John Bull - Cornering problems

[AlanMintaka]

Hi Everyone,
I recently bought one of those Bachmann John Bull sets.  It's a great little train as far as workmanship goes and the motor runs reliably on my test track.  What I've noticed though is that it has a significant problem on curved track. 

It's a 2-4-0 with the front two wheels in a fixed frame.  That fixed frame is where the problem lies.  On track that's curved, the front two wheels are easily derailed.

It can't handle 18" radius at all.  I know this is pushing it for HO locomotives, but I haven't had any problems with that radius using 4-4-0 locomotives or other trains in the "Vintage" series such as the Dewitt Clinton or Lafayette.

For 22" to 28" radius, the front wheels will derail if the train is moving faster than a slow crawl.  I don't have tracks of larger radius on hand at the moment, but I doubt I'm going to want to go much higher than 28" with my current layout.

I was wondering if anyone else who happened to have this train was experiencing similar problems and/or if anyone had any suggestions about what I might do to try to fix this. 

If the front wheels could turn even a small amount , this wouldn't be an issue at all.  I'm wondering if I can do some kind of mod to make the thing work.  Unfortunately those little wheels are pretty restricted in that frame.  There's not a lot of room to move things around.

Anyway, thanks to all who take the time to read this and have a good day!

Big Al Mintaka

[tomcat623]

I'm pretty sure I've got one of those also. I'll check.
Tom

[tomcat623]

Well,  I put it on the mainline , ran well. So I set up an EZ track oval test track,(18""radius), ran well.  Looking at the front wheels it seems mine has about 3/32nd side to side play between wheels and carriage. Does yours have the spring that keeps the wheels pressed on the track? Is it strong?
Tom