Group: My four EM-1s arrived today, well packed. Two of the four have problems before I even set them on the track. The front porches on both are tilled significantly to one side. Has anyone encountered this problem - and found a fix? The first picture shows how far off the first porch is, the second porch is not off as much, but still not right. And the third one - the front coupler was already off in the box. Thanks, Bill
Bill, I reported the same problem with my first EM-1 #7614, on one of the forums, I can't remember which one???? Anyway, I fixed it by taking the mounting screw out of the pilot and placing a small washer (#1 size I think) under the head. The screw is a flathead counter sunk screw and the hole in the metal frame on my EM-1 was tapped crooked. When driven in the pilot's counter sink, the crooked frame hole it pulls the pilot over. The washer keeps the screw out of the counter sink. If you have a round head metric screw or any screw that has a a flat washer face you can subsitute it. Yeah, I don't have any other small metric screws either. The frame surface is flat, so the pilot pulls down on the frame flat. It's harder to describe than to fix, sorry no pictures, I don't have a digital camera (but it did happen!). Be careful, the detail parts they are delicate, and I almost lost the marker lights and did loose one of the flag holders on the pilot, fixing the pilot. I've had other problems too, with the drive train of the #7614 and my new #7627 locking up. It's just my luck, I guess, others haven't reported any problems. I still like the loco's though. Good Luck. Charley.
Charley: Thanks for the thoughts. Just tried the third engine of the four, the valve gear fell off before it moved two feet. The fourth engine, the front porch bounces up and down like a yo-yo. As an avid tinkerer, and B&O fan, for over $200 a piece, at least the set of four I got are CRAP with a capital C. They are going back to the dealer in the AM. Best, Bill
So much for quality control. They should have never left the dealer that way and should have gone from the dealer back to Bmann. Three chances at quality control. The factory, Bmann, and the dealer. All failed.
Sorry to hear that Bill. Check the main thread again, I added new information about my lock-up problems. I guess I'm going to try and fix them, but I sure wanted to send mine back too. I wonder what retailer the other folks are buying theirs from? Which they can't mention here. I'm sure it was on another forum I stated that, my LHS, still doesn't have any to sell, that beats me. Maybe Bachmann did rush them out too fast. However, since you and me are the only people that got the bad ones. I guess it doesn't matter to the other folks, LOL. Charley.
Charley: I have a lot of Bachmann steamers, mainly connies and mountains. Bought them cheap and spent a lot of time shimming bearing blocks, fixing warped frames, replacing out of round pilot wheels, straightening wobbling drivers, etc. I could go on, but I am more than willing to tinker. I bought cheap, and was willing to accept cheap. But for four out of four $200+ engines to arrive as trash, well, frankly, that is more than I am willing to accept. Maybe folks will think I am being unreasonable, but a 100% failure rate is beyond my level of tolerance. I can only assume that the LHS I bought them from just pushed them out the door. I have an email out to them now, I will keep this thread advised as to how they respond. Kind regards, Bill
Bill, I don't blame you one bit. I've been tinkering since 1969, with a hiatus between 1980 and 2010. I think the trains are better today, but still not perfect. It seems with Bachmann it's "luck of the draw" more than anything, but each of us got some "bad apples" or do I dare say lemons. I just can't figure out how all of the other poeple, got cherries! Like you I don't mind some tweaking, I even tweak what Atlas sells. Anyway, I tweaked mine too much to send them back now. I don't think they would take them back, "my bad". Good luck. Charley.
Some dealers test-run Bachmann locos before letting them go out the door. That's good customer service, but probably fairly rare. My 7614 had a loose screw on the valve gear allowing the cutoff linkage to rotate into the wrong position, causing a lockup. I repositioned the cutoff arm to the correct orientation with respect to the main rod, tightened the screw, and it has run like a swiss watch ever since. No problems whatsoever with 7627. Bachmann's QC has never been terrific; I had to send one of my 2-8-0's back. Fortunately, 30 days later I got a perfect new one that has run great for two years. Getting 4 bad ones is inexcusable, but I still think the basic design is terrific. John C.
