Disastrous Repair Attempt to a Beautiful Model

I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on this but at a third of what it sold for. All repairable.

Pete

@Norton posted:

I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on this but at a third of what it sold for. All repairable.

Pete

My deal was good, but not that good.  If the seller would have offered a partial refund I may have accepted that.  The other thing is, I didn’t tear into it because it wasn’t my place, but who knows what else is wrong with it.

Yep,…all of that stuff is very repairable. The loose tire is an easy fix on locomotive. Obviously remove the sloppy glue work, go ahead and remove the tire all together, clean all the parts ( tire & driver) very lightly scuff the inside of the tire, wipe one more time with alcohol, and then wipe a thin bead of loctite green shaft lock # 640 on the tire and the driver,…set the tire back on the driver, be sure it’s square, and wipe up any excess …..that tire will lock up tighter than a drum once the loctite cures and expands overnight,……the broken valve hanger is actually more common than one would think,….I’ve fixed several of these inexpensively, with out buying the first part from MTH. The root cause of the break is a misaligned eccentric. Once yanked on, the fragile hanger snaps in two,….all that’s needed is a thin sheet metal bridge to join the two hangers together stronger than OE,….( see pics below) …..that’s a tough locomotive to find, next time you run across a repair job that scares you, ask here on the forum, there’s a lot of repair solutions that don’t require buying replacement stock OE parts. In the case of that particular hard to find locomotive, 10-15 bucks and some sweat would have had you a better than OE product,….just suggestions, beings the end result is to own the locomotive….not trade money back & forth,…..the failures you’ve listed are not uncommon, and you’ll see more of those types of issues as these locomotives age,….not excusing the seller, but you’ll see these issues again,….his guilt is sloppy repair procedures,….

Pat

@rplst8 posted:

My deal was good, but not that good.  If the seller would have offered a partial refund I may have accepted that.  The other thing is, I didn’t tear into it because it wasn’t my place, but who knows what else is wrong with it.

I don’t blame you one bit for being upset. That stuff should have been pointed out in the description. At least this should have 3v boards and run OK after the mechanics are repaired.
This is a big part of the hobby for me and Pat and a few others, bringing old wrecks back to life.

Pete

@Norton posted:

I don’t blame you one bit for being upset. That stuff should have been pointed out in the description. At least this should have 3v boards and run OK after the mechanics are repaired.
This is a big part of the hobby for me and Pat and a few others, bringing old wrecks back to life.

Pete

That’s a perfect way to describe it, ….I guess our cup of tea ain’t others …..but yeah, that’s the message I was actually trying to convey…thanks Pete!…I wasn’t attempting to come across as gruff, just trying to point out repair solutions that are extremely satisfying, and engineered better than built,……Lou & I have used the phrase “ stock sucks” more than once!..😉….

Pat

This seller was an absolute, low-life crook.

Following refund of your money, I would have written him an extra e-mail, telling him so.

"Oh geez, . . . I forgot!"

@harmonyards thanks for the repair tips.  Truthfully I thought about keeping it and doing the repairs.  I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with the crosshead guide hangers, but With the way that motor sounded… It might have just been a money pit.  I would have wanted a steeper discount for what was wrong with it.

@Norton It’s great we have gents like Pat you and others to do repairs.  It’s not the repairs that led me to return it.  It was the deceit and misrepresentation of the condition, and the price.  If the seller would have knocked off some additional cost, I would have kept it and been happy, and he would have probably been happier too as now he is out shipping to and fro, plus the auction fees which I don’t think they’ll refund since he was at fault.

My time isn’t free either.  Time spent repairing a locomotive, while somewhat enjoyable for me takes away from time building the layout, or maintenance, etc.

Thanks for sharing this situation, and I really appreciate all the troubleshooting / repair insight that you guys provide.  I agree with the approach taken by @rplst8 - trying to negotiate a settlement with someone who has already proven to be dishonest is a waste of time.  Really glad that the return / refund process worked smoothly, and hope that nobody else gets taken by this seller - I hope that poor feedback was submitted.

Despite the fact the late great Mercer Junction train shop in Mercer, Pennsylvania is no longer with us, many other home town hobby and train shops remain who, as you read this, need model railroaders (and the vehicle guys too) in order to remain in business.  The Corona lockdown was bad enough without the other problems facing them such as the ever growing number of gigantic online discounters and dishonest people in question who are out to grab and run away with your hard earned cash flow you set aside that funds your enjoyment of the hobby.

Even when you pay the retail across the counter price for a train or vehicle you are saved the anger and even perhaps loss of your $$$ by making online purchases.  Please consider to support your local dealers.  They not only appreciate your business, they too like to enjoy three meals a day just like you do.  They are also faced with constant rising costs on their rent or lease of the establishment where they are located.

Are the online discounts really that great when you consier the packing and shipping fees and anger in the event you happen to receive a defective product that you have to repack and return and hope you'll receive a full refund if any at all if you delt with a fly by night shyster who you can't track down which only aids in increasing your blood pressure count to a dangerous level just short of suffering a major heart attack?

I'm sure many dealers will gladly offer customers a % off the retail price of many products in order to avoid them from gathering dust while displayed on a shelf.

In short, when possible, support the home town guys whenever you can.  You will possibly meet other model railroaders who share the world's greatest hobby too.  It doesn't matter if they model in Z, G, S, O, or any other scale, including Lego!  Try it, you'll like it I'm sure!

@Trinity River Bottoms Boomer posted:

…many other home town hobby and train shops remain who, as you read this, need model railroaders (and the vehicle guys too) in order to remain in business.

I don’t have a “home town” hobby shop here, but I regularly buy from sponsors of this forum.  I have wanted a Wild Mary 4-6-6-4 M-2 Challenger for as long as I knew it existed, and since dealers and manufacturers pretty much only do built-to-order now, no one has older models in stock.

Even when you pay the retail across the counter price for a train or vehicle you are saved the anger and even perhaps loss of your $$$ by making online purchases.  Please consider to support your local dealers.  They not only appreciate your business, they too like to enjoy three meals a day just like you do.  They are also faced with constant rising costs on their rent or lease of the establishment where they are located.

Are the online discounts really that great when you consier the packing and shipping fees and anger in the event you happen to receive a defective product that you have to repack and return and hope you'll receive a full refund if any at all if you delt with a fly by night shyster who you can't track down which only aids in increasing your blood pressure count to a dangerous level just short of suffering a major heart attack?

I'm sure many dealers will gladly offer customers a % off the retail price of many products in order to avoid them from gathering dust while displayed on a shelf.

In short, when possible, support the home town guys whenever you can.  You will possibly meet other model railroaders who share the world's greatest hobby too.  It doesn't matter if they model in Z, G, S, O, or any other scale, including Lego!  Try it, you'll like it I'm sure!

In short, I support the forum sponsors when I can.  I’ve bought off of other “home town” hobby shops too, but that didn’t prevent them from taking me for a ride either.  

Buying used trains doesn’t, or shouldn’t really, hurt the local hobby shops bottom line.  In this BTO era, if you didn’t order it when it was announced, there is very little chance you’ll find it from a local hobby shop years down the line, because no one wants to be stuck with that expensive inventory.

Also, when it comes to used trains, I’m not claiming I’m doing anyone any favors, but knowing that there is a secondary market out there has to be at least some comfort for those getting on in years.  Not that I expect to get full MSRP out of my collection, or even 50 cents on the dollar, but knowing they won’t likely end up in a land fill is a good thing in today’s “throw away society”.