jingle bell express 0-6-0

[joe.snyder.77]

hey folks.  I have the jingle bell express set. 

I am having issues with the engine spinning the tires and the entire train stopping. 

I have wiped the track off with alcohol and cleaned the engine wheels.

when cold, i can run this train wide open with no issues, but as it warms up, it starts slipping more and more until the train completely stops.

is this engine supposed to have rubber traction on wheels.

other trains run on same track with no problems.

[jward]

No this engine is not supposed to have traction tires on the wheels. Traction tires are a sign of a cheap, poorly designed, underpowered locomotive and they tend to cause alot of problems. That's why most manufacturers did away with them and upgraded their product line. Bachmann is no different.

You didn't provide much info in your post so here are some questions:

Is all your track level, or do you have any upgrade sections like an incline or trestle set?

How many cars are you attempting to pull when you have problems?

Are you using smoke fluid in the locomotive?

Are there certain areas of your track where the locomotive spins its wheels or does it do it at random spots?

The answers to these questions will help us determine exactly why you are having problems, and offer solutions.

[joe.snyder.77]

Hey Jeff,

thanks for the reply. i guess i did leave somethings out.

Is all your track level, or do you have any upgrade sections like an incline or trestle set?
  On Hardwood living room floor - completely flat

How many cars are you attempting to pull when you have problems?
    3 at most, but i am also getting spinning with just caboose

Are you using smoke fluid in the locomotive?
  no, i didn't think this model had the smoke feature.

Are there certain areas of your track where the locomotive spins its wheels or does it do it at random spots?
  Random spots,no matter how i spin the oval track, it always stops behind something i can't reach

The answers to these questions will help us determine exactly why you are having problems, and offer solutions.
this set was purchased last Christmas, and was put away until last week.

Thanks Again!

[jward]

Take a good look at the wheels of your cars, particularly the caboose, and the coal tender behind the engine. Are all the axles properly seated in the trucks? They should spin freely by hand. It does sound like you have something dragging like an axle not seated properly.

Also, given that your train seems to bog down at the same spot no matter how the track is oriented, I suspect your floor is not actually level. Your locomotive is a good little runner, I have several of them myself. But they do not pull well on the slightest upgrade. There isn't alot you can do about that except to level your track. A cheap carpenters level, and cardboard shims placed under the track will fix the problem.

I've also run into issues with them bottoming out on the rerailers that come with the sets. You can gently file either the plastic part of the rerailer between the rails, or the bottom of the gearbox cover on the locomotive. It shouldn't take much to provide enough clearance so it doesn;t bottom out anymore.

One final note, not directed at you but as an aside to anybody following this thread. Diesels generally pull better than steam locomotives. In this case, the FT or GP40 diesels used in Bachmann's sets will outpull that little 0-6-0 in your set by a factor of 3 or 4. If anybody is planning on building a layout with steep grades like I have, this can be the difference between pulling 3 cars and pulling 12 or more.

[joe.snyder.77]

Hey Jeff,

Well color me embarrassed.

I took your advice and started with just the loco, tender, and caboose.  All axles were in their correct places.  I put a little oil, and I mean little.

The train went around the track with no slippage. 

Every time I added one more car, the train would start slipping. 

The set came with loco, tender, oil tanker, flatbed car, and caboose.  I was pretty sure Bachmann would not have put that many in the set if the loco wasn't made to pull that many.

I got ready to oil the tanker car, checking to see if the wheels were in the trucks correctly.  I popped them out to check and found hair and dirt.

Almost all the cars had some hair wrapped around.

So I took out all the wheels, cleaned all hair and residue off, re-oiled, and re-assembled.

I was able to add all the cars in the set with no issues.

let this be a learning opportunity for all of us!    

Thanks again for the help!
-j-

[trainman203]

Oiling the cars' wheel bearings is not a good idea. It is going to eventually run down and get all over the track and make your train start slipping again.  What would've been better would've been powdered dry graphite available on any Model Railroad retail website.  The stuff directed to model railroaders is made by Kadee to lubricate couplers, but there are other makes for other hobby applications as well.

