Disappointed with the running of Tank Flat Car

That's really too bad but at least you didn't pay a lot for them.

I thought it was just mine.

Bob

Could you put a picture maybe, please? Thanks.....

Michael,

    The trucks are just not wide enough to get the job done correctly and the couplers just do not function and keep opening unless there is hardly any weight pulling on them.

PCRR/Dave

Yes, I understand. I just wanted to see what it looked like. I had Williams trucks that would not hold and taped them with black electrical tape. You couldn't really see and the couplers stayed closed. It was a poor compromise until Weaver sent me replacement trucks - but it did work.

That is unfortunate but I'm not too surprised given the price point of the car. On the up side it is still a cool looking car and once you some die cast replacement trucks I think you will like it much better! They will also give the car a substantial weight and better proformance.  

Michael & Chris,

   Unfortunately I do believe this is a quality manufacturing mistake, and every one of these Flat cars were made in this manner, I was going to purchase a couple more of these flat cars but I do not want to fix every one I purchase.  Chris you are absolutely right, they do look real cool however.

PCRR/Dave

Chris,

A car as simple as this should run on any track, have couplers that function, or go through any switch. I hope he did not have to pay for those MTH trucks, hopefully they were spares.

Richard 

I have the same car and just about the same experience with it. Mine doesn't de-rail, but does bounce around when going through a switch. I tried adding weights to NMRA standards, didn't help. Couplers are difficult to get closed, but once closed they stay that way on mine. Coupling must be closed before putting it in the consist, I couldn't get it to work any other way. I will probably just park it on a siding and leave it at that. I also only have one car, but I think it was only $20 plus shipping, so not a great loss. I have done a lot worse buying used items.

I have the same issue but with the Nascar 22 car. My son pick on out at the show and was disapointed when I could not hook it up into our regular group of brown box cars...

I believe these cars are made by WBB.  Are the trucks & couplers diecast or plastic?

If the car bounces through switches & corners, then that would indicate the gauge of the wheels being the problem, probably gauged too wide making it out of tolerance just enough to cause issues on certain track & switch curvatures.  Some of the early runs of Weaver cars with the metal fast-angle wheels had a similar problem as they would bounce quite a bit on the guide rails on switches.

In regards to the couplers, it sounds to me the issue is with the coupler plunger assembly being too stiff.  They probably have a tension spring that can be adjusted with a phillips head screwdriver, or the springs can be removed, shorten the length of the springs and re-install, but that depends on the design of these trucks in question.

I believe these cars are made by WBB.

Attribution needed.  I just bought the load of 24 flat cars and sure don't want to have to fix each one.

So is the issue that the wheel sets are out of gauge???  Or is it the trucks are not free to move enough to run correctly?  I'd hope it could be fixed with the parts it came with and not spend $$$ to fix a new car.

The coupler on the flat with tank is a inexpensive plastic coupler. I have one and no issues with unplanned openings but it is very stiff. I have had no derailing problems on tubular or Gargraves track with Ross switches. For $25 I didn't expect to much.

Hi Dave • I have had some of the same issues you talk about with the tank car and also the boxcars. They look great on a siding but running them on the main line can be an issue. Had to add one washer to each truck, where it meets the under carriage to make it more stable. The sounds are very cool.

Gentlemen,

   Take a look at the up Graded Tank Car in the new Thread I started, now she is the real deal!  MTH premier trucks make the car seriously nice, and very road worthy.

PCRR/Dave

I just compared the wheel spacing to a spare set of trucks I have and three of the four wheel sets are too narrow, wheel flanges too close together. They appear to be all plastic. The axels and un-coupler button for use with un-coupling track section are steel (or at least a magnet will stick to them). The trucks on mine have plenty of swivel and play in them. A new set of trucks would probably cost as much or more than the car did originally, or close to it anyway?

I don't know who made these cars, but WBB stated in the thread below that the Menards box cars were not made by WBB when that was discussed the other day. See post by BucksCo (Jack of WBB).

Menard's has 5 boxcars for $99 ...

Hi Richard.  Yes I agree 100% they should but.. You know how that works.

These cars are NOT made by Williams by Bachmann.  They may look similar but they are NOT manufactured by Bachmann!!!

I was considering a case of 24 to sell, but now that I have all this info, I've changed my mind. I certainly couldn't sell them as they are, and it would't be feasible to modify 24 cars. I guess that's why they're only about $7 each.

If I was in need of a lot of cars for a project, that might be a different story.

Don