Bachmann 2-6-2 Praire trouble?

[FiveFlat]

This is the first loco I've owned in N so I'm not really too sure how it should 'feel' on the track. It seems to have alot of slop on the track but if I measure from flange to flange on the locomotive drive wheels I get the same measurement as the track.
I can grab the top of the locomotive and sort of 'twist' it side to side on the track and it just seems to be kind of loose on the track. Is this the way it should be?

 

[eightyeightfan1]

It happens in HO also. This is designed, so model steam engines can get around our tight radius corners. If the drivers were tight, we'd be calling in our scale wreck cranes, and picking them up off the floor, usually in pieces.

 

[coaster]

Even prototype steamers were designed to have a certain amount of "slop," particularly with their drivers, which were rigid. A steam locomotive actually navigates even the most gradual of curves in a series of very short "straight" movements.

Paul