Nomination for Biggest POS: 2009

[Erik W]

I'm going to guess I'm all by myself on this one, but the Biggest POS, without a doubt I have obtained in the first 10 years of the 2000's in the Bachmann 2-8-0 Consolidation.... both the original one that flat out didn't run and the replacement that ran for a day then sputtered and died.... garbage; total and complete trash....yet there will be some that would nominate it for a product of the decade award..... all of which means that Bachmann's QC on that project may have been the POS more so than the Connie.

I second that.  I bought a Connie, it ran so horribly I sent it back.  The replacement waddled down the track.  I sent that one back as well.  The next replacement didn't run too great either.  I had two professional local repair guys work on it including the shop at Cabbose Hobbies.  After much more $$ I got it back and it still ran like crap.  I sold it on eBay.  That was the first . . . and last Bachmann product I'll own.

Erik

[Chris333]

I have 3 Bachmann 2-8-0's
First one was Southern bright green and showed up with the boiler half off the chassis, but it ran perfect. Here it is now:

Second one a got cheap $45 on e-bay, then found out the guy lived by me so I picked it up and skipped shipping $. Well it didn't run so good and nothing I tried would fix it. Even with all valve gear removed, just wheels, gears, motor it still didn't run well so I tossed it in the parts box.

Third one I'm working on now ran great forward, but limped in reverse. I loosened the screw that holds the motor in place (frame also holds it in place) and now it runs perfectly both ways.

I would test em if you can before you buy. All 3 of mine came from e-bay. If they run good they are actually better than a Kato mikado!

[SkipGear]

The bad running 2-8-0 thing still confuses me. I have 6 of them now and all run smooth as silk, including the one I picked up on E-bay that "Does Not Run" for $18. The last one that we sold at our shop that had any kind of issues was 3 years ago and it's only problem was under gauge pilot truck that wouldn't make it through turnouts. There have been many since with no issues.

[Packer]

Can we bring in HO scale stuff into this discussion?

[Puddington]

The bad running 2-8-0 thing still confuses me. I have 6 of them now and all run smooth as silk, including the one I picked up on E-bay that "Does Not Run" for $18. The last one that we sold at our shop that had any kind of issues was 3 years ago and it's only problem was under gauge pilot truck that wouldn't make it through turnouts. There have been many since with no issues.

Ergo my initial comment thta Bachmann's QC department is in the running for the POS award rather than the model itself......

[SkipGear]

I think alot of the QC issues are in the past, at least for the 2-8-0. Some of the very first ones we sold definitely had issues; side rods loose, under gauge, tight mechanisms, etc. In the last 3 years or so, I have seen nothing to get uptight about. I am very confident selling a 2-8-0 at the shop without testing it now, not so much a few years back.

Unfortunately, first impressions seem to be the only ones most remember. The Walthers 0-8-0 has seemed to suffer the same fate. The first batch had issues, yet the loco's from the second batch have been flawless in my experience.

[Puddington]

I think alot of the QC issues are in the past, at least for the 2-8-0. Some of the very first ones we sold definitely had issues; side rods loose, under gauge, tight mechanisms, etc. In the last 3 years or so, I have seen nothing to get uptight about. I am very confident selling a 2-8-0 at the shop without testing it now, not so much a few years back.

Unfortunately, first impressions seem to be the only ones most remember. The Walthers 0-8-0 has seemed to suffer the same fate. The first batch had issues, yet the loco's from the second batch have been flawless in my experience.

Tony's right - I'll never be a fan of the 2-8-0 because of my experience but I know it's generally a fine locomotive - personal experience is powerful; too powerful for some people who can't accept that their experience could be unique or rare... I'm not a Bachmann 2-8-0 fan but I stated upfront that I would be probably the only one....just my turn in the barrel......

