I actually own 3 steam engines, a Fox Valley Atlantic, Kato 2-8-2 and 4-8-4 daylight. This story is about the two Kato's... About a week ago I placed an order with Kato for a Mikado traction tire, replacement drawbars for my daylight and more traction tires for the daylight. I received it all today and I started with the Mike. Five minutes after taking it apart it was back together and completed. Very Easy. The Daylight was a different story. I do not know why Kato felt compelled to jazz up the guts but that thing it put together like a Swiss watch. After taking the side rods pin out to get at the traction tire axle I just could not get the tire to slip around the wheel. So I decided to remove the bottom plastic piece and take the wheel set out. I did that and had the tires on in a few minutes. Then the fun started. I had kinds of fun trying to get the wheels back in alignment and then when I did I could not find the screws for the bottom plate. I looked all over for those things, swept the floor, had my kids looking and everything for about a half hour. Turns out they were stuck to the motor the whole time. The drawbar replacement was not too difficult but it was annoying. Somehow my original drawbar had shorted and melted itself. Anyways I got everything back together and it runs great, I just don't see why Kato keeps "upgrading" there mechs, the Mike is a great little engine and so is the Daylight but I don’t see any benefit to the way they made it. So that’s the end of my rant, look for a Daylight to be for sale soon. Kevin
