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.

Several months ago I purchased a pair of Bachman 4-6-0s listed on eBay.  The seller identified himself as acting for an estate and stated clearly that he did not know anything about trains but believed the equipment to be in good working order.  The listings included photographs of both locomotives.  I won both items and about ten days later they arrived.  I was startled to find that one of the locomotives was completely missing the front trucks.  It was a "0-6-0."  I then looked more closely at the photo and discovered that this "feature" was clearly disclosed in the photo.  I called Bachmann service and explained what had happened, that these were used locomotives intended for use on the installation which the Mendocino Cost Model Railroad and Historical Society is placing in the Fort Bragg Botanical Gardens.

The Bachmann representative instructed me to return the locomotive saying that they could fix it.  I did so with a letter that again emphasized that this was a "non-warranty" request for assistance for which we expected to be charged.  It took nearly ten weeks but the locomotive was returned to us "as new" with no charge.  I would call that more than generous and a clear demonstration of Bachmann's support for our hobby.

Thanks for the information about the mismatch of the scales.  I appreciate your insight.

If you follow the link I included in the original question you will see two photographs of the locomotive with Vanderbilt tender used on the Caspar, CA logging railroad.  In 1930 Caspar had a population of 4,000. . .today perhaps 40.  The mill suffered a fire in the early 50's and closed about five years later.  Logging operations, narrow and standard gauge logging rail operations, dog-hole schooners were the backbone of this economy from 1860-1930. . .it is all gone now.  Our Club's goal is to recreate a bit of this history on a permanent exhibit in the Botanical Gardens which are, themselves, a major tourist attraction here.


Dan

One of our Fort Bragg club members is interested in modeling a 2-6-6-2 that was used by one of the local logging companies.  The actual photograph of the engine and tender can be found at:
http://www.internettrains.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IT&Product_Code=ART-21850

Assuming that the saddle tanks can be removed from the Bachmann 2-6-6-2 unit, does anyone have  a view as to whether we could then attach the Aristrocraft 21850 Vanderbilt Tender?

Many thanks.

Dan

Is the smoke unit in the Bachmann 2-8-0 compatible with LGB smoke fluid? 

I recently purchased a Consolidation and am happy with it.  My problem arose after the first run when I attempted to disconnect the two leads from the locomotive that are joined to the front underside of the tender by white male and female connectors.  I spent twenty minutes attempting to disconnect them.  I fear that in the future the strain on the connector mounted on the underside of the tender will break one or both of them.  Any hints on how to resolve this issue???

Many thanks.