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I bought these engines from Walthers about 5 years ago & over that time the shells cracked at one end. It must have happened in just the past 3 or 4 months because of the heat in my building or that's what I thought. After closer examination I found that the mfgr. had mounted the B unit shells on the wrong frame. I'm enclosing photo's w/this new topic. I contacted Walthers & they said I had to have my receipt when I bought them, which I don't. I told them I had the original boxes from Walthers & over the past 10 years have spent about a thousand bucks w/them. Well, that didn't make any difference. So, guess I'll try to remove the shells somehow & machine off the end of the frames where they protrude out & repair the shells & then make a new shell to frame mounting tab.
Have you ever seen anything like this in all your years of modelrailroading?
Ron, Right where the shell is pushed out is where the frame is rounded instead of flat like the other end of the frame. My 2 FA units have flat ends on both ends of the frame. I really don't think the frames I have are even for another FA unit. Probably some other kind of engine. Walthers said that they won't fit in the original box. Well, they did & still do. I can't figure out how I never noticed it. When I was mounting the magnetic couplers a few years ