GE 45-Ton Maintenance & Body Removal

[CNE Runner]

I have been noticing that my Bachmann GE 45-Ton locomotive hasn't been running as well as it did in the past. I cleaned the wheels by running it over an alcohol-soaked piece of toweling. This helped, but didn't completely solve the problem (BTW: the track had already been cleaned).

Under magnification, I saw copious amounts of fiber - wound around some of the axles and connecting rod attachment points. [I am of the opinion that the fiber comes from the same place that missing socks reside.] After an hour or so of 'picking' fibers out with tweezers, I got the lower running gear reasonably clean (I'll have to order a set of metric nutdrivers from Micro Mark to completely remove the connecting rods). My problem came when trying to remove the upper body shell.

According to the directions (from this website), one removes the couplers and their draft boxes (upper and lower halves) and the body should lift off. Not true. I did a search of this forum and lo' back in the Yampa Bob days (you would have to be a member of this group for some time to remember him) a poster had the same problem. Mr. Bach Man did some research and found that one has to remove the complete coupler assemblies...AND the four screws on the bottom of the base plate.

I mention this in case you have the same locomotive and want to check/clean/lubricate the drivetrain. It is amazing what can be learned by using the 'search' function.

Regards,
Ray