Bachman Spectrum speed problem.


R

Ronzzr11

Member
I have a pair of Bachman Spectrum Dash 8 diesels, which I have a problem with. I bought them separately from eBay some time ago, intending to repaint them into Norfolk Southern locos, however as they are numbered 8611, and 8612, I decided to leave them in Chicago and North Western paint.
The thing is, they run at vastly different speeds,8611 runs at least twice as fast as 8612, so doubleheading them just would,nt work, as 8612 would always be being dragged along. I,ve looked at the motors and gearing, and they seem to be the same in both locos. I could remove the motor from 8612 and run it as a dummy with 8611, but thats a last resort.Has anyone any other options ?
Ron
 
I dont know much about DCC or the Spectrum line but do they have decoders? Maybe theres an issue with one of those?
 
he didn't mention DCC.
are these the old "iron brick" ones (if so any corrosion on contact clips?)or new DCC ready ones? how used are those? dirty brushes/contacts in motors? gunky something else?

i would think opening up both units and cleaning everything would be a good start.
 
tankist said:
he didn't mention DCC.
are these the old "iron brick" ones (if so any corrosion on contact clips?)or new DCC ready ones? how used are those? dirty brushes/contacts in motors? gunky something else?

i would think opening up both units and cleaning everything would be a good start.
Click to expand...

I was assuming the spectrum line came with DCC on board
 
inspect and clean everything above. maybe mechanical interfierence, maybe a voltage drop somewhere. if engines run good but still at different speed you may resolve situation with speedmatching the locos on speed table DCC decoder level (you havent answered about DCC)
 
I,m running DC so speed matching is,nt do-able, however I can try cleaning the contacts on 8612, to see if that helps.

Ron
 
I pulled the loco apart this afternoon, everything looked pretty clean around the motor. I did think that one of the copper whiskers that conduct the power from the frame,was,nt making a proper contact,and straightened it, but once I,d rebuilt the chassis, there was no improvement.
Ron
 
Ronzzr11 said:
I have a pair of Bachman Spectrum Dash 8 diesels, which I have a problem with. I bought them separately from eBay some time ago, intending to repaint them into Norfolk Southern locos, however as they are numbered 8611, and 8612, I decided to leave them in Chicago and North Western paint.
The thing is, they run at vastly different speeds,8611 runs at least twice as fast as 8612, so doubleheading them just would,nt work, as 8612 would always be being dragged along. I,ve looked at the motors and gearing, and they seem to be the same in both locos. I could remove the motor from 8612 and run it as a dummy with 8611, but thats a last resort.Has anyone any other options ?
Ron
Click to expand...
Plan C
I bought another undecorated locomotive from a train fair today, its new old stock,so has all the part packs in the box.I swapped the chassis from this latest loco with the one in 8612, so now both my Chicago and North Western locos run at the same speed.
The loco I bought today, I,m going to paint into Norfolk Southern colours, I,ve already swapped the cabs over so now it has the headlights mounted over the windscreens.
It is missing one of the truck side frames, so if anyone as a spare they might part with, that would help me out a lot.
The loco cost me $44.
Ron
 
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Good to see you found a solution.
One possibility is that bachmann may have switched the motors used along the way. I had a similar issue with a couple of Atlas DCC N gauge loco's in the past. The motors were different which made them run at different speeds.
 
Many years ago I had the same problem with their 8-40C's. I stripped the factory grease from the slower ones and re-lubed with Labelle 108. This helped some on long heavy trains. Phil
 
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