(Sent to yahoo groups as well)
Hi
Well I had not expected to be writing this one, I have become accustomed to having trouble with Bachmann but like everyone I had hoped that the 'New' Hornby was going to be something better.
Anyway, I have owned a Q1 for about two weeks and in that time it has performed well. Yesterday (sods law) I had a visit from my dad and of course he wanted to see the model.
Switched on and jerk, splutter dead!
No amount of tapping and pushing made it go and the relco unit was showing nothing on the track.
So I took the body off! (unclip the pipe at under the cab) and had a look. My initial suspicion was the dcc plug and socket (I don't use dcc) so I removed the plug and inserted wires into the socket. The loco now moved. Ok, I'll never use dcc so I will solder short the connections on the under side of the dcc socket. Loco ran fine!
An hour or so later I tried her again. Dead! (Numerous words describing extreme annoyance were issued)
Off came the body. With power on I gently pulled and prodded at all the wires to no avail.
Then in a more scientific frame of mind I tested the connections with a volt meter. This showed that power was making it up the red wire from the pick ups to the dcc plug and that side of the motor. The other side that comes through the metal chassis block was not working!
However, when I placed my meter just inside the chimney screw mount voltage was there!
My attention then tuned to the small screw with red wire and terminal attached just back from the dcc plug. I unscrewed this and found that it also held in place the worm cover for the motor. This cover is not metal! Under this cover is the chassis block. And again voltage was present.
Looking at the screw, it is of the blackened type! but not chemically. I used some fine sand paper to bring the screw and under side of its head back to silver! A very light coat of oil to prevent rust was applied. I then reassembled everything and it all works.
While the Q1 can and does get pick up via the tender it needs to have it via the loco as the tenders pick up is not 100% All my tests were conducted with just the loco. I hope this has stopped the problem.
When working on these locos be very careful of the lamp irons! also do unclip the pipe from the chassis block under the left hand side of the cab.
I'll keep you posted.
With Kind regards and Christmas wishes, from
Mike in West Sussex. UK