Bachman loco question


budinoh

Member
Hi,

I just got a Bachman 4-8-4J from my wife as a present. It is the yellow gift box one listed as "Limited Edition". This was from dealer new stock. Upon removing it from the box, I placed it on the track and it doesn't run. I inspected it and noticed the 2 little wires on the back bogie trucks were broke. Are these the pickup wires? What is the fix for this and was it a common problem? Dealer just says tuff luck. She found it 2 months ago on ebay and return time has expired. How can I fix it and restore her joy?

Jeff
 
That's really bad luck right there. I can see the seller's POV as someone could easily break something in 2mths and then falsely claim it was DOA (obviously not the case here if you only just opened it), so he has to draw the line somewhere.

Now, are these wires on the locomotive rear bogie or on the tender rear bogie? Can you see where they go? Pictures will be necessary for this one I'd say!


EDIT: Are these wires running in between the loco and the tender? Because really some missing pickups off a bogie shouldn't stop the train completely unless those are the only pickups (highly unlikely) or they are touching eachother or something metal and causing a short.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi,

I just got a Bachman 4-8-4J from my wife as a present. It is the yellow gift box one listed as "Limited Edition". This was from dealer new stock. Upon removing it from the box, I placed it on the track and it doesn't run. I inspected it and noticed the 2 little wires on the back bogie trucks were broke. Are these the pickup wires? What is the fix for this and was it a common problem? Dealer just says tuff luck. She found it 2 months ago on ebay and return time has expired. How can I fix it and restore her joy?

Jeff

Jeff, I'm confused.

If it was "from dealer new stock", the dealer should make good on it. If the dealer bought it on e-Bay, it isn't NEW!! Raise a stink with the dealer. Report the dealer to the Better Business Bureau if he doesn't make good on the purchase.

I'm not familiar with the "J" model and don't know if it's similar to the regular 4-8-4. The regular 4-8-4's had one rail pickup from the engine and the other rail pickup from the tender. Without either pickup, the loco won't run. If you try to repair it yourself, you'll need to restore the pickup that's broken (sounds like it's from the tender). It shouldn't be too difficult.

You can always return it to Bachmann for repair or replacement as OCN Guy recommended. I returned two older 4-8-4's some time ago. The cost then was $15 each. It took a while to get them back. Bachmann replaced the locomotive drive units with a current production drive using the shells from the ones I sent in. I was a VERY happy camper!!

Hope this info helps.

Darrell, quiet...for now
 
It should take a minute or two to resolder the two wires, if you can't see if someone in theforum is willing to help you out. Lots of guys here with repair experience.
 



Back
Top