2-8-0 tender shell help

[Ty.the.railroad.guy]

Hi,
I was trying to remove the shell to my Bachmann Norfolk & Western 2-8-0's tender but the screw became a bit stripped I've been trying to unscrew the trucks from the tender but they won't pop off. Any suggestions? Thanks

[Fred Klein]

Ty, when you say the screw stripped, did the threads strip or did the head strip? If the head is stripped, sometimes you can go in with a small flat-blade screwdriver and wedge it into the Phillips cross and get the screw to come out that way. The screwdriver will have to be small, like the ones for fine electrical or detail work that come in a set. Usually a set is not that expensive.

If the threads are stripped and the screw turns but doesn't want to back out, using a small pair of needle-nose pliers to grab the head of the screw and turning counterclockwise while gently pulling on the pliers sometimes works. If you can't reach the head of the screw, try turning the screw with the small screwdriver and very gently lift up on the truck while turning. Hope this helps.

[trainman203]

You have to get the tender shell off to remove the tender trucks. They won't pop off because there's a nut on top of the screw inside. And the pickup wire may be soldered to it as well.