Trouble with James

[Tomtank]

Hi Guys I'm new hear. Recently bought a few Bachmann Thomas stuff as I am used to Hornby as I live in the UK. I love the locos, Thomas, Henry and Gordon, but my problem is with James. I tried james pulling two coaches and he has a tendancy to spin, he wouldn't be able to cope with 3! is there a way of improving this as we also intend (me and my Dad) to have a slight gradient on layout we are going to build which I know James will not be able to cope with, and he is supposed to be a mixed traffic goods, has anyone else had this trouble, and as Edward is the same size a worry he will strugle too.
Thanks
Tom

[cooltrainguy]

As far as coaches go, that's about all James can pull. I rna him at a recent train show with two coaches, no more . I do have a another James that pulls about nine  of the Sodor freight cars.

As far as going up a hill , use more than one engine, just like in the shows

[Tomtank]

I think I will use another engine for up hill, but would have liked him pulling possibly 3-4 coahes, I was wondering if it was to do with weight, as he is quite light, if he had more weight then mayb he would grip better? 'Cool Train guy', is that Bachmann James that can pull 9 trucks (freight cars) or Hornby? Thanks

[sodorlad]

hello there, the james issue has been a common problem for the thomas fans. i personally put some mass in him using metal bars from my unwanted hornby annie and clarabel. just lift of their bodies from their chassiss and pop them in james.

[Tomtank]

I will give that a try, how much does it improve him by? It wont damage his motor will it? Thanks

[sodorlad]

no the bars are flat, so don't worry. he won't be as strong as gordon henry and spencer, but he'll be able to more than thomas and percy.
but if you are unsure and haven't dismantled a loco before, get someone who knows top help you.if you don't own a horby four wheeled coach you need to find something short and flat enough. your hobby shop might find something even more suitable than what i did and even better sort it out for you. but for personally it's worked for me.

[cooltrainguy]

It's a Bachmann James that I can get to pull 9 trucks. You don't need to get James pulling too many coasches because I can only remmber one show where James was pulling three coaches, otherwise it was only two. I remember one early episode where James and Edward paired up for the job of pulling three-four coaches...Just wait for him.

Gordon and Henrt don't have any problem pulling four coaches. I haven't tried to see how many they will pull, but I do know that henry will pull 19 trucks (Combination of Bachmann and Hornby)

[Tomtank]

I would have like James pulling 3-4 coaches as it is surposed to be between him and Henry who take the Express when Gordon is away or ill, I was aiming to make it bit more like the books as in having longer trains than just two coaches, I have had some tips though, adding weight to james as he is rather light and also taking the weight out of some of the coaches i find them quite heavy. If worse comes to worse I will use hornb James on my big layout when its built and use Bachmann James on my smaller layout. 

[DreamFiend_633]

As far as coaches go, that's about all James can pull. I rna him at a recent train show with two coaches, no more . I do have a another James that pulls about nine  of the Sodor freight cars.

As far as going up a hill , use more than one engine, just like in the shows

With a regular engine and controller you can't use two engines without burning out the controller.

[camtaz2]

True, but what if he's using a modified controller like I am?

[Thomas]

sometimes i run 5-9 engines on 1 line and nothing happens.

[Thomas]

my bachmann james can pull 6 coaches without a problem

[James Patterson]

my bachmann james can pull 6 coaches without a problem

Yes, but does your layout have grades?
I had an Athearn Genisis 2-8-2 that could pull about 10 cars on my layouts, it also did quite a bit of switching at the San Diego Model Railroad museums Tehicaipi Loop club. But this was on flat grades. I had never tryed to run it up the grade at Techaipi because it was a non-DCC locomotive (a requirement for mainline running at that club). When we moved to Colorado I tryed to run it at the club here hooked to 1 coach (my Kato SP observation). It ran well around the circus loop but as soon as the train hit the .5 grade after leaving the yard the engine just spun. I took the coach off and gave it a whirl. This time it made it but the wheels where still spining. Then I just used it as a helper engine when needed. After awhile I just put it on a display shelf because it was so light as a helper it would just spin and leave the other engine (usually a Walthers-Trainline GP-9) would be doing all the work.

[sour rails]

     James usually pulled no more than two regular coaches.  However, James is designed to be more of a branch line engine, like Edward.  Therefore, his normal four to five coaches were identical to Thomas's Annie and Clarabel, except that James's were either dark orange or red and had no names or faces.