I must give Barry Olsen kudos for coming up with his redesigned pilot truck. It solves the problem of the truck derailing once and for all. This truck can tolerate almost any track condition and is a breeze to install. I’ve installed a couple now on my Bachmann 4-6-0’s and they only take about half an hour to complete. They are very reasonably priced at $25 and Barry includes the wiring, all necessary hardware and very good instructions with diagrams. A plus is calling Barry and talking with him. He’s a smart guy and a pleasure to do business with. If you have a Bachmann 4-6-0 that occasionally derails the pilot truck, call Barry!

Joe,

While Barry’s truck is a very elegant and useful device, the problem of the truck derailing can be solved very easily by adding equalization.

It is a very long truck, and the axles are rigidly held by the metal pick-up strips. If you look underneath you find a plastic block with an arrow on it. Remove it, and the whole thing becomes a floppy, non-rigid truck which will handle anything. You don’t even need to add weight.

If you are using track power - remember to mark the truck with an arrow to replace the one on the plastic spacer, and add some electrical tape between the metal strips so they don’t touch.

This pic has 3 wheels on the rails and one on an obstruction. Try that with the standard truck!

Pete,

I tried that at first and didn’t like it. Went to BBT truck and and happy with it, so that is the way I recommend.

Back in June of 2013, I purchased one of Barry’s new Connie lead trucks. Big difference from the stock Bachmann truck. Barry’s truck just “glides” over frogs and points like they were never there!

Pete,

My pilot truck is equalized. It took me fifteen years to figure it out, but that is what makes it work. I sent a kit to Bachmann and they upgraded the Gen 6 loco, with the arm, which was my first improvement twenty years ago, fifteen years later add the equalization and it is done.

The last item is a stop of some kind to prevent the pilot truck from rotating to 180 degrees,

preferably, 90 degrees in either direction or less.

Barry