Bachman shark noise

[glsummers]

Why does the new Bachman Sharks sound like it is grinding meat when it slows down or goes down a grade. Anyone know what to do to get rid of the grinding. Thanks a head of time for all info. Larry

[Paul M.]

Do you think it has a split gear?

[sour rails]

     Going down a grade would cause a grinding noise if the cars were pushing the loco at some point, or the down grade might be too steep.  As for slowing down, I've only experienced it when I was running it too fast and then slowed it quickly.

I hope I could have been of service.

[Woody Elmore]

Not trying to be a wise guy but the original sharks were noisy beasts. Maybe the grinding is prototypical!

[glsummers]

To answer one question; the engine is going by itself with no cars behind. Maybe it was going to fast but usually I do not run anything very fast. Maybe it is suppose to be noisy as one gentleman suggested. The only thing that bothers me in any other engine of a different brand it never happens; plus Bachamn's higher priced engines do not do it and that is why I thought it might be something in the CV's of the DCC. I am just not sure if there is anything else I could try. Thanks again

[sour rails]

     Well, it could be the motor hum is being reflected and therefore intensified by the locomotive's shell.  You could take the shell off and try putting some this packing foam around the metal frame, that way the shell does not vibrate against it.  Other people on this forum have done this, but I haven't yet.  It will not eliminate it, but it will soften the noise.

[Woody Elmore]

 I was only kidding about the noise being prototypical. Since it has the innards of all the other Bachmann diesels, it should perform the same way. If you feel it is noiser than it should be, return it to Bachmann.

[Thommo]

My HO Spectrum Shay became much noisier on low speeds when I put Bachmann decoder in it.

On the other hand, when I installed TCS decoder in european Piko electric loco (this model can be compared to Bachmann non-Spectrum models motor-wise), low speed noise completelly vanished!

So, your answer may be to put quality, silent decoder in your Shark.