Bachmann 2-10-2 driver woes

[Bill H]

Group:
I finally found what was binding the Bachmann 2-10-2 linkage. The crank pin on the 1st driver was catching on very inside portion of the crosshead. It appears that in assembly for both engines, the assembler squeezed the crosshead glides inwards, and the crank pin on the driver was not fully inserted so the crank pin was hitting the inside of the crosshead and locking up the linkage .

Hope this helps someone else.

Kind regards,
Bill

[carlso]

Bill,

thanks for posting your findings. I can only say that hopefully you have bird dogged this enough to find the real problem. This info may come in real handy for me, anticipating a similar problem with my 2nd EM-1. Max fixed my crank pin problem on my 1st EM-1 and it has held well.

Again thanks for your efforts.

Carl

[Bill H]

Hi Carl:
I have seen similar problems with loose crank pins on four of my EM-1s (you might take a wild guess that I model the B&O) where the pins were either loose or not in all the way.  Nonetheless, the EM-1 is IMHO about the best Bachmann has done in quite some time. My biggest issue with the EM-1s is that the front porch is not on straight due to the screw that holds them is not drilled vertically but is off about 15 degrees, causing the front of the porch to be canted up. This causes the front coupler to be too high. Quick fix is a washer under the screw but it does not look right to my old eyes. Longer fix is fill the hole and drill and tap correctly. Haven't had time to do either - yet, but I am getting there.

Kind regards,
Bill