I pulled out a box of old locos that people have given over the years and decided to see what worked or not. This one Bachmann had a little trouble moving but it went once around the track. It smelled like something was burning, so I pulled off the shell to have a look. I didn’t see anything so I tried it again without the shell and it started smoking and then there were flames. I immediately shut it down, but I’m amazed that the power supply didn’t shut down down or that there was that much current through the track to do that. I’m new at this and have never seen this before. Does this happen a lot?
No. It doesn't happen a lot. Thankfully.... I can remember about thirty years ago, when ConCor steamers would go up in smoke. At the time there were some Sagami can motors which would fit in quite nicely. Boxcab E50
Usually the only thing that can actually 'burn' in a locomotive if you get it hot enough is excess lubrication. My second N locomotive - an Atlas GP40 bought in 1972, had instructions to lubricate it with vegetable oil. Combine that with a hot Mehano motor, and yup, I got a real fire inside the shell. It got hot enough to melt a hole through the body shell and I had to blow it out like a birthday candle. Usually a motor will get hot enough to simply burn out the motor windings, you'll get smoke but no flames. I've never had LaBelle 108 actually catch fire even with a lot of help, but some lubricants could be flammable. Vegetable oil certainly was! Sounds like you might want to cash in on your Bachmann "Lifetime warranty"! Seriously, send it in. They won't fix it, but you'll probably get a replacement locomotive back.
GS-4 I had something similar happen. It was an older GS-4 and after a couple laps the engine stopped and started smoking. After dissasembly the motor coils were seperated and messed up. It was an HO engine though.
Actually,those particular Bachmanns do that quite frequently.If you fire it up again,you'll see that the "fire" is an arc going around the commutator.It's caused by oil seeping into the brushes and into carbon between the brush segments.Just clean up the brushes and clean between the segments.
I thought it might be oil or something because I would take a lot of current to burn the wires or windings. I don’t think I’m going to use it anymore. It didn’t have the shell on and I don’t know if that would catch fire, but I wonder what would have happened if it were going through a tunnel or scenery with fresh glue fumes. Do you think there have ever been any house fires because of a model train?
Bachmann speacial feature The fire is actually an option that can only be had with a Bachmann loco with that speacial feature. Bachmann doesnt charge more for that special feature. But its fairly common with Bachmann. I have a six axle Bachmann that will start to smoke(fire) after about five minutes. I wouldnt give up this pony for anything! (Ignore this post) :tb-wink:
Wow, I woulda really liked one of those as a kid! An awful lot of model cars and airplanes seemed to catch fire or explode in mid-air, but they required assistance. A train that goes up on it's own...that would have been so cool. :mbiggrin:
Smoke Unit The smoke units they put in some engines are actually crossed wires strands juiced up with some voltage. It didnt even need smoke fluid. Nothing more realistic than actual burning.
I don't know exactily how the lifetime warranty works exactily, but I went to their site and it will cost me $27 for parts to fix it. I need a warranty card for replacement. I'm not sure if its worth it because I'd like to be able to convert it to DCC and I don't know how much it would cost to convert this one. I can buy a new Kato F7 thats DCC friendly for $60.
If that were, say, a model of a GE diesel, I could understand the going-up-in-flames being a prototypical touch............
$27? HAHA! That loco sells for like $19 on Ebay new. Sometimes less. Their parts are as bad as their locos sometimes..... but if you want a replacement in ATSF, I have some super cheap ones on the sale page. In reality, you should just go but a Kato or Intermountain if its your primary loco!!
I really don’t need another Loco right now, it was given to me for free. I’ll need to save my money and buy some DCC stuff.
I had that happen with an old Bachmann Northern. Funny thing is that after I cleaned it up and lubed it, it ran pretty much the way it ran when new. No electronics to fry.
I took it completely apart last night to get a look at the motor and found it a little black, but otherwise I think it might be OK. I can’t run it because I discovered some other problems like the light bulb is busted and its missing a Chassis Washer and a Chassis Fastener so the frame comes loose and the motor drops. That’s probably what caused it to catch fire. The $27 was for the items mentioned plus a new motor, truck and fuel tank. It might run as you say if I just got a new Chassis Washer and Fastener for a $1.75 plus shipping.
"Your Mileage May Very" on cleaning it up. Personally, I am in the switch to Kato or Intermountain camp if it costs $27 to fix but for $1.75 I'd probably roll the dice.
