I had the same problem. Besides the weights on the trucks you can try spreading the front wheels out some. I have heard the front wheels are not set at the correct gauge. Im sure someone will chim in on what it should be. I just eye-balled it. You can also contact barry (barry's big trains) he makes a new front truck for the bachmann big haulers, works much better. Thats what I ended up doing. Of course now my bachmann is out of service due to motor block coming loose and stiping the gears.
I do not seem to have any trouble with my six Annies/Big Hauler locomotives, derailment of the pony truck is extremely rare, I am using a mix of Aristocraft and LGB turnouts, I do think it is important to have level trackwork for any loco to run smoothly, with a bit more track maintainance one should not have these problems.
Any Aristo switches? Where is it derailing? on the switches? on the straights or curves?
My Big Hauler hated aristo switches frogs with a vengence, it never met one it wouldnt derail on, switched to LGB switches no trouble since, but with LGB doing the big Hindenburg supply of those switches has gotten rare. I also added two 1/2 oz self adhesive tire weights, one over each axle, on my stock Big Hauler, that helped alot to, but getting rid of those crap switches did the most good.
Contact Barry Olsen at Barry's Big Train shop, he sells a retrofit kit for the Big Hauler pilot wheels that helps eliminate this issue.
Have fun with your trains
aristocraft
First, What kind of track are you using outside?
Karl
Hello all... My name is Ross and I'm still a relative newby to the railroading hobby.
I purchased a Bachman Silverado starter kit for my little boy a while ago and just recently turned it into an outside railroad.
Here's my issue... the track is finally seriously level, but the pilot wheels continue to derail at the drop of a pin. I found some weight that i merely taped to the top axel (front and back - for testing purposes) to the pilot wheels which seems to have helped but it's still derailing.
Is there a trick of the trade that can essentially eliminate this problem or is this indicative of the Bachman brand and trying to run this particular locomotive outside ??
One last issue is when it runs, it constantly does this start and stop thing... the driver wheels and track have all been cleaned a couple times VERY recently... so was curious if anybody has any thoughts on that as well.
Thanks !!
Get the Garden Railways newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month