Question re new Bachmann Diesel

[RobertInOntario]

Rob:
Does the car that derails have truck mounted couplers? that can be a problem is the loco couplers are body mounted. Or the other way around.

If you get a lot of locos with traction tires coming off, you might look at Bullfrog Snot. Even though the small tin costs about as much as your loco. (And you may have to hide the label away from your kids. Or your wife. :oops: )

The traction tires have probably dried out. Dried tires fall off easily. If it has traction tires, it is a "pancake motor" unit. For just running in a loop, they were okay. For slow running or switching, they were more of a pain. My brother had a bachmann GP30 that also had electrical pickups on the powered truck, and it ran much, much better than my F9 that had pickups on only the unpowered wheels.
--
Kevin

Thanks David & Kevin.

I was experimenting with it tonight and found out a few things related to what you say:

-- yes, the freight car that derailed does have a truck-mounted coupler while the loco has body-mounted couplers. However, the coupler on the front end of the loco is basically identical to the problematic coupler -- and it connects to and hauls freight cars no problem. I did notice, though, that the problematic coupler has lost its "springiness," i.e. it no longer snaps back into place as the other coupler does, so I'm wondering if that's the problem -- the couplers are the old hook/horn type.

-- Kevin, I suspect you're right -- that the traction tires have dried out with age. However, I was running the loco round the track tonight hauling 3 freight cars and at low speeds. I might have some traction tires that I bought for my tender-drive locos that might fit, you never know.

-- David, I've heard of Bullfrog Snot before but didn't realize it was so expensive -- good to know it works well though.

Having said all this, it looks like, with some TLC and patience, I might be able to get this loco to run fairly well on my layout.

Does anyone know if CP Rail actually ever used or uses this type of Diesel? It's a GEU33B. Or is it one of those cases where the model train manufacturer simply decided to paint a model in the paint scheme of a railroad that never used it?

Thanks,
Rob