I would like to clear up some errors in statements made above. 1. It is just about impossible to get a Kato GS-4 out of quarter. It uses square axles. It is out of quarter, there would be many more things wrong than just that. 2. The only axle that floats on a GS-4 is the rear (#4) axle which has PB leaf springs to keep it on the track. 3. Most of the problems I have seen with side rods hitting the other valve gear comes from mishandling of the loco. I just had one the other day at the shop, a brand new Heavy Mountain that I had test run before putting it in the case, sold and them came back with the decoder and motor smoked. The gentleman had grabbed the loco by the valve gear and squeezed the cross head guides together, causing the valve gear to interfere. When it siezed, he just gave it more thottle till the magic smoke came out. The GS-4 does not have this problem because of the way the valve gear is designed. It can't bend but it can get dislodged. More than likely there is flashing on a part that interferes in reverse, but not in forward. The other culprit to look for could be the worm gear not installed, shimmed improperly or that has flashing on the end of it. When in reverse the load on it causes a bind and or lock.
Hi Tony, Thanks for the information. I can guarantee that these were not roughly handled so it may be a flash issue somewhere in the drive train. Nonetheless, since these are essentially brand new, I am sending them back to Kato for repair. I am a firm believer in that manufacturers should fix these issues instead of me tinkering. For one, it may bring insight to a problem on the manufacturing line, and for another, it is still under warranty so they are obligated to correct this. Mystere, I was told by the owner of the local shop that this was the last steam locomotive by Kato for at least the next 10 years. He was told this by Leon at KatoUSA, so I think it is pretty set in stone.
Tell them to get a Japanese Kato catalog and look at the steam, even if Kato aren't going to do any US locomotives for a while they are not giving up on steam. I recently got one of the latest release of the Japanese 2-8-0 and it is a little jewel that runs like a Swiss watch and out pulls the Walthers 0-8-0 even though it is considerable smaller. Sometimes I also think KatoUSA don't have that much say in what the parent company does, when the add-on set for the El Capitan was changed from two baggage cars to a baggage and a coach, I e-mailed them that I was disappointed with the decision and got a reply saying in effect that so were they.
It was supposed to be impossible for the Titanic to sink as well. A manufactured defect such as a mis-quartered driver on a square axle is just as possible as un-removed flashing which affects driver movement in reverse but not forward. Actually we were both wrong on this one. The #4 is spring loaded, yes, but the #2 driver is truly free floating. Driver 1 is seated as is the geared third driver. If you fish for an official statement you'll receive no comment. For some reason in this hobby manufacturers keep their future release list classified way above top secret to prevent other manufacturers from copying a release in hopes to steal some of the market share. The fact that unofficial statements of no steamer are being circulated leads me to believe one is actually in the works. Either way, the best thing to help clarify this rumor is to send Kato your steam suggestions here (The UP FEF3 such as #844 for instance ). Anyone like me who wants to see quality steam on the market can not afford to have Kato out of the steam business. So unless Kato completely ignores the model suggestions, if anyone who wants Kato to build steam sends their suggestion in, Kato could not afford to be out of the steam business either.
As I said, my local shop talked to the guys at KatoUSA about a variation on the 4-8-4 in ATSF and other roads. They were told flat out, no new US steam for 10 years. Kato never publishes official statements like this. I know all about production security, I deal with it everyday. But when the head guy at Kato tells a long time friend and customer, it isn't going to happen, well I do not think they would lie to protect whatever is on the drawing board. And if you think about it, it took about 10 years after the Mikado before the GS-4 came about. This is not to say that they will not release more runs of GS-4's or of the Mikados, it just means no new steamer design will be around anytime soon. Incidentally, this may also be the case because there were insufficient orders for the other version of the Black Wartime GS-4 with the alternate tender lettering. And for what it is worth, the suggest a model is not what drives the decisions, if it did, we would see a radically different product offering from Kato instead of the UP, SP, BNSF, ATSF concentration of product. There would be more Southern, New York Central, Northern Pacific and so many others if the suggest a model held any validity. It is just there as a outlet for modeler frustrations. I was even told by Dee that they really pay no attention to that. They compile the numbers and send them to Kato Japan, and from there the factory calls all of the shots.
