Nomination for Biggest POS: 2009

[ljudice]

I seriously doubt there will be any challengers to this:




First of all - this is no criticism to the one or two dealers like George at WigWag who had the patience to wait four years for this creature to finally be delivered. I can only imagine the headaches they have endured from this.

Mine had problems from the moment it was placed on the track. After applying power, it stumbled about 2 inches and immediately the front truck fell apart. After about a week of seeing if there was a way for it to move under it's own power for more than a foot without leaving a trail of pieces behind, I decided to de-motor it and turn it into a static model.

This is when the trouble really started. Much of mine was glued together. The window glazing mostly broke into pieces when removing it. Spare parts are available from Lemke. The only problem is that the window glazing cost more than a Kato locomotive. Further disassembly lead to more broken parts. Finally the entire bodyshell broke in half. Not surprising when you connect two big pieces with two extremely long, fine, brittle pieces.

Of course a bodyshell is available for about $80.00

I ended up with a pile of parts which I stripped and then painted and then re-assembled.

This thing should have been sold with no motor for about $25-30.  

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yikes!

I've been happy with everything I've gotten this year (mostly because I won't buy stuff I won't be happy with). I think my only disappointment has been in a pair of TCS decoders I got for my GP15-1s. One of them was pretty weird after the install, but I've never really actively troubleshot it.

[sizemore]

Microscale 4" and 6" stripes in N.

The S.

[Erik W]

Yikes!

I've been happy with everything I've gotten this year (mostly because I won't buy stuff I won't be happy with). I think my only disappointment has been in a pair of TCS decoders I got for my GP15-1s. One of them was pretty weird after the install, but I've never really actively troubleshot it.

Ed,

You're ruining the thread with your cups half full attitude.     Actually I'd have to say the same thing.  I didn't purchase a whole lot other than scenery supplies/details.  I don't have any real product disappointments.  I am a bit disappointed it's hard to find some scenery details that were available a few years ago.  My non hording tendencies are coming back to haunt me!

Erik

[Philip H]

I'm not disappointed in anything I bought this year - rather, I'm disappointed I couldn't buy more this year.   :-\

[C855B]

I have nothing negative to add to the thread... mmmm... I'd guess that'd be subtraction? 

Wellllll... maybe one bad eBay purchase. Seller clearly made a big effort to hide condition problems in the listing by over-supplying pictures from angles showing no issues. I wanted to blast him/her with neg feedback, but eBay's new system makes it too big a battle. Oh, well.

[ljudice]

Here she is today - in CSX "FYG" paint - waiting for more details and possibly some sort of glazing. I am going to make some additional decals for it - those red/white conspicuity decals are CSX practice. Apparently they also tend to paint the tamper machinery orange on some devices.

CSX does't have anything exactly like this (although they have some that are very close) so it's semi freelance...

[GaryHinshaw]

I seriously doubt there will be any challengers to this:

No way. My avatar has produced a way bigger POS than that thing.  

But if we're limited to trains, then you win.  (What about the IM '45-2: was that released in '09?  I didn't buy one, but that was not a criteria.)

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I hate to say this out loud but my biggest disappointment of 09 was the C40-8W. Tons of glue, ill fitting parts and a firecracker antenna on a CR-specific cab? ehhh I still like my repainted Bachmann C40-8Ws.

[Bob Bufkin]

Prototype - SEPTA cars on Conrail Special!

[stuntman]

I hate to say this out loud but my biggest disappointment of 09 was the C40-8W. Tons of glue, ill fitting parts and a firecracker antenna on a CR-specific cab? ehhh I still like my repainted Bachmann C40-8Ws.

  I second that!       I just don't know what happend with those.... The standard cab Dash 8's looked great. :'(

[ljudice]

Funny thing was that some roads seemed worse than others - ie.  CSX and UP seemed better than CR and ATSF...

[Wlal13again]

I hate to say this out loud but my biggest disappointment of 09 was the C40-8W. Tons of glue, ill fitting parts and a firecracker antenna on a CR-specific cab? ehhh I still like my repainted Bachmann C40-8Ws.

  I second that!       I just don't know what happend with those.... The standard cab Dash 8's looked great. :'(

Dont know if it qualifies as a POS, but I was a bit disappointed at the fit of the cab on this one, You think that would have been caught and fixed, oh well, I can live with it..

[davefoxx]

Prototype - SEPTA cars on Conrail Special!

Bob Bufkin, folks, FTW!  If you were there, you'd understand.

DFF

[Bob Bufkin]

Dave

I didn't ride, I followed but figured from all the posts that they qualified.