Henry Keeps Derailing

[MetaDude27]

I just got Henry in the mail today, except every time I run him, his front two pairs of wheels keep "hopping" off the track. This only happens when he goes around curves. Does anyone know what's wrong?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Most likely it's this: Either the metal tongue that connects the front truck to the main chassis or the post on the chassis it goes on is bent. Straighten the bent part and he should run fine. I had the same problem with my Henry.

[MetaDude27]

Hmm... that could possibly be it. When I laid the tongue part on a flat surface, it appeared to be just ever so slightly bent, but I'm not sure it would be enough to throw the wheels off the track. Unfortunately, I've run into another problem. While running Henry to see if I could figure out why he was derailing, he suddenly stopped working all together! I don't think I did anything dramatic enough to damage him. Please help! (First my new Toby's coupler was malfunctioning, now my new Henry is completely inoperable! I don't want to know what'll happen to Donald and Douglas when I buy them in a few months! )

[therailwayinspector]

If he's stopped working altogether (no movement at all whatsoever etc) then you might have to send him back...

[MetaDude27]

You're probably right. Though I hope I'll be able to figure out what's wrong with him before it comes to that.

EDIT: Hooray!!! Henry started working again! Either it was using the track eraser on his wheels that did it or just randomly shaking and tapping him. Anyway, back to his derailing wheels.

Most likely it's this: Either the metal tongue that connects the front truck to the main chassis or the post on the chassis it goes on is bent. Straighten the bent part and he should run fine. I had the same problem with my Henry.

How bent was the tongue? Was it bent significantly or only just a tiny bit that was almost unnoticeable?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

A tiny bit, that's why it took me a hile to correctly diagnose the issue.

[MetaDude27]

Well, after straightening out the tongue, his wheels still derail. However, I think we found the problem. It appears that he only derails on right turns, and we also noticed that one of his small wheels hits against a piston linkage that sticks out more than it should. This causes the wheels to pop off around turns. All we need to do is fix the linkage so it doesn't stick out so much. Thanks for your help, though.

[fighter4luv]

A lot of my bigger engines also derail every now and then (Gordon, Henry, and James). I had to alter James, and rearrange the spring (especially to the one that attaches his tender as it kept randomly popping out).