Even a die hard SP modeler can have too many GS4's, maybe Kato overdid it with too many too soon. A lot of those who bought the Daylight version would have been non SP modelers who were attracted by the paint scheme and the full train set and would have had no interest in the black ones. The sales of other versions of the GG1 will probably drop off as well after Pennsy modelers have gotten all they want, someone who models the southwest but bought the Broadway just because they liked it, or who models no particular road but just buys colorful trains to watch running round their layout will not be likely to want maroon and single stripe GG1's as well.
I also had a GS-4 Warbaby problem right out of the box. It did not want to run in reverse and ultimately seized up for good. I called Kato to hear their suggestions, but the man at Kato service told me that was why he modeled HO! Seriously? I then discussed it with woo woo woo woo woo woo where I had purchased it. They sent me a new one and let me ship the old one back in the same box. The new one worked just fine. It's an amazing model, but a complicated little bugger!
I have four Kato GS-4s. All four of them run like champions and I wouldn't trade them four anything. The only problem I did have was from a bad decoder. Could that be your problem? And about Kato's next steam locomotive...remember, Intermountain was going to release there AC-12s November 2008. Kato does make the some of the best locomotives out there, they want to keep us guessing as to what they're coming out with next.
Hi, No decoders in any of these, they were DC only and on the test loop for a few loops before I started installing the decoders.
In Japan that attitude to customer service would get him to the head of the unemployment line real quick.
I got a GS4 for xmas. One thing I did was break it in for several hours without any cars attached both in forward and reverse before I did any hauling with it. It is a fine loco in my opinion. Sorry to here you had problems with it. Now ten years before next steam eh? Well here is to the hope that they'll make a ten wheeler. (of course they don't listen to customer suggestions though)
When you think about it, ten years for the next US steamer from Kato could be about right, or maybe longer, because they haven't exactly been prolific producers in the past. If you count the various permutations of the Hudson as one, they've done four in the last 40 years, Hudson, GN 4-8-4, Mikado and GS4. The first two were made for Con-Cor, so maybe they shouldn't be counted as Kato releases, so you could say in the 40+ years they've been in business Kato have done two US steamers on their own.
Well I talked to Kato today, and they believe the the wheels may be out of quarter. If that is so, how does that happen at the factory and not get caught? Anyway, they said to send them back and they will take care of them for me. So I will have to wait and see what happens next.
I've had something similar happen on an Atlas SD60M after a nasty bout with gravity (a.k.a. it derailed and fell 4 feet to the carpeted floor). The lights turned on but it didn't move. This puzzled me and I was ready to post my predicament on all the major N scale webforums I frequent Then I did something - either picked it up and shook it side to side or pushed the shell side to side - there was some odd contact within the loco that was made, then it began to move again.
I talked to KATO today about mine too and they mentioned there might be a quartering issue as well. Mine also has trouble going over turnouts. Took a good look at the under side before packaging it up, the second set of drive wheels will not move side to side like the other three sets... Second set still moves up and down just fine. Hopefully, it will come back as the best locomotive in my collection.
I got a GS-4 for Christmas too, and mine runs like a Swiss watch. It's terrific in every way (smoothness, low speed, pulling power), and I hope Kato will continue to produce heavy steam with similarly-engineered mechanisms (Other 4-8-4's would seem to be easy: UP, NP, a "J" to replace my Bachmann, etc., but what I wouldn't give to have Kato use what they've learned with this mechanism to bring out a new Berkshire). I'm in the process of converting it to DCC, but NOT with the Kato decoder - I'm using a Lenz silver mini in the boiler area, so I can re-wire the headlight and Mars light and get rid of those awful yellow LED's Kato used (why did they do that?? White SMT LED's are plentiful . . .). And I'm also planning to put a Heavy Steam Tsunami in the tender for sound. Will post pics when I'm done (maybe this weekend). John C.
Mine just died. I sent it back & it came back normal. Now it skips & studders. I was going to add a weight in the tender, but I got sick. I'll try that before Leon gets it back again.