[Freighttrain]

The bad running 2-8-0 thing still confuses me. I have 6 of them now and all run smooth as silk, including the one I picked up on E-bay that "Does Not Run" for $18. The last one that we sold at our shop that had any kind of issues was 3 years ago and it's only problem was under gauge pilot truck that wouldn't make it through turnouts. There have been many since with no issues.

Ergo my initial comment thta Bachmann's QC department is in the running for the POS award rather than the model itself......

what do you expect....Botchman is a side job for them.Their primary job is QCing all the Cheap chinese lead coated junk for walmart.

[Freighttrain]

A rare mis-step for Atlas. I wonder if these (C40-8W's) will be banished to hell along with the IM SD45-2's?

Speaking of which, I had the trusty old Unitrack oval out the other day testing some recent acquisitions and put a CN SD45T-2 on for a spin... yikes! The TM actually slowed down going through the curves. Wow 

The ACR SD40's on the other hand ran flawlessly. Amazing the difference, but not surprising. Yeah, someone is buying the Algoma Central SD40's.

  Yea,but what is the actual ranking when compared to the biggest POS in model train history.The 2-8-8-2 that Atlas released last Century.Man,those were far FAR worst than a YUGO.Atleast the Yugo's price matched the actual quality.I bought 2 Gold plated turds back then in those atlas paperweights.

[UP1996]

My vote for the all time biggest POS this decade is the Bachman Spectrum Dash 8-40C. I purchased the first runs in the late 90's and could never get them to run correctly on DC. I sent them back to Bman and they replaced them with the DCC ready Spectrum units. Both have had severe electrical PU problems. I've given up on them and threw them in a draw with some other clunkers. Last Bman's I'll purchase .

Runner up for me is the first run Atlas VO1000's. Total POS. What grinds me is that Atlas knew they FUBAR these and basically said tuff #$%@ consumer.

YMMV

I feel better now.;D

[cv_acr]

Yeah, someone is buying the Algoma Central SD40's.

So you're the other one...  ;D

Yup... buying cores for eventual conversion to CN SD40's.

CP rented a bunch of ACR SD40/SD40-2 units in the late 1980s. You could use them as lease power.

[lock4244]

Yup... buying cores for eventual conversion to CN SD40's.

CP rented a bunch of ACR SD40/SD40-2 units in the late 1980s. You could use them as lease power.

I remember chasing one east out of Agincourt to Oshawa one night. Kato made more than enough for one AC to wind up as a leaser... though I personally never saw an AC SD40 in CP service, just their SD40-2's.

[cv_acr]

CP rented a bunch of ACR SD40/SD40-2 units in the late 1980s. You could use them as lease power.

I remember chasing one east out of Agincourt to Oshawa one night. Kato made more than enough for one AC to wind up as a leaser... though I personally never saw an AC SD40 in CP service, just their SD40-2's.

Yeah, taking a look through some of my notes (not necessarily totally exhaustive of everything that was leased), it's pretty much just SD40-2s.

In 1987, AC had all 3 SD40s at home, but only _one_ of the 6 SD40-2s: 184. All the others were on lease to CP. Ironically, the AC's traffic picked up during that time and they had to rent a pair of tired old F9Bs from CN to make up for their severe power shortage. AC SD40-2s seemed to make frequent appearances on CP throughout the late 1980s and into the early 1990s. (Before that, in the 1970s the CP had leased AC GP7s kicking around for a period.) Around 1992-1993 traffic must have been pretty good on the AC though, because they had 3 WC SD45s and a CP GP38-2 on lease during that period.

[Pete Steinmetz]

Accumate couplers.  I heard the excuse that the early ones were not good and the later ones were better.  I think they all are deserving of the POS award.  100% of my coupler failures are Accumate couplers.  (They fall apart) New or old, it doesn't matter.  POS all the way.

Pete S

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I must disagree, the vast majority of my "traveling" fleet is all accumates, and I ONLY have problems with them "exploding" in the boxes while traveling (bouncing across cobblestones, etc... will do that).

I've never had one fail under operations, and I use them in an NTRAK setting (ie, >30 car trains).