Forney Fails, Following Fall....


A

anubis

New Member
Hello all,

I recently had the misfortune to watch helplessly as my (almost) new Bachmann 2-4-4 Forney took a tumble from the layout track and landed on the carpet. <Ouch> :eek:

The mishap broke the rear bogie (truck) from the king pin, as well as tearing the two contact wires from their mounting screws. Some other body parts were also broken off, but I managed to find all the bits.

Calling myself every useless kind of moron that I could lay my tongue to, I set about the repair.

I soldered the tiny wires back onto their eyelets, screwed them back into their locations, and re-mounted the bogie onto the king pin. I also used some silicone lube on a cotton bud to grease the king pin slot, just to make certain that there would be no binding.

Now, I cannot seem to keep the thing on the rails. The rear bogie/truck appears to be very sloppy on the king pin, and as a result, keeps derailing and rattling along behind, which causes the loco to stall at the first turnout it comes to.

(Before the mishap, the Forney was my smoothest and most reliable-running loco, easily negotiating my less-than-minimum radius curves....)

Has anyone else had any similar trouble with these fiddly things? :confused:

Any advice would be very much appreciated.
 
I don't know a thing about the Forney but is the kingpin plastic that is friction fit in the hole? If so, it may be that either the kingpin or hole itself was slightly distorted by the fall. If that's the case, replacing the plastic kingpin with an appropriate size screw may solve you problem.
 
Hi Jim,

Many thanks for your suggestion.

No, the Bachmann Spectrum Forney has power pick up on the trailing bogie wheels as well as the drivers. Subsequently, the king pin assembly is hollow, in order to carry the two fine collector wires running from the wheels to the motor. The pin is retained by a press-snap claw, and the whole bogie assembly slides from side to side inside a guide rail on the bunker floor, in order to accomodate the large amount of rear swing. Quite ingenious, really.

I'm working on the repair, as Bachmann advise that replacement parts are not currently available.

<Toot> <Toot>
 
and the whole bogie assembly slides from side to side inside a guide rail on the bunker floor
Click to expand...

If I'm visualizing this correctly it doesn't leave much else than the assembly is bent or the wheels are knocked out of gauge. Sorry it's only a guess but it's my best shot.

Willis
 
Would not hurt to check the gauge of the wheels. Second try adding a light spring around the kingpin pushing down on the truck (maybe there was one there before that was lost in the fall??? manufacturers often use them on leading and trailing trucks.)
 
I'm thinking gauge may be the number one problem so check the truck wheels with an NMRA gauge. If they are in gauge, the spring idea suggested by Josh may help. If you still have a problem, it's time for the Forney to take a trip back to Bachmann, since something has indeed been bent out of shape. Since Bachmann has a lifetime warranty on their engines, I think the most you'll be out is $20.
 
Unfortunately, Mr Bachman is a long way from Australia.

Most items I purchase ex Stateside are usually very reasonably priced, and just lately, getting even better with the AU$ against the Greenback, hey blokes? :)

The biggest killer for me, is the freight charges. Most of the time you can simply figure on doubling the price of the item in US$ as a rule of thumb. Sure, you keep your shipments as few as possible, with a maximum amount of items in each one, but there's always that extra....something.....that you simply must have. Yesterday, if possible.

You get my drift.

Your $25 fee would blossom out to almost as much as I paid for the loco in the first place.

Anyway, someone suggested that I could make Forney-Kate into a dinky little 2-4-0 with a tender behind (oh, behave!) for something roughly approaching the same cost, by using a conversion kit from Backwards Miniatures or something.....

So, we shall see..........:cool:


Hey SP4439,

I like the way you are thinking, with the idea of the spring. I am currently using a brass shim, and it seems to be doing some good.

I have a copy of the parts listing sheet that came with the loco, and it doesn't show a spring in the assembly diagram, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea. I'll try it tomorrow.

At least Forney-Kate is running again.





Many thanks to all.
 
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