New Lionel VisionLine Challenger Questions

I don’t own a Challenger although I’ve worked on many. That cab doesn’t look normal to me. Looks like it was bent a bit. 

Alex 

I am at work, I have one and will take pictures and post tonight.

Kevin

Doesn't look right to me either.  I don't own that Challenger, but my MTH Premier model doesn't have the cab bent like that.

Sorry to see this happen.

The cab is not set correctly.  The cab is a separate piece that is held in-place by screws to the top boiler.  Looking at the photos, I can not tell if the screws are loose or if something is bent.  This could have happened in shipping.

I would suggest you contact Lionel and see what they say.  I would guess they will ask that you send it back to them.  They may have to replace the entire top shell. 

Is the cab attached from its forward face to the boiler or is it attached at its bottom to the frame?  Maybe it is not seated?  Are there any screws that you can see that would be for attachment?

I have a 3985 and have seen 2 others. I feel like I also noticed this and wasn’t sure. I’ll look at mine tonight but yours definitely looks worse. Mine might just be a little off and haven’t messed with it at the fear of making it worse 🙃. Like I said I’ll double check tonight 

PSU1980 posted:

I am at work, I have one and will take pictures and post tonight.

Kevin

Good deal.  Thanks!

I have looked it over pretty good and everything is nice and tight.  I don't want to do too much investigating for fear of making things worse.  I cannot see any screws holding the cab compartment on in its fully assembled state.  

This is what bothers me the most. (See pic)

I'm pretty sure you'll have to take the top boiler shell off to access all the screws.  It's likely that it's just not together correctly, quite possible it's an easy fix.  It could be something more serious, but no way of knowing without looking inside.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm pretty sure you'll have to take the top boiler shell off to access all the screws.  It's likely that it's just not together correctly, quite possible it's an easy fix.  It could be something more serious, but no way of knowing without looking inside.

I'm wondering if it happened when it was in for the warranty service to correct the sounds....

Here are pictures of my Lionel 1931260 Vision Line UP Challenger #3985.  The Cab appears to be seated properly on the engine chassis.  My engine has had the correct sounds added by Lionel Service. 

If there are screws holding down the front of the Cab, they may be missing. That would allow the Cab front to lift upward.  I have had engines come back from service missing parts.  It happens.

Good luck with the Cab issue on your engine.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

StaMic006 posted:

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'm pretty sure you'll have to take the top boiler shell off to access all the screws.  It's likely that it's just not together correctly, quite possible it's an easy fix.  It could be something more serious, but no way of knowing without looking inside.

I'm wondering if it happened when it was in for the warranty service to correct the sounds....

Perhaps they were angry they had to work on it?  

Hard to say what happened, or when it happened.  My approach to stuff like this is to simply work to fix it, I can't lose sleep trying to figure how it got screwed up.

John Rowlen posted:

Here are pictures of my Lionel 1931260 Vision Line UP Challenger #3985.  The Cab appears to be seated properly on the engine chassis.  My engine has had the correct sounds added by Lionel Service. 

If there are screws holding down the front of the Cab, they may be missing. That would allow the Cab front to lift upward.  I have had engines come back from service missing parts.  It happens.

Good luck with the Cab issue on your engine.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Thats more like it.  I figured it was supposed to be nice and flush.  I've got a phone call and email in to Lionel so we'll see what they say.  I'm pretty mechanically inclined but I am VERY new to model railroading.  The last thing I want to do is screw it up, or worse, void my warranty.  I'd feel more comfortable letting them make it right.  Bad part is I'll be without it for another month or two... 

There are at least two screws that hold the cab on to the boiler frame.  You might be able to gain access without removing the entire boiler from the under frame. I attached a photo.  The screw that you need to look for is in the center of the photo.  Its kind of in a "dark" hole so to speak.  There one on each side.

BTW, the overall design of this loco is very similar to the early scale Challengers that Lionel offered, both the JLC and the first run of the vision Challengers.  Don's ask my wife how I know this...  (they kind of all look the same to her).

