[jbwilcox]

I just bought three Jackson and Sharpe D&RGW Passenger cars.

As I was inspecting them I found that of the six trucks, four of them had warped side frames. Two were so badly warped that the wheels had fallen out. Two others were slightly less warped, but the brake shoes did not align up over the wheels.

I have called Bachmann and was not able to get a real person. I had to leave a message.

Has anyone else run into this problem and if so, how can they be fixed?

Will Bachmann send me four replacement trucks?

I also bought two gondolas, one side frame was actually broken in two and one was also very loose like these passenger cars.

Is this a common problem with Bachmann 1:22 scale rolling stock?

John

 

[Gary Armitstead]

John,

When I purchased my Bachmann Connie about two years ago, I found the tender trucks broken and in pieces when I opened the box. I have since replaced these trucks with Accucraft C21 trucks. I have a couple of pieces of Bachmann rolling stock from a few years ago that are very weak in the trucks. I have heard that the trucks are damaged during assembly in China. I don't know whether your problem will be solved by ordering new trucks from Bachmann. I now deal with die-cast metal trucks or use only AMS rolling stock. JMHO. Good luck.

 

[Pete Thornton]

Will Bachmann send me four replacement trucks?


John,

My understanding is that they will, if you send them the 4 bad trucks and a note. However, don't hold your breath for an early return shipment, and they may not have any in stock. I would definitely keep calling until you get through and can talk to a 'real' person to find out the situation.

Coach trucks are not as common as freight car trucks in the 'junk' box. I have a couple of archbar freight car trucks that I won't need - which gondola did you get - the old 'big hauler' version (937xx), the 20' shortie with the short trucks (957xx), or the new 1:20.3 one (8829x)?

 

[jbwilcox]

I have the 1:22 scale gondola. That is the one which has the broken side frame on the truck.

Do you think that heating the side frames of my passenger cars and then bending them would work, or would I only exacerbate the problem and make them worse?

John

 

[East Broad Top]

Just put a cross brace across the end of the trucks, like shown here:

That will pull the ends of the trucks square, and solve your problem. It will also look far more prototypic.You don't need to replace the brake shoes as I did.

Later,

K

 

[George Schreyer]

IF the plastic is just warped, it can be reformed. Heat the truck structure with a hair dryer until it softens a little, then hard tweak the warped pieces back into shape. Repeat as necessary.