Bachmann Thomas and Percy Track Polarity

[stevelewis]

I have heard on the grapevine that there are some of these with NMRA as oppposed to 'G Scale' wiring polarity

I have not actually seen these locos but I am told it is a very esy job to simply reverse the motor connections if required.

 

[Cliff George]

Hello Charles,

It's very easy to reverse the polarity. Take the top off by undoing four screws on either side from the bottom. Then just unsolder and reverse the wires connected to the circuit board on the back of the motor.

If you don't want to do any soldering I believe you can get into the bottom of the chassis and simply reverse the pickups on each wheel, it can be done just with a screwdriver. I've not tried this myself, I think the soldering method is best.

In the picture ignore the circuit board on the back, that is something I added as part of my DCC conversion.

Regards
Cliff

 

[CoggesRailway]

I had to do mine too- it ran backwards. I just popped the bottom off and changed it at the pick ups- the leads just pull through. Works fine though.

Thomas is jolly fast too isn't he!?!?!?

 

[Cliff George]

Both Thomas and Percy are much too fast going flat out. One of the advantages of fitting a decoder is that you can set the max speed, even on analogue.

I suspect most adults would run these at a sensible speed but I found that kids tend to run them much too fast so I think that to limit the top speed is an advantage, because they are aimed at kids really!

Regards
Cliff

 

[CoggesRailway]

U R 100% right. Mine is driven by a 3 and a 5 yr old- he has so far had many an accident. They now have a speed limit imposed on the dial which has helped.

To be fair he has stood up quite well- I think he may have lost a lamp and gained some scrapes.

 

[Walts-Playmobil]

I had the same problem with the speed of my old Playmobil trains on the exhibition layout.
I put into the locos a resistor in the wire to the motor supply.
10 watt and between 5 and 10 ohms. If you need to go up hills this may restrict the locos pulling powers.