DaveGG posted:

There are at least two screws that hold the cab on to the boiler frame.  You might be able to gain access without removing the entire boiler from the under frame. I attached a photo.  The screw that you need to look for is in the center of the photo.  Its kind of in a "dark" hole so to speak.  There one on each side.

BTW, the overall design of this loco is very similar to the early scale Challengers that Lionel offered, both the JLC and the first run of the vision Challengers.  Don's ask my wife how I know this...  (they kind of all look the same to her).

I'll take a look and see if I can get it to seat properly.

Yesterday my wife said "I thought that one was grey?"  She couldn't see the FEF-3 #844 sitting on the shelf behind it with the Greyhound paint!

It's dang hard to make out on the parts page, but guessing the shell would have to come off before removing the cab. It looks like it is completely misaligned, like they didn't realize when putting it back together it was off kilter.

Before I tightened any screws, I'd loosen them a bit and see if the cab can wiggle around.  You might want to get the cab properly seated BEFORE tightening screws.

FWIW, the top shell is four screws, pretty easy to remove.

Myself, I would not be adverse to removing the boiler (after GRJs suggestion has been done to see if that resolves the problem).  I have removed the boiler of my VL Big Boy a few times and there are only 4 screws holding it on - 2 up front, 2 in front of the cab.  You need a cradle to hold the loco upside down; JIS Phillips or Wiha screw drivers to remove the mounting screws; then, carefully rotate the entire loco right side up; carefully lift the boiler off to one side; while lifting the boiler keep your eyes on the wiring attached to the inside of the boiler so as not to break any.

Has anyone removed the boiler or can show pics of where the mounting screws are?

Well.... I feel pretty dumb now. There are 2 screws holding the cab on and once removed the problem was obvious. As you can see in the pics there are two tabs that slide into the top of the boiler and they were not seated properly.  Seated and put the 2 screws in and took all of 5 min.  I guess I was just worried about damaging something but that was an easy fix.  Thanks to all for the input/advice!

-Stan

DaveGG posted:

There are at least two screws that hold the cab on to the boiler frame.  You might be able to gain access without removing the entire boiler from the under frame. I attached a photo.  The screw that you need to look for is in the center of the photo.  Its kind of in a "dark" hole so to speak.  There one on each side.

BTW, the overall design of this loco is very similar to the early scale Challengers that Lionel offered, both the JLC and the first run of the vision Challengers.  Don's ask my wife how I know this...  (they kind of all look the same to her).

Worked perfect.  It's just those 2 screws and you don't have to remove the boiler.

Good news!  So, the 2 screws you removed were at the base of the cab and on each side under the windows as in pic 2?

RickM46 posted:

Good news!  So, the 2 screws you removed were at the base of the cab and on each side under the windows as in pic 2?

Yes.  Just those 2.

I could have just let them ride around with the cab off and called it the Challenger Convertible!

Cool, even easier than I imagined.

STAMIC006,

my apologies as I failed to take pictures last night of my new Challenger last night. I will also send ASAP, we have a show Sunday and it will be the first thing I do. Will add to the collection of photos already posted.

I guess I should have read the entire post, no need for more pictures. Glad you got it fixed.

PSU1980 posted:

I guess I should have read the entire post, no need for more pictures. Glad you got it fixed.

No worries.  I'm just glad it was a simple fix.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Cool, even easier than I imagined.

Yes, same thoughts here. Other than my AC-12 cab forward, I have never seen a Lionel steamer with the cab off. Fortunately, apart from that engine I have never had any need to examine how the cab is fixed on. 

StaMic006 posted:

I could have just let them ride around with the cab off and called it the Challenger Convertible!

So the engineer and the fireman tried playing a joke on you, those guys. Maybe you should make it a convertible and run it through the Sierra's.

Nice to hear about this happy ending, especially with such an expensive locomotive. I felt a little anxiety when I started reading this thread, imagining how I would feel if I bought such a locomotive and there was something wrong with it when I got it home. LOL, Arnold