IMO, you're not being unreasonable in the least. For $200+, they should all run perfectly right out of the box with no adjustments required. To those who think that having to rework a brand new $200+ loco is no big deal - or even "fun" - suppose your new microwave oven, computer printer or flat-screen TV had to be "tweaked" before it would function correctly? How many of those sort of products does the dealer have to check out before you leave the store to make sure the manufacturer did its job correctly? Not to defend the LHS, but 99% of the shops I've been to in the last 40 years just push new locos out the door without offering to test them - let alone testing them before putting them on the shelf. Those that have a test track typically offer them for self-service use by the customers.
No Problems here! My EM1 just ran two laps on my model railroad, it takes around 7-8 minutes to complete one lap. The first was to break it in, the second lap I had it pulling a 30 car coal train. The loco pulled it's train up a 1%+ grade with ease, the motor in this loco must be a beast, it didn't even feel warm after the 15+ minute run. Everything looks great, nothing broken, bent or crooked.
I don't enjoy "tweaking" either, but I'm not above doing it. As to the microwave reference. Mine is a 25 year old Emerson (made in USA), that was a return, and made a floor model. I knew what was wrong with in seconds after seeing it. The door micro switch was not making contact. Fifty bucks and 25 years later it's still cooking. Anyway, I guess I'm just an "old fool" that doesn't have any "street credibility". I've just about got my EM-1's tweaked to the point I think they'll work good for awhile. Since most don't have any problems, I'll keep the fix to myself until you do. Charley.
After reading this thread, I am wondering if people honestly think that a dealer should test run every locomotive before it goes out the door; especially the larger online dealers. For some, they would have to have a full time person JUST for that. That would make prices go up because of the added labor. Back to the original poster, having 4 out of 4 fail is unacceptable but really that falls on Bachmann and the factory. If I were a dealer and had lots of problems with any manufacturer, I would have to think long and hard about carrying their items because of the all of the hassles involved. Just my opinion.
Dave: Have to agree, expecting dealers to test engines prior to shipment, especially if they are high volume, is a bit much. Nonetheless, given the glowing reviews from most of the posts on here and Railwire about the EM-1s, I was hoping that Bachmann got their QC issues resolved. Obviously, I was wrong. 4 out of 4 being really wrong were odds that were too astronomical for me to accept at a cost 0f $800+, they went back to the dealer today. Cheers, Bill
Bill, not to excuse Bachmann, but it's possible that you received a block of a very early, if not initial shipment from Bachmann's manufacturer. That doesn't excuse the problems you experienced in any way, but with many low volume and low profit margin hobby industries like ours, they do the best they can to train their manufacturing quality people, yet keep their labor costs as low as possible. They then refine that training with the first dozen or so items off the production assembly line. Sadly, I assume your dealer, and you, got nailed with some of those initial goofs that made it out the door by mistake. I've come to realize that if we want quality American made products, then we have to accept paying American labor wages. The seafood manager at my local chain grocery told me that he has stopped buying Asian seafood. Instead he is now buying seafood only from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Gulf of Mexico waters. He said it will cost about 20% more, but he now can guarantee its quality. Man, can I taste the difference in flavor with the Gulf shrimp and oysters.
Bachmann owns their own factory and has been making model trains in China for decades. If they haven't figured out how to do it correctly, by now, it's likely never going to happen. If Kato can make a decent quality 2-8-2 (yes, there were some problems with drawbars, initially) that sells for slightly over $100, Bachmann should be able to do the same with a 2-8-8-4 at twice the price. When it comes to locos, will any manufacturer ever give us that choice?
FWIW, I bought my four from a rocky mountain distributor who received their EM-1s a few weeks after most of the east coast dealers received theirs. At best, these were from the end of the first run. Cheers, Bill
I believe I saw a recent post here on TB that one of our major suppliers is moving their manufacturing back to the States. I don't remember details, unfortunately.
It doesn't always work like that, the first built locos are usually on the bottom of the stack. Even though your dealer received them later, they still could be some of the very first manufactured.
