New N-scale not working out of the box.

[JoeBend1]

Hello All, My new N-scale Durango and Silverton does not run out of the box. I followed the set up directions and order of activation for the electrical.  I get a spark on the track, but nothing from the engine.  Any ideas anybody? Thanks, Joe

[James in FL]

Double check all the track section joints to be sure the top of the railhead is level at each.
And also double check the wire connections coming in from the power pack into the speed controller, and the connection at the speed controller going to the track.
There should be no spark. How and where are you creating a spark?

Check the video here;
https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=265_370_371&products_id=4837

[brokemoto]

Another thing that you must do with this one is make sure that the lead truck of the tender is making proper contact.  the lead truck of the tender on this one is the only one that is live.  You must make sure that the split  contact post on the underside of the locomotive near the cab is clean..  There are two brass stiff wires on the end of the drawbar that contact the split post on the locomotive.  Make sure that those stiff wires are clean.  Make sure that they are making proper contact with the split post.  If you must bend them in, YOU MUST DO SO WITH WITH EXTREME CAUTION AND CARE.  The soldering point is EXTREMELY BRITTLE and breaks easily.  What I do is secure them ahead of the solder points with a small pair of needlenose pliers and push them in VERY gently.  Still, I would avoid doing this if possible.  In addition, there are tabs coming from the tender truck that must make proper contact with the underside of the drawbar.  The Standard Line drawbar is an economy version of the SPECTRUM drawbar.  The design of the front tender truck creates a tremendous amount of drag on the locomotive.

The best remedy, if you are so inclined, is an upgrade by swapping the stock tender for a B-mann SPECTRUM USRA standard tender.  You might have to do a little work on the original tender shell to get it to go onto the SPECTRUM chassis.  Further, you must invert the drawbar.  There are several tutorials out there on how to do this.  Once you do the upgrade, you are left with a superbly performing locomotive.  The pulling power improves markedly, as well.  I expect that the only reason that B-mann never did this upgrade was to keep down the cost of the locomotive.