Hello Joe, I responded to your post here on Trainboard as soon as I saw it a couple of days after you posted it, but apparently, it didn’t make it through the system. In the meantime, Naomi from MTL was able to contact me on her second attempt (her first attempt ended up in my server’s spam folder). She sent me replacement frames to replace the ones on the second pair of CofG cars, and said MTL would eMail a credit voucher for the first pair of cars that suffered broken body shells. The replacement frames (she actually sent 4), which arrived yesterday, were installed today, so the second set of cars which fortunately escaped having their shells broken, are ready for the layout. I still have not received any eMails regarding the MTL credit voucher to replace the first set of cars whose body shells were broken, so I will follow-up with a phone call to MTL as soon as I post this message. Thanks for your help! Bill in Ft.Lauderdale (aka Railtwister)
Hopefully, this is the last report about my Zinc Pest issue with MTL #031-00-281 & 282 CofG boxcars. I just with Naomi at MTL who very quickly sent out new underframes to replace the Zinc Pest infected ones on my two cars with unbroken shells. She also is handling the merch-credit voucher that will make good on the two cars that had broken body shells caused by their swollen and warped zinc frames. I hope this my final report on this issue with Zinc Pest and Micro-Trains. If you have any 50’ boxcars that use these frames, please check them carefully, because the damage from the Zinc Pest over time can vary greatly, even in the same batch of castings. Every model train manufacturer has had this problem with Zinc Pest at some time or another, including the big names like Lionel, Varney, Mantua, Athearn, Aristo-Craft, MTH, Rivarossi, Marklin, Hallmark, Samhongsa and others, from the 1930’s onward. Thanks to Micro-Trains Line and both Naomi and Joe for their help in keeping me a satisfied, long time customer. Bill in Ft. Lauderdale (aka Railtwister)
