No ' my layout has no city theme. I put Olearys Dairy out from town so it does not burn it down by a crazy cow. hehe
I've got a thing for short hoods and spartan cabs too. Gorgeous! Every day, an auto parts train of big 60 and 86 foot boxcars and a handful of coil cars led by one of those high-hood SD40s would trundle through Ashtabula, Ohio, and it was actually my desire to replicate that train which got me started in model railroading!
This $&$!#@ brass locomotive and this &^$%# gearbox are on my workbench! A month wait for parts, and the stinking gearbox is bad! I could scream, cry, and throw this thing at the wall, all at the same time!
Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck! 20+ years ago, I read a modeling article regarding custom decals. Ink jet printers were on the rise and even with their limitations (no white) it seemed a way to make certain designs that would have required a custom shop. So, I acquired decal paper, came up with a design (futzed around with several incarnations), drew up the original artwork oversized, scanned into the computer, cleaned it up, downsized it... printed, sealed the paper with a lacquer and...…. VIOLA (yeah, I know I misspelt). At that time, I was engaged in an ambitious layout that would dominate my entire basement (probably unreasonably so if something needed repair) and allow me to run relatively long trains without repeated appearances in the same spots, thus, giving rise to the name, not unlike my response to a simple question, In Excess or NXS. I still have two large sheets of the originals (was gonna brand al manner of rolling stock too). Nyuck Nyuck Nyuck!
The new gearbox is indeed bad. The worm is damaged and it is very difficult to turn. I got the new motor in, but the old gearbox (which I reinstalled, including pressing the gear back on the axle) is very sloppy and still noisy. That replacement gearbox was 40 dollars. Sigh.
Wow. That just sucks! Have you contacted NWSL about it? I have found them to be helpful in the past. It is a lousy to have waited that long only to get bad merchandise. I hope you can get a satisfactory resolution to all this. Do you have any images of the bad worm gear? I am not a proponent for NWSL at all, just would like to see the images of damage.
I've emailed NWSL, and will try to get a photo when I'm back home. I dont blame NWSL at all, they've been very helpful. Spending the weekend in Amsterdam with some friends so photo will be a couple days.
At one point, I was working on a, um, work train and bought this gon to modify into a boom car. Funny, but as you start looking at the general configuration of such a train, it gets complicated and long! I'd prolly still need at least a couple idler cars, a wheel flat, a tool car and a crew car... at least!!