I've enjoyed my evening getting to run one of my most favorite historical locomotives and just felt compelled to share: In 2017 I was fortunate to snag one of the last available Intermountain N Scale Cab Forwards from a major online retailer. I purchased an AC-10 #4235 w/ ESU 4.0 loksound on clearance and couldn't wait to get it on the track and running roundy-round. I envisioned the random steam chuffs and those stoic air pumps blasting away- annoying my girlfriend to no end, but it was a price she'd have to pay for my happiness. So imagine my dissapointment when it finally showed up after a week to eternity and it crapped out on me straight out of the box- the drive rods on the front drive set were bent out of shape and caused the wheels to derail within seconds. I contacted Intermountain immediately and sent it back to get fixed. About 5 weeks later it came back, then new problems started. As soon as I'd get it going on the track, it would suddenly lose power and come to a complete stop. It happened on curves and straight track. It also registered shorts on two different command stations. This was upsetting to say the least, so after putting it on the shelf for a few months and cussing under my breath, I contacted Intermountain again and once again.... sent it back. Well, this was 2018. About a month into me sending it back, Intermountain almost went under when they lost their factory in China and laid off most of their staff- including what seemed to be the whole repair department. Everything was up in the air. I was pissed that I may never see my AC-10 again. 18 months would go by before they came back like a phoenix from the ashes and I got a random phone call from the repair department. I described the problem I was having. The technician said he'd look into it but eventually reported they could not find any problems. So it got shipped back to me and the escapade continued. When I tried to run it again, the same problems persisted. It almost felt worse than before. I was about to go crazy- evil thoughts of throwing the cab forward against the wall or selling for parts on Ebay flashed before my eyes. I was between a rock and a hard place. So it went on the shelf again in frustration. The Covid happened, the girlfriend became the wife, and other travels of life happened. I dabbled in other N scale things to keep me occupied and found happiness in my N scale world. Fast forward to last month, I worked up the courage to call Intermountain again. My cab forward had not had more than 20 minutes of total run time with plagued performance. It hadn't even pulled cars yet. I was ready to give up. I was saddened to learn Intermountain would not even touch it anymore- there was no one left at the company to work on them and the production knowledge was long gone. Seeing the ridiculous prices that Cab Forwards are selling for on Ebay, I'd give it one last chance before letting it go any maybe never having one again. I decided to reach out to a guy who did some tricky installs for me and asked if he'd take a look at it. There was no way in heck I'd attempt to disassemble this myself and screw it up more. He accepted and a few weeks later, got a call and it was fixed. Should have gone that route the first time. It turned out my model had multiple shorts in the light board and wires running from the tender. And for whatever reason, mine was extremely sensitive to any lateral movement- it lost power even after the shorts were fixed. My repair guy lashed up a hefty keep alive in the tender and- hallelujah! It runs amazing. I finally reached the finish line 7 years later and boy, it was great to see #4235 run around the track with a passenger consist without hesitation. I'm estatic to have another member of the fleet up and running again and bringing smiles to the face. If anyone needs someone to fix their Cab Forward, PM me... I know a guy.
t_t_g, 1st, welcome to TB there is a great deal of knowledge and desire to help amongst the members. 2nd, welcome back to the fun side of model railroading, N scale style. I too have one of the IM CF # 4276 that I acquired about 3 years ago. It has ESU sound and an IM person told me 3 years ago that it is from the last production run and will never be produced again by IM. BTW, you have way more patience than I. My hope is that Scale Trains or BLI, last choice, will make one. From a fellow Texan, be well.
Glad to see it running on your "Walnut & Western" railroad. Success like this, aged to perfection, is oh so good!
Been a long wait so congrats on finally getting yours to run properly. The cab forward has always been a favorite of mine. So much so that before this was released I bought one in HO (BLI) just to have it for display. Lookin good
They are a great model when they run right. I’m happy to only have one IM in the stable and it’s a decent runner thankfully. For the prices they are going for these days, it’s almost cheaper to buy a brass one.
Good to see you have it running and welcome to Trainboard. Now you need a layout so you can just flip a switch and go.
I never bought any IM locomotives or rolling stock. Some inner voice told me not to do it. After reading this and then the tales of frame rot, I'm glad that, for once, I listened to that inner voice.
That’s a beautiful engine, I’m glad you finally got it running properly. It’s too nice to be a shelf queen or parts donor.
