I have read a lot on here about the Intermountain frame rot in the past. Does anyone know if Intermountain has ever acknowledged this and or corrected it? There are a couple of Intermountain locos I am interested in but not if they haven't fixed the issue. All input welcome.
I can never trust Intermountain, I lost a fortune on bad F units and Tunnel Motors, so many that Intermountain would not replace the number of frames affected, but they offered to sell me replacements. To wit, I told them to shove it. And I have never purchased anything from since. I have over 100 empty shells from FT's, F3's and F7's as well as 22 Tunnel motors. I have 1 out of 7 AC12 Cab-forwards that is still running. So no, I will never buy a thing from Intermountain again.
One poster in particular had purchased many examples of IM power. A large number of them came apart due to zirmac rot. He notified IM; submitted photographic proof. IM refused to do anything for him. Others added their similar complaints although for many of them it was one or two examples. Some mentioned that IM did do something for them. The guy with the numerous rotted examples even posted a topic about it. The one time that I had a quality problem with IM, an official responded to my problem immediately and fixed it. Said official even was interested in the follow up when I had another similar model with the same problem. I fixed that one myself. IM's customer service to me always was top drawer. At one point, I had the following IM power: 4 B&O FT pairs 2 NYC FT pairs 1 Penn late phase F-3 pair 2 WM Fireball F-7 pairs 3 B&O F-7 pairs 1 NYO&W FT pair 1 NYO&W F-3A I sold all of the first four for various reasons, none of which had anything to do with zirmac rot or any quality problem. I do still have two of the B&O F-7 pairs plus the NYO&W power. None of the IM power that I still have shows any sign of zirmac rot. I run all of them around the track a few times from time to time to make sure that there is no zirmac rot. I have yet to see any sign of zirmac rot. This is just my experience. Others have had different experience.
I have about 25 IM locos and have had zero problems. But the problem is well documented. IM acknowleged the issue, and offered replacement frames until they ran out (which was pretty quickly) at which point they said "sorry, can't help you". I've always had good luck with IM as far as parts go. They've replaced every faulty part I've ever had, and gone so far as to replace parts that weren't a warranty item (I.E. I broke or lost something, inquired about purchasing parts, and IM sent me replacements free of charge). I haven't seen any recent complaints of frame rot ........actually the recent complaints have been for other manufacturers. Frame rot isn't just a IM thing, but they probably had the biggest number of incidents, and then got a very bad rap when they didn't provide adequate support.
New IMs have no issues that I have read on the forums other than delivering what they promised. They are king of vaporware right now.
I have around 50 IM locos and when I went thru them last year, none had frame rot. As far as whether the new ones will suffer from this deadly disease, I think it takes at least a few years before it shows up. I personally would buy more IM power if they ever produce something I want.
I've only purchased eight IM locos total. An ABBA set of F3's and an ABBA set of FT's. As part of my downsizing, I sold them all (rot free). Actually, I sold all of my Atlas units as well. I'm Kato centric and realize that some day my heirs will be faced with either trashing or selling my remaining N scale inventory. All-Kato gives them a better chance to just make them go away. At the end of the day, nobody wants your stuff. Anybody here who has had the "honor" of being named power of attorney or executor will likely know exactly what I mean.
Yep, they either act like you're from another universe and know nothing about you or alternatively circle like vultures even when you're alive and well.
Once the search feature works again search 'Intermountain frame rot' There are numerous threads on the subject. These are just a few of the rotted frames I dug out of IM locomotive shells... .
It really depends on what locos you are looking at IMHO. It's obvious there was an issue with the SD40T-2 and F units. I don't follow their steam so can't help ya there. If you are looking at pre-owned versions of these I'd be wary of purchasing. I don't know how many production runs of and which run of these locomotives are affected by this. It is possible that the problem locos have all self destructed by now but who knows. I've a couple club members with F's from more recent runs and no issues with them. And between us there must be 15 or so SD40-2's that are trouble free. Then there is the Conrail SD45-2 that I purchased off a club member who purchased it used himself. I had it a couple of years and sold it to another club member. No mention of any issues other than it is a bit nomadic. If the problem was happening with every locomotive model and every production run they have produced I think it's safe to say we wouldn't be having this conversation as Intermountain would likely not be selling locomotives in 2024. If your asking me would I buy another IM locomotive? Depends on what model it is. I was on board with the cancelled Paducah GP10 locomotive. I'd likely go back to the IM well if it's a locomotive that fits into my area and era of modeling and is NOT produced by another MFG. But I cannot discount the documented issues that others have had.
I had many too until the frames rotted out, not all of them did. I still have many that are not having the frame issue. But the trust factor to buy any more is gone. All but 3 of my SD40T and SD45T suffered the frame rot. Only 1 of my 6 AC12's survived and half of my Funits also bit the dust. I guess it is just random bad luck for me. But there is still no excuse for Intermountain to demand payment for the defective frame replacements. This made for a total of significantly over 300 bad frames. The photo by mtntrainman, were a small batch of locomotives that I gave him to see what I saw.
In my experience frame rot or Zmactitis as I call it, does not immediately show. Takes about 6-8 years for it to start showing. My Bachmann steam fleet showed this after about 8 years and I lost almost all of them, 50 plus locos.
On the plus side, I have plenty of shells to swap in and out if needed, first up will the ATSF Cat Whisker F units and JRMI will get them running straight away since they have decoders installed already.
Which B-manns? Given the tight curves on your pike, I am guessing the mogul, ten wheeler or USRA 0-6-0. I have at least one of all of those and have had them for some time. . None have shown those problems Y-E-T. I do have one USRA light 4-8-2 left (I did not sell it because I kept all of my Old And Weary power) as well as two of the SPECTRUM Baldwin 2-8-0s. I have had those for some time, as well. They have not shown such problems Y-E-T. All the same, think you for the "heads up". Because of the IM problems, I do take out what IM power I have left and run it just to make sure that nothing has happened to it. I run my moguls, ten-wheelers and USRA 0-6-0s regullarly as I do the two SPECTRUM 2-8-0s that I have left. I will have to run the USRA light 4-8-2 more frequently.
