I need some help. I just purchased two Walther's Mainline Amtrak F40PH locos. The snow plows on them are catching on any joint that is not snug. If there is any gap the plow is catching on the gap. One of the plows actually broke off. I am using Atlas code 100 track. I have never experienced this problem before. No other loco I have has this problem. Upon closer inspection it appears the plows are basically riding on top of the rails. There is no clearance between the plow and the rail tops. Has anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions? I am trying to see if I can find any photos of the locos without the plows.
I just looked at some photos online, and the plows do look pretty low. Even on models just sitting on their flanges off the track, it looked way too close to the ground, and once you put it on the track, it would just get worse. My suggestion would be to get a new Details West plow or drill new mounting holes for the existing one. The plow Walthers uses doesn't look correct for Amtrak, or at least it's a dodgy representation of the correct one. Details West 216 looks like a more proper F40PH plow (about halfway down on this page): http://www.detailswest.com/dwparts1.htm
A friend of mine just bought one, and has the same problem. No solutions yet, but at least you have company. He uses micro-enngineering track I think.
I got an answer to my email to Walthers. File the plows which I did and it appears to solve the problem. I know it is an easy solution and took only about 5 minutes but I don't appreciate having to do a modification to a brand new loco fresh out of the box so that it can run properly.
I had a similar problem with some of my locos and the solutions was the same: file down the pilots ever so slightly and the regular screeching noise stopped. None of the locos were new.
