Hello All,

My BR41 (Marklin #37923) locomotive drives very well, but the wheels on the front bogie sometimes just ride the rails and don't spin. It's an annoyance that I'd like to resolve.

I've already played with the copper "spring" that provides tension and ground contact between the loco body and the front wheel axle. This made a very insignificant difference. What else can I try?

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!

Andry

Ouch; Be careful touching the springiness of the wheel, as any wrong setting can cause derailments over points!

Other than that, you can try to pop out the axle (wheel set), and assure that everything is clean and parallel, and that there is nothing irregular with the plastic part of the bogie. Clean out any old sticky oil, and maybe give it a tiny drop of fresh new oil.
Check the inner spacing of the wheels and that they spin freely.

If the wheels don't turn there mist be something causing friction. The spring you adjusted serves two purposes - keeping the bogie on the track through switches and putting the wheels in contact with the rails. Any petroleum product will dissolve the old oil. Anything you have available - paint thinner, starter fluid, lighter fluid, gasoline. Even smoke fluid though that usually has paraffin in it. You can lubricate whatever holds the axle in place with a light oil or any friction reducer such as teflon, silicone or graphite. The wheels should turn freely with the slightest touch. I can't tell what your loco uses.

Hello Henrik,

Thank you for the warning. I've done many loco repairs and conversions and I'm aware how sensitive these things are. There's nothing irregular that I've noticed about the bogie. I will follow your advice and check the wheel spacing. However, the wheels do spin nicely, but maybe they are just set too narrow, as opposed to too wide. I'll look into this.

Thanks,

Hello rhfil,

The wheels do spin nicely -- very little friction. However, when the loco is driving, sometimes the wheels just "float" ever so slightly above the rails. I've already bent the copper "spring" to force the wheels down, but this did not completely solve the problem. I've had this problem with another loco (S3/6) but bending that copper spring resolved the issue. In this case (BR41), the problem still persists. I'll re-clean the whole bogie and will lubricate once more (very small amount of teflon grease) and see what happens. I might even attempt to bend that copper spring a bit more.

Thanks for your input.