Noise emitted by White Pass Annie after five hours of outdoor use

[FBGardens]

Forgive the fact that I will not be too astute in describing the issue.  Our train club recently purchased a White Pass Annie.  We have limited the consist to four Bachmann passenger cars so I don't feel that the locomotive is being overtaxed.  Yesterday after it had been running for about twenty minutes on a warm sunny day, we noticed a noise which we think may be caused by the drive wheels (or one of them) being out of phase.  It is a "thump" noise that arises only when the locomotive is running forward.  If we run in reverse the noise seems to go away.  We have been keen to lubricate the locomotive regularly and can't find evidence of dirt or other debris.  Our inspection revealed that the pair of drivers under the cab seem to have a bit of play in them, far more that the feel of the forward drivers.

Does anyone have a similar experience and what can be done to correct the problem.  Thanks.

Dan F.

[Barry BBT]

Dan,

The first thing you will want to do is to tighten the wheels to the axles.  This only applies to the flanged drivers.  Press the plastic wheel insert from the back of the wheel, when the edge of the insert is above the edge of the wheel insert a flat blade screwdriver and wedge the insert off at the rod post.
You will notice a phillips head screw at the wheel center, tighten it, replace the wheel insert, repeat for the rest of the flanged drivers.   The blind drivers are simple pushed into a plastic tube which accepts the square ends of the blind drivers' stub axle.

Once this is done, it may solve your "thumping problem".  Or you have eliminated the primary cause.

Barry - BBT

[jsmvmd]

Dear Barry,

Thanks !  I will do similar maintenance to my Annie, which is making no noise thankfully.  Good tip !

Best Wishes,

Jack

[NarrowMinded]

I had a simlar problem on a G-scale loco which was caused by to much play. I found the thump was coming from the rod being able to contact the slide assembly on the back of the piston. it would get louder on curves.
NM