Oh. Jeffrey.  About diesels pulling better than steam engines.  At the old club, my Bachmann consolidation would pull 18 cars up a 2% grade on about a 36 inch radius curve, no slipping. On my current home layout, my Bachmann decapods will get about 12 or 14 cars up a 2% tangent.  I don't have any diesels to compare this to, but I've been pretty satisfied with their tractive effort.

[Terry Toenges]

Joe - I would also suggest that you don't use cotton "snow" or batting around it if you are running it around a Christmas tree. I had the same experience as you but mine was with the little cotton threads for fake snow getting wrapped around all of my axles. The locos were the hardest to get all those out. With the cars, I just removed the wheels and cleaned the stuff out. With the locos, it was mostly done with tweezers, strand by strand. Since you mentioned hair, shedding animals might also be a problem if they get too close.

[jward]

Hey Jeff,

Well color me embarrassed.

I took your advice and started with just the loco, tender, and caboose.  All axles were in their correct places.  I put a little oil, and I mean little.

The train went around the track with no slippage. 

Every time I added one more car, the train would start slipping. 

The set came with loco, tender, oil tanker, flatbed car, and caboose.  I was pretty sure Bachmann would not have put that many in the set if the loco wasn't made to pull that many.

I got ready to oil the tanker car, checking to see if the wheels were in the trucks correctly.  I popped them out to check and found hair and dirt.

Almost all the cars had some hair wrapped around.

So I took out all the wheels, cleaned all hair and residue off, re-oiled, and re-assembled.

I was able to add all the cars in the set with no issues.

let this be a learning opportunity for all of us!    

Thanks again for the help!
-j-

Hair and lint in the trucks would definitely cause problems. I never thought of that. My trains have always run on permanent layouts set at least 30 inches off the floor where the dog can't reach them so it's never been a problem for me. Your problem solcing skills will definitely come in handy in this hobby.

[jward]

Oh. Jeffrey.  About diesels pulling better than steam engines.  At the old club, my Bachmann consolidation would pull 18 cars up a 2% grade on about a 36 inch radius curve, no slipping. On my current home layout, my Bachmann decapods will get about 12 or 14 cars up a 2% tangent.  I don't have any diesels to compare this to, but I've been pretty satisfied with their tractive effort.

My experience on a layout with 4% grades and 18r curves has been that the 0-6-0s like the Jingle Bell Express will pull about 3 cars up the grade. The Alco 2-6-0 does slightly better at 5 cars. My best pulling steam, a Roundhouse old time 2-8-0, will pull 12. By contrast, My Bachmann diesels range from the tiny Plymouth switcher at 8 cars, to the GP40s which can pull more than 20 cars. Every one of my Atlas diesels will also pull 20 cars.

These tests were performed with a test train made up entirely of Bachmann Silver Series 40' gondolas, to take the randomness out of the equation. My 4% grade is about 20 cars long, so adding more to the train wouldn't make a difference because part of it would always be on a downgrade. The Silver series cars were chosen because they are free rolling, and thus present a best case scenario for pulling power. The railroad they are running on consists entirely of hand laid code 83 rail. I am not sure what, if any, effect using code 100 rail like EZ track would have on pulling power. I suspect due to the slightly larger contact area between wheel and rail it might slightly increase traction, but not by much.

On a related note, I have stayed away from older locomotives with traction tires, finding them to be underpowered with the rubber tires an atttempt to compensate for their poor design. I've also found that when a traction tire locomotive does spin its wheels under load, it has a tendency to bounce itself off the track. In short, they are not worth the aggravation to me, especially when newer locomotives with all wheel drive are available on Ebay for a similar price. Know what you buy, before you buy.

[Terry Toenges]

I miss my old Bachmann 4-4-0's with traction tires. I could pull 29 cars up a 2% grade with one. Most of them were Bachmann cars and had plastic wheels and weren't very heavy. The grade started about where the turnout is in front