Are there any repair manuals I can buy? I have bought two new scale k line steam engines that are DOA. I also bought a semi-scale k line steamer that is in the same shape. Any help would be appreciated! Don
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Unfortunately it's hard to find support for K-Line, not to mention parts. Before I buy anything K-Line I make sure it's running a hundred percent. As far as mechanical parts you need to be a creative machinist, for electronics you can look at 3erd Rail.
You could e-mail Gun-Runner John, I really like his flexibilities when it comes to problem solving.
Good Luck.
Bought some rollers and built an engine test track. Got both scale steamers running today but the semi-scale is still dead. Going to be testing engines as soon as they arrive-- thanks for the advice! Don
Most of the K-Line command stuff has a lot of Lionel electronics, the notable exception being the K-Line cruise module. If those go, you can typically replace them with the ERR Cruise Commander M. Mechanically, they're pretty standard design, though they have a few wrinkles in some of the models.
glacierrunner posted:Bought some rollers and built an engine test track. Got both scale steamers running today but the semi-scale is still dead. Going to be testing engines as soon as they arrive-- thanks for the advice! Don
TMCC engines use mostly Lionel boards as John points out but conventional engines have K-Line boards and are prone to fail. If your semi scale is conventional thats the first place I would look. Mechanically they are well built smooth runners. I put a Williams E unit in my semi scale hudson but they run well enough to justify TMCC if you are so inclined.
Lionel thought well enough of their semi scale Mikados and Pacifics they use them in their Lionchief line.
Pete
@Norton Pete- no offense but I think you're mistaken about LionChief. Although Lionel did rerun the scale Lima Berkshire and some of K-Line's semi-scale locos, the LionChief Pacific and Hudson are based on Lionel's own dies going back to c. 1999. The LionChief Mikado is a little newer than that, but it's also based on tooling originated at Lionel. It's smaller (almost S-scale proportions), and different from the K-Line semi-scale Mikado.
The LionChief A5 switcher is slightly larger than 1:48 scale. That one IS based on tooling developed by K-Line. Maybe someone else will jump in and help us sort this out. -Ted
