When the Intermountain SD45T-2's first came out, I picked up 3 different paint schemes. My favorite of the 3 was the SP Bi Centennial unit #9389. She only made a few laps around the layout I had at the time and ran just fine. She spent another many years sitting on a display shelf until we decided we were moving back in late 2018 and she went back into her case. I pulled her back out on July 4th 2020 to let her run on my new layout only to discover that she will make noise and light up but not move. Upon a little closer inspection, it looks almost as if the frame has swelled. The shell is so tight it won't come off and the cab end looks almost bowed. I put the unit in one of the cubbies on the work bench where it sat until I pulled it out for this picture today. Now I am wondering what to do with this shelf queen. Is it a write off or would it even be remotely worth reaching out to Intermountain to see if she could be sent back for inspection and repair. Maybe I should just cut my losses and put her up for sale. Decisions decisions.......
If the frame has swelled, then it has zinc rot/zinc pest. This is an irreversible condition that will only get worse. I had one tunnel motor that had this and IM replaced the frame for me. You may want to contact them to see what they say.
Just checked my two Rio Grande units seem to run fine just a little noisy. Haven't been ran in a couple of years. Don
As tehachapifan said, zinc pest/rot. Call up IM and tell them your situation. They will send you a new frame if they still have any available. I know you're thinking that you bought it awhile ago and why would they still have spare frames? They actually might still have them as I read somewhere on a forum (don't remember which) that recently (last year?) someone contacted IM with the same situation and still was able to get a replacement frame for free.
I had this problem with one I bought off ebay used and was surprised and happy when they sent me a new frame. Since I wasn't the original owner I thought they went above what was required. Only problem I had was that the second frame also crumbled during assembly of the components into it. They might of sent me another frame but I decide to just write it off and use.... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/Decoder-1/page-11.html ... the motor on my decoder test stand. Sumner
Your pic shows an Atlas SD50. I have not heard of any zinc pest issues with those, although I suppose it's always possible.
I think the zinc rot started at atlas. This was the first run gp15. Bnsf let me know if Intermountain doesn’t help I have an extra frame
tehachapifan, I purchase them new and they are in the box they came in. Sorry wrong photo! This is the right one.
As I understand it this was problem with several different chassis from Intermountain and around 2005? I did some research on this and found issues like this with their F3 which was also released around that time.
I have had over 55 IM locomotives with the frame rot, to the point I can not get the shells off, those are unsalvageable without breaking the shell. IM will send the frames but can do nothing about the shell replacement. I there is nothing I can do but stop buying IM locomotives and just dump all the ones I have, shell and all, into the trash. Makes it too heavy to move to the curb for trash day.
I bought almost all of mine in the same era--I have never checked for this issue, and while not as large a fleet as DCE Sharkman, I have a sizeable investment involved as well. I guess I netter have a look under the hood when I get home. It's a LOT drier here, I wonder if that makes a difference?
So I pulled shells on all my Intermountain these are all good I did a deep scrape and a bend and twisted
This one failed test. Was early tunnel motor. Sorry bnsf I only have one good frame left. But your still welcome to it if you need
While doing research on this it seems that these issues are showing up and being reported in the model railroading world with increased frequency since 2017 and have affected a wide range of manufacturers. This recent wave seems to correspond with production being moved to China in the early 2000's for at least the cast zinc parts. Small Chinese suppliers cutting their costs using inappropriate shortcuts (using scrap metal with lead content?) and the naïve manufacturer not properly overlooking their suppliers to ensure quality. Concerning is that these problems can take over a decade to appear and by that time years of parts could be in the hands of consumers before a mistake has been realized. That being said my 2007 issue of the SD45 seems to be in good condition. The only other loco of theirs I have from that era (2010) is the first run AC12 which also appears ok. Looking like 2005 was a bad year for Intermountain frames. I wouldn't expect my more recent sd40-2's to show anything even if they have bad metal.
Thanks for all the reply's folks. I have reached out to Intermountain and will let you know when and what I hear back.
I just finished checking my 19 tunnel motors and 8 F7s and thankfully everything is okay. I'm sure I've bought some from every run that IM has made. I feel bad for those of you having problems. Our toys are too expensive to just throw that money away. I wonder if there's anything we can do to prevent zinc rot? I keep my fleet in an air conditioned house. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast where it's pretty humid, so maybe humidity isn't a cause, unless it's in a non climate controlled garage or attic? Maybe big temperature swings?