motor assembly?

[jimbo4261]

does anyone know where i can buy a better motor for my On30 Bachman Climax 4-4-0,,i have a logging layout that has a 4% grade and i guess that is more than the stock motor will handle,,,any help greatly appreciated,,,ole fart jim

[Jim Banner]

Are you sure the problem is with the motor?  What I mean is, if the reason your Climax cannot make it up the grade is because the wheels are spinning, a more powerful motor will not help.

On the other hand, if your Climax stops because there is not enough power to turn the wheels, I would be very surprised.  Normally there is not enough traction to stall the motor.  A low output from a dc power pack or a DCC system could allow the motor to stall instead of spinning the wheels, but in that case correcting the problem with the power supply would generally be easier than swapping motors.  Alternately, using a traction enhancing compound like Bullfrog Snot on the wheels could stall the motor, and likely burn it out as well, if the dc or DCC voltage were normal.  In this case, an upgrade motor might help.  Northwest Shortline makes a variety of motors, one of which would likely fit.

It can be difficult to see if the locomotive drivers are actually turning.  One trick I use is to put a dot of white latex paint on the rim of a driver and see if it revolves or not.  With the Climax, there are two sets of four drivers each so you might want to put a dot on the rims of drivers on both sets to make sure either both sets of drivers are rotating or both are stopped.  Incidentally, I believe that the two sets of drivers, combined with no unpowered wheels at the front or back, makes a Climax an 0-4-4-0.  That would be no pony truck, a set of 4 drivers, another set of 4 drivers, and no trailing truck.

Jim