Intermountain SD45-2 has arrived....yes, really

[peteski]

It sounds like you got one of the units still rocking the older Atlas SD50 trucks under it. Some of the units, looks to be the new paint schemes, are coming with the redesigned trucks which includes the traction motor jutting out from each end of the trucks. These trucks use the newer profiled wheels and the axle ends poke through the wheel wipers like that of the Broadway stuff.

Seems to be that all the recently upgraded models from China (form various American manufacturers) use the new truck bearing design. I'm not a fan.  They are probably all made in the same factory.

[spookshow]

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get this thing to run reliably. Everything is squeaky clean now and once it gets going it usually stays going, but it still loses track current periodically (either when freshly placed on the rails or when stopping and changing directions). Pushing down on the shell will often get it going (or at least temporarily get the current flowing) which has me wondering if the problem is with the chassis contact strips. They do seem a bit loose as far as being able to slide around every which way inside the chassis slots. 

-Mark

[spookshow]

What really has me baffled is that the SD45-2 chassis/mech looks to be identical to the one used in the IMRC SD40-2, and I have zero problems running that one. WTH? 

-Mark

[robertjohndavis]

dimpled axle wipers are covered with that blackening crap and the dimples themselves are absolutely full of the stuff. However, once I cleaned all the crud out of the dimples mine can now creep along at speed step 1 without any problems.

-Mark

What is that crud and why do a few manufacturers believe it’s good practice to sell $250 locomotives that need to be cleaned?

I don’t buy my clothes pre-stained. Why is this acceptable?

I guess the bearings will continue until morale improves.

Rob

[peteski]

I don’t buy my clothes pre-stained. Why is this acceptable?

You would be surprised that there would be a market for this. That would go along with pre-ripped bluejeans (the more ripped the more expensive, way more than brand new jeans).



EDIT: Yes, pre-stained clothing is available out there. Just just do a Goggle search. 

[spookshow]

Setting aside the annoying SD45-2 for the moment, I de-boxed the new Kato SD70ACU I just received (the long-awaited DCC-Sound version). And for grins I put it straight on the rails and set the throttle to speed step 1. And off it went, and of course it's still creeping along without a care in the world 4 hours later. I tell ya, these half-assed Chinese factories that IMRC and Atlas and everyone else are using could learn a thing or two from that kind of quality control.

-Mark

[peteski]

Setting aside the annoying SD45-2 for the moment, I de-boxed the new Kato SD70ACU I just received (the long-awaited DCC-Sound version). And for grins I put it straight on the rails and set the throttle to speed step 1. And off it went, and of course it's still creeping along without a care in the world 4 hours later. I tell ya, these half-assed Chinese factories that IMRC and Atlas and everyone else are using could learn a thing or two from that kind of quality control.

-Mark

But, but, but . . . many will say that Kato has no separate metal handrails and other doo-dads, and not many roadname specific details. Running and construction quality is not a priority    I'm with you on Kato quality though.

[MK]

But, but, but . . . many will say that Kato has no separate metal handrails and other doo-dads, and not many roadname specific details. Running and construction quality is not a priority    I'm with you on Kato quality though.

There must be a STATIC MRR sub-faction that we don't know about.   

[robertjohndavis]

You would be surprised that there would be a market for this. That would go along with pre-ripped bluejeans (the more ripped the more expensive, way more than brand new jeans).



EDIT: Yes, pre-stained clothing is available out there. Just just do a Goggle search. 

True!

When a model railroad manufacturer advertises “wheels covered in funk” that will be a 1:1 comparison.

[randgust]

But, but, but . . . many will say that Kato has no separate metal handrails and other doo-dads, and not many roadname specific details. Running and construction quality is not a priority    I'm with you on Kato quality though.

My response is always that it's much easier to study the protototype specific and exquisite detail if it is stalled, derailed, or on the shelf.

[GM50 4164]

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get this thing to run reliably. Everything is squeaky clean now and once it gets going it usually stays going, but it still loses track current periodically (either when freshly placed on the rails or when stopping and changing directions). Pushing down on the shell will often get it going (or at least temporarily get the current flowing) which has me wondering if the problem is with the chassis contact strips. They do seem a bit loose as far as being able to slide around every which way inside the chassis slots. 

-Mark

I went ahead and swapped the factory wheels for some of the Kato 932090's and it was like night and day, but then again, Kato!

[spookshow]

I went ahead and swapped the factory wheels for some of the Kato 932090's and it was like night and day, but then again, Kato!

Thanks for the tip. I tried moving the trucks from my IMRC SD40-2 to my SD45-2 and all of its pickup problems magically went away. So, that narrows things down a bit.

-Mark

[spookshow]

Thanks for the tip. I tried moving the trucks from my IMRC SD40-2 to my SD45-2 and all of its pickup problems magically went away. So, that narrows things down a bit.

Meh, I take that back. It's definitely less finicky with the -2 trucks, but it still stalls out at slow speeds every once in a while (and on the same track that the Kato loco ran for hours at speed step 1)

-Mark

[spookshow]

Looks like it was just a couple of spots (turnouts) where the re-trucked SD45-2 was having problems (even though the Kato didn't), so I gave those rails a good thorough cleaning and now the frankentruck SD45-2 is creeping around at speed step 1 with no problems. Now I just need to figure out why the pickup with the stock trucks is so iffy....

-Mark

[spookshow]

Examining the SD45-2's wheels, they do appear to be different than the ones used in the SD40-2. And maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but the pointy axle ends on the SD45-2 do not appear to fully extend into the axle wiper dimples. So, just for grins I tried widening the gauge (to the point that the wheels are almost out of gauge) in order to get the axle ends further into the dimples, and this does appear to have improved pickup to the point that I would deem it operable.

Anyone besides me and Randy Hein experiencing these pickup problems? It seems like it should be a classic Railwire "torches and pitchforks" type of issue, but maybe people haven't really started buying these yet.

-Mark