe thats heavy enough...

U can remove his cab and put in two nickels, 1 on each side of the cab 

and its cheap!

[James The Red Engine]

I myslef am working on adding lead weight to him.  The process is hard because I have to make a mold and melt down the weight into the mold to fit it into the train.

[kman781]

Excuse me if this has already been discussed, but any suggestions on how to improve James pulling strength by adding weights? I thought about using aquarium gravel in his cab, but i don't believe thats heavy enough...

U can remove his cab and put in two nickels, 1 on each side of the cab 

Hmmm, I was thinking something much more heavier, but not a bad idea...

[ThomasFan247]

Excuse me if this has already been discussed, but any suggestions on how to improve James pulling strength by adding weights? I thought about using aquarium gravel in his cab, but i don't believe thats heavy enough...

U can remove his cab and put in two nickels, 1 on each side of the cab 

Hmmm, I was thinking something much more heavier, but not a bad idea...

The nickels do enhance the performance greatly. I used this method and now James can pull 4+ coahces.

[kman781]

I'll try that if I can't find any other ways. But tomorrow I'll go looking at fishing weights at the store....

[White_Crow05]

Does the nickels in there rattle? and is it easy to take the cab off james?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Depends. If you've got one of the ones where a screw got covered by plastic, then no. Otherwise yes. And presumably one would glue the nickels on, affixing them with superglue, some other CA glue, epoxy, Blu-tak, or what have you.

[StanierJack]

I've ordered a Bachmann James and Percy to do "improvements" to relatively soon. Opening the cabs up and adding weights are one agenda, adding pickups to James and detailing could be another if you want

[Guilford Guy]

http://www.ppw-aline.com/weights.htm

[kman781]

Well everyone, I've suceeded in improving James' tractive effort! I visited one of the local mega-chain stores, went to their fishing aisele and got these things called "Egg Sinkers", which are made of steel. I just jammed 4 into the cab of James, along with decoder wires and PRESTO! If anyone wants to do the same, make sure you wrap the weights in electrical tape so they won't short anything. 

[kman781]

Does the nickels in there rattle? and is it easy to take the cab off james?

Its VERY easy to take the cab off- just remove the two screws underneath the cab.

[White_Crow05]

i've tried nickels and the lead weights and still my james is performing poorly. with out pulling anything at all the driving wheels spin and a high rate and james creeps along slowly, also he seems to want to derail at switches anyone know how to fix these?

[Michigan Railfan]

This is just a suggestion. I don't have James personally, but by photos of the engine, this might work. If anyone has a standard Bachmann Tank car, smash it. Take the wieght out, and you can see that it might be rounded just enough  to fit perfectly inside of James. Now, you can't take it apart and take out the wieght, as there is no screws to take out and take the car apart. Atleast, I don't think there is. I smashed one with my friend because it did'nt work anymore, and took out the wieght, because I salvaged as much as I could from it, and we put the rest in his scrapyard.