Okay, Bachmann has released a 3-truck HO Climax of a fairly early prototype.
Climax locomotives have always been seen as (1) fascinating and (2) well-suited to my HO Winneshiek & Western, hauling coal and lumber out of the mountains of southwest Virginia to a connection with the Clinchfield. The Bachmann 2-truck Climax was well-neigh perfectly suited to my line, and I ended up purchasing three of them. Of course, as has been well-recorded here, the gears on those Bachmann 2-truckers split after a short time. One of mine was inoperable out of the box, and the others soon followed. Very disappointing! To my knowledge, there is no one out there doing repairs to make those little Climax locomotives operable.
So now we have a "new" Climax from the same manufacturor. The review in MR does not specifically address any engineering changes to the mechanism and gearing. Can anyone with one of the NEW 3-truck locomotives tell me if the gears are now metal or are otherwise improved?
My RR is still operating with two PFM brass Climaxes, and I'm reluctant to go back to the Bachmann Climax without some kind of report on the durability of the new release.
Bill
Why go with plastic if you have brass? Considering that the prices of the new Climaxes is closing in on brass prices, I would continue with brass.....
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
My Railroad
My Youtube:
Graff´s channel
Have you tried Northwest Short Line (NWSL)? They may have gears for your climaxes. NWSL manufactures and stocks a lot of gears especially made to replace the junk that comes on some models.
Even if they don't have anything to fit your model, they will work with you to "sponsor" the design of a replacement set. Details on their web site.
http://www.nwsl.com/
Recovering former former model railroader.
Contact Dave at NWSL. He came up fairly quickly with replacement steel gears for the three truck Shay. He said sometime ago he was working on gears for the Climax.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I've got the new 3T version, the gears are plastic, and its only 4 weeks old, so it's obviously too early to tell. Now that Bachmann has the gears in stock, why don't you fix your existing 2 T's? I heard rumors that they have corrected the issue, but nothing from Bachmann themselves. It seems they have corrected the shay gear issues, I have 2 newer versions with the original gears and have had no problems, my earlier shay split the gears in 6 months, it has the NWSL gears on it now.
Here is a recent photo of the Climax underbelly, possibly there are physical differences in the gears compared to yours? I never had the chance to get a 2T so I have nothing to compare the gears to. You may want to wait awhile to see if issues start to arise, so far I have heard nothing about the 3 T gears splitting. I'm not concerned about it, if I need to replace gears I will replace gears, I wanted a Climax, and I wanted DCC with sound, now if I can locate some parts for my Riv. Heisler, I will be happy.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
NWSL haven't made any gears for the climax yet. I'm on their mail list for when/if they do. I bought some replacement gears from Bachmann but haven't fitted them yet either.
If you join the group of people who asked NWSL for replacement gears, you might speed up their action.
cheers
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
Hello
I have to agree with you. I had miny 2 truck climax run a total of 1/2 hour. In my case the front drive output shaft gear split. A vendor told me the problem was due to the gears being mounted on the shaft while still hot or warm. The resulting shrinkage over stressed the gear.
Go the the repair parts in the Bachmann web page. They have replacement gears and uiversal assemblies for the two truck climax. I ordered and installed them and the loco seems OK
Also Oso-Northwest Shortline was/is in the process of developing replacement metal gears for this climax. They have them for the On3 climax and HO shay.
Overall I am not to happy with how Bachmann has handled this product. Sure they would give you a shay (which has also had problems) or other loco in exchange for the climax. They have been really slow, at least 2 + years, with providing repair gears/parts, and then I had to pay for them.
I will probably never buy another Bachmann loco.
I am also a little disappointed with MR with another review for the 3T climax and not a word about the problems with the 2T climax or shay problems. I wonder if MR's climax is still running.
enough said
Ed
I just ordered a couple of the new Climax engines for my layout. I have a number of Spectrum Shays and as luck would have it there has been no problems with any of them.
I have confidence in the new Spectrum Climax engines being free of the gear problem that plagued the two truck Climaxes.
I have been monitoring the Bachmann site and other sites for word of any problems with the new three truck engines. I remember how quickly word spread of the problems with the first HO Climaxes, there has been no postings that I am aware of of owners of new Climaxes having any problems.
