American Flyer S ES44 Pilot Mounting Bummer?

Hopefully just a packing glitch.  Keep us posted as to what you find out.   Have one on order - hoping it ships soon.  This going down the "scale road" looks like it is going to be tougher than I thought. Ugh.

Rusty,

I don't know if the parts are the same but if so the hardware that came with my SD-70 is yours. You can send contact info to my email in the profile.

Ray

Thanks for the offer, Ray. 

 

But upon further investigation, it appears the new ES44 frame isn't drilled and tapped for mounting the pilot.  I stuck a small brass rod down one of the holes in the pilot and it doesn't catch on anything to prevent the pilot from moving.  I only want to open this thing up once, so I won't really know for sure until I get some time to really dig into the model.

 

It's a nice looking locomotive and runs well on the test track.  It responds well to my DCC.  I've got a set of scale wheels ready to install, but I'm disappointed with this latest development. 

 

It's definitely putting me off from buying another ES44 or any future diesels I might want to scalify.

 

Rusty

Here we go again...

 

Mark in Oregon

Wow Rusty, I thought the parts package looked short.
Please keep us posted on this, certainly concerns me.
Perhaps Ed has a solution?

That would stink if Lionel forgot to drill/tap the holes and ship the brackets.

Emailed the lads at Lionel this morning about the pilots.  Now I wait.

 

I probably won't be able to dig into my ES44 until the weekend.

 

Rusty

Thanks for emailing them.
Until they answer or whatever, my unit sits in the yard.
Sounds good though...

OK.  Here's the reply from Angela S at Lionel regarding mounting the pilots on the ES44 so they don't swing, hot off the ether:

 

"Looking at the older versions of the ES44AC for American Flyers it also did not come with anything to lock the wheel set in place to the frame.

 

Thank You,

 

Angela S

Lionel Customer Service"

 

 

So, it's official: BUMMER.

 

Rusty

 

Ok...I'll skip the rant.
Wonder what they were thinking?
Well, Rusty, I've thought of spacer and self tapping screw or plastic and acc.

Rusty, called Lionel (just for the heck of it), naturally got Angela, who told me exactly what your email said.
I politely told her that they were beautiful locomotives, but one shouldn't have to modify a $500 loco.
Oh well.  That's why we're in S scale.  I'm not mechanically inclined but I can drill or glue or hammer if I need to.��

I've got an idea or two rattling around in the empty space between my ears.  Hopefully, this weekend.

 

Rusty

Sorry to hear that guys.

 

Sure do feel for you guys.  I know a few years ago when Lionel started edging toward introducing new product the mood swing here was definitely upward.  Then when it became known that MTH was buying into S scale... lots more excited talk.

 

Now years have passed, and it's beginning to look like both the Big L and Mikey are headed in directions that are (once again) going to leave the scale guys having to do a lot of work to try to get more variety onto their layouts.

 

 

 

Originally Posted by laming:

Yep.

 

While I'll still applaud Lionel and MTH for their overall efforts in S, things like this are  mounting disappointments for my vested self interests.

 

Rusty

Ditto.

I ordered one of these even though it is more modern than the time period I am modeling and it was not part of the current intended train budget.  But I was excited about what Lionel was doing and thought - hey, we scale guys are a small segment and Lionel needs to make money to build more - so I am going to support them on this and buy another one.  Now I am feeling a little like having been thrown under the proverbial bus. 

I saw all the ES44's lined up at DesPlaines Hobbies last Sunday and they are all indeed nice locomotives, a perfect compliment to the SD70's.  I would have been tempted to buy another one (they were on sale over the weekend, plus Ron's got scale wheelsets in stock) but for this latest issue.

 

Once I figure out how easy/difficult it is to fix the pilots, it will have an effect on any future purchases.

 

It's one thing to change out trucks on a freight car, quite another thing to go drilling and tapping on a locomotive (and thus voiding the warranty) with all that electronics inside.

 

Rusty

Agreed these look fantastic and my SD70ace runs great in DCC mode (finally got to try it out at Christmas time).  This is my 1st ES44c and have not recieved it yet - gonna have nudge the dealer to see if it came in yet - should have since Lionel shows shipped Dec. 14th.  Its just weird based on what was done on the SD70's. I was happy that we at least had the option (scale wheels availaable and Kadee mounting pads there and swinging/fixed pilot option).  I can deal with a little "remove this to install that", but man I get a little nervous about doing a bunch of surgery on a brand new $400 loco.  

I'm just surprised that Rusty is the first to notice this. Does that mean nobody that bought the first run of fantasy paint units put scale couplers on?

 

I don't understand why Lionel can't send you the bracket? It is clearly shown in the manual. I seem to recall my U-33s and SD70 using a similar bracket.

 

Bummer guys. Hope they rectify it for you.

Personally, I had no interest in the NS Heritage locomotives, which is what all of the first run of ES44's comprised of, nice looking as they are.

 

I have the hardware to mount Kadees to the pilots, this issue is mounting the pilots so they don't swing.

 

There are no holes drilled into the frame to mount the pilots.  The SD70 pilots could be mounted directly to the sheet metal frame.

 

Rusty

I see. On the O gauge ES44 there is a screw that you can just tighten down and the pilot won't pivot anymore. Wonder if that would work? Otherwise I guess you would have to drill/tap at least one hole per truck right?