engine/tender hookup

[arthur0109]

   just received my first locomotive and have a dilemma. how to hook them together. there is a hookup post in the tender and a hookup on the engine which looks like it needs to be bent to receive the tender post.am i right on this? this is the bacchmann northern 4-8-4 #3783.   thanks   

[RobBob]

Check the screw that holds the drawbar to the locomotive first.
I have purchased some loco's where the screw came loose in shipping(?)
After tightening the drawbar it aligned straight to the tender, as it is meant to do
without any bending........

good luck.

[arthur0109]

robbob thanks for the response. tightened the screw as much as i dare for fear of cracking the plastic. gave the bar a slight bend (1/8) inch and it seems to hook up pretty good. i'll know better  when  my track arrives in the mail.

[rogertra]

It's not unusual for the tender drawbar to be slightly adjusted.  As other have mentioned, make sure the screw holding the drawbar is tight.  There's a shoulder when the drawbar fits so it's not possible to overtighten the drawbar but you could strip the thread in the plastic hole, so be careful.

If you use set track curves or curves below about 28 inch radius, you'll need to have the drawbar hook in the second hole, the one that gives the larger gap between engine and tender, so that the tender doesn't foul the cab.  If you have radii of 28 inches or better, you can use the close coupling hole.  The one that gives the smaller space between engine qnd tender.

On many Spectrum tenders, you'll find that the tender will track better with a little weight over the tender's front truck.  Open the tender and glue a stack of pennies directly over the front truck, being careful to insulate the pennies so that they don't touch any exposed wiring or the circuit board.