I do feel sorry for those owners of the first Climaxes who could not obtain parts to fix their engines. I notice since then Bachmann has now a parts department on their site and that parts seem to be readily available now. At least Bachmann did offer Shay engines to those Climax owners who returned their engines to BAchmann as per the warranty.
Don,
Thanks for the update, I happen to have two of the older Climax Locomotives that are now collecting dust. Once I get my new layout up and running fixing those two will be high on my list of things to do...
Wayne
Modeling HO Freelance Logging Railroad.
Just received an email from Northwest Shortline and the steel gears for the HO 2 truck Climax are now available.
diamante Just received an email from Northwest Shortline and the steel gears for the HO 2 truck Climax are now available.
I just received the same email. This thread is a little old but some may like this info.
Here's NWSL's page on the new gears: http://shop.osorail.com/product.sc?productId=2207&categoryId=208 Like the Shay gears, these are made of steel. They should last forever if installed correctly.
_________________________________________________________________
saltyBill I am on my 3rd rebuilt 3 truck climax which, according to Bachman, was rebuilt with all metal gears (except for the conical gear which is still plastic). All 3 quit running after 2 0r 3 short trips out of the box. Won't be buying anymore Bachman products until the quality is improved. I am now thinking about a Rivarossi 2 truck Heisler. Any info from anybody on it. Tom L
Very old thread.
You should really address this issue in the Bachmann HO forum where there are company reps.
I believe this is the only plastic gear right now after looking in the Parts section at the Bachmann site.
http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_68_153&products_id=640
No sure NWSL carries the gears anymore. I have not heard from Dave in sometime.
Rich.
As "O.P.", was surprised to see this one surface again.
For me, this has gone to the lost cause file. The NWSL replacement gears for the trucks don't do any good when the gears up in the gear tower start splitting - no replacements or repair for those. The most recent 2-truck release is loaded up with DCC options and once obtained the fine print of the instructions say that it won't run well on DC systems with pulse power. Nice paperweight for someone with an older DC system that functions fine for most everything else.
Salty
The last several runs of the Rivarossi Heisler are excellent as far as quality, durability and engineering, as a victim several times of Bachmanns crap gear issues with the Shay and Climax, I resorted to the Heisler and PFM/United Brass Shays. Bachmann is NOW offering metal gear trucks for their shay (finally) but I have spent enough on my 4 Botchmann Shays over the years. I wish I had went brass years earlier.
Yes, Bachmann now offers metal gears for the HO shays and climaxes. That said, the metal trucks I received for my shay had the axles out of round and I'm sending them back for replacements. Friends who have replaced their shays' gears with the metal trucks report very good results.
I don't own the HO climax. And while I wouldn't recommend avoiding Bachmann altogether, I'd at least be aware you may be in for a project after buying one. The new metal gear locos are supposedly very good. And Bachmann has always been very good with their warranty program.
http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66_68_689
$32 per truck , need three per shay. Quite a financial hit for a design flaw In the locomotive.
Paying $45 to swap out for a defective loco for a new defective loco to me doesn't qualify as a good warranty.
Geared Steam $32 per truck , need three per shay.
$32 per truck , need three per shay.
EDIT: This post regards the shays only.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Hello salty
Any solution yet? I am sure the reps at Bachmann can help as well as the Bachmann Parts department. There is an email address and pnone number you can call. Go back to that link I posted.
Old thread, but still very much relevant...
I bought the first generation Bachmann climax and like others, was very angry about the fragility of the gears, given the price I paid for it. I have since then gone to brass and have never regretted it. Although some can be noisy and unrealiable, the models I got were great (PFM, Katsumi and United). If you want brass, I recommend that you try the model first or buy from a reliable source. The only other challenge is to install DCC, which most likely involves a remotoring operation. It's not that hard and there are a few good tutorials on the Web. As for the Heislers, Rivarossi really did a good job - I have two that were built in the 70s and 80s and they run great. DCC can be installed without changing the motor. I have no doubt that the Hornby models are great. No need for brass there in my opinion, unless you want a unique model.
I'm still waiting to see if the Bachmann 3-truck and newer 2-truck are reliable... Any more opinions on them?
Simon
I got a 3T Climax about a year ago, and it only lasted about 6 months of light use before the middle truck gave out. I haven't opened it up yet, but I'm guessing a gear it toast. The shaft from the front truck to the middle truck spins, but no wheel movement beyond that.....
-Stephen