Failure! Out of the box, failure. No movement, a flicker of lights...nothing. Everything else runs fine, but not this brand new item. Now I have to PAY TO RETURN something that never worked in the first place? Furious right now.
It is and I tried to pull the shell off to see what I could do, it is just plain horrible. Been wondering if I can send it back to Intermountain but so many of those units are deformed not sure what I would get or if they would even bother to respond to me. I have a UP road #2964 that the back is too high for most rail cars to stay coupled so I thought I would join these 2 together back to back but that stripe is just plain ugly. If Intermountain won't honor replacing the deformed shell I may just have to weather the heck out of it to disguise. Very sad.
I couldn't get mine to operate (take programming) on the program track out of the box but as soon as I tried to program on main it worked fine...very odd. Sorry to hear of your experience.
I tried messing with it, looks to me like they glued the cab on wrong...I think it is an Intermountain return.
Oh and a follow up to my train show Con-Cor U50 purchase......I called Con-Cor and found out that they do have U50 shells. They are BNSF, but I'll bet the paint will come off....Also they said that a new U50 is in the works, just held up because China is being a pain in the ass.......
(update) Was able to secure the cab a little more in alignment but this is just a very poor tooling from Intermountain. This is after adjusting the GATX Cab and comparing to my UP model. Both have identical deformities. I run them back to back so the high couplers connect fine and then the front couplers are closer to rolling stock height. I decided against returning them since it looks like this is all Intermountain makes is deformed shells...
Oh hell no.....I'll certainly send mine back if they look like that......200plus bucks better get me something......
A few other people have reported this so you're not alone. This is beginning to sound like a dud run for them! Check out The Railwire for other reports of non-functionality.
I got a Bachman Doodlebug for a song off an online hobby store. Runs great with out the shell on, now just need to get to run at all with the shell on. Sigh, between that, the AC6000, and the SD40-2 it makes you really wonder about the state of manufactures.
are you lumping Kato in that statement about "the state of manufacturers"?... While I have been severely disappointed in recent releases from certain manufacturers (IM, Scaletrains, BLI)...I have never been disappointed in, either the appearance, or the performance, of a Kato unit or piece of rolling stock... I will NEVER again purchase a BLI loco...all of my E7 units have ended up dying...the very nice looking shells now rest on Kato drives. My most recent purchase is an Atlas S2 in SP livery...looks fantastic, and runs 'reasonably' well, but the substance they're now using on the wheels to blacken them is causing some pickup problems...hoping it will eventually 'wear' off... ~Bruce
No, I've never gotten a Kato and most of what I hear is good. I just found it striking that three different people were having trouble with models from three different companies.
I agree... as I stated on The Railwire, I, personally, find it unacceptable that an N scale locomotive, at the prices we are talking about with these units, 'may' or 'may not' actually work when you take it, new, out of the box...these manufacturers (as well as Arnold-Hornby) have taken a huge step backwards when it comes to N scale mechanisms...they have chosen to use thirty year old practices, rather than the current state of the art (for over twenty years now) split frame mechanism with needlepoint axle electrical pickup... And, although the appearance of these units may be fairly nice (I have to REALLY take exception with the IM and BLI units-the details on the BLI units are hideous-oversized plastic grabs, glue blobs, flash all over the handrails and stanchions-not to mention warped frames on the IM units), but when the unit won't even run right out of the box...well, it adds up to a big nothing.
I have 17 kato,s sd40's. 4 sd40, 5 sd40-2 early and 8 sd40-2 mid. and they all run like swiss watches and now they all have dcc and 3 with sound. I do not need any more
It is very strange how things work out with us as consumers . I've been very lucky with BLI product, I have 7 Sound units and one I had to return due to it had a mind of it's own on the track-they replaced decoder - while a pain to ship back a product I at least have a working F unit again. Bachmann has been my nightmare engine department (nothing but finger pushing which they now sit as scenery in yard)...and now with the Intermountain deformities is a company product I will never buy again (no new multi-section shell product-I have some interest in older F units that look fine). My Atlas and Athearn engines seem to have no issues at all. Having said all that- I did buy 2 KATO (DCC) SD70ACe #8512 and #8444 in 2016 July. Two weeks ago 8512 while in consist with 8444 kept doing a hiccup move and after separating the 2 testing 8512 burping and spewing it cam to a Dead stop and absolutely no decoder life. I looked into getting the KATO sent for repair and very shocked out how they are not interested at all in repairs. No more KATO for me. (of course any positive suggestions on how to salvage this are welcome and may change my feeling to KATO )
Has the loco otherwise been operating properly during the past year since you bought it? Have you tried exchanging decoders between the two locos? Regarding repairs, you might mention to KATO this FAQ on their own website: https://www.katousa.com/faq/repair.html
Yes it had been running fine, I've always had those 2 in consist since purchase. No changes would have warranted the death sooo I assumed it just died. I don't have a huge confidence level in swapping out decoders but you make a good point for test purposes since they do not honor any warranty beyond 30days. Any manufacturer that has a limited warranty seems suspicious these days (in my opinion). I could give swap a try but hate to think I mess up the #8444 Thank you for the link.
I don't know how that KATO is made/put together. I'll need to put it on the bench and carefully see how it comes apart. I had not checked contacts - guess I assumed if I did not mess with it that wouldn't change but who knows. Thank you
the shell can be removed easily. and if it is a tcs decoder? there is a thread on how to make the contact better.
