The LGB Mikado, while engineered to go around their ridiculously tiny curve radius, is in fact a piece of German over-engineered JUNK. That engine, as well as the Chinese-made trainset 2-4-0's, are the reason(s) LGB quickly lost market share and ended up bankrupt.
The two I owned were the last straw--and one reason I gave up on large scale trains and returned to HO.
(At the time, Aristo's steamers weren't holding up for me either, and Bachmann's did not, as well).
I owned two LGB Mikado's--the first one with the bad gearbox--supposedly fixed by LGB in San Diego with an updated gearbox--which also failed in a couple months (I ran these engines easy--with light trains--on 10' diameter stainless steel track). So in less than one year, I was out the use of the engine for approximately 16 weeks. Why even own it if it isn't available to run?
Also, I purchased a later generation LGB mikado that allegedly had a revised/improved gearbox. It had some quirky electrical issue. I sent it back to them to be told there was nothing wrong with it, when in fact there was.
Shipping these things across the country to San Diego every time there was an issue was not cheap, either.
I'm much much happier with my HO scale monster articulated steamers. At least their gearboxes last. Large scale gearboxes, by comparison, are subject to much more force. Perhaps Aristo's 2-8-8-2 is better than what came before (I had a Pacific)--I don't know, I never owned the Aristo 2-8-8-2.
Good luck if you work on it yourself! Allegedly (I've never seen one apart) it is one of the more complicated model train mechanisms.
After the second trip to San Diego, I sold the newly rehabilitated mikado, and we used the money from it and all the other large scale trains and track toward a Disney trip. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
John
A number of years ago we purchased a LGB Mikado Steam Loc #24872. My wife is from Cincinnati so we were thrilled to find a B&O. After running it about 10 hours it began to "click" in the turns. Then it just quit. We were told that it is a gear box problem. We have spoken to a number of people and found that this is a common problem. Some folks actually sent it in for repair and found after getting it back that it failed again in 10 to 12 hours.
Does anyone have a permanent solution to this problem?
We also noted that the newer locs have 2 motors instead of one. Does anyone know if it is possible to add another motor to this loc to increase its power and if doing this would resolve the problem?
We would be grateful for any input before I tear it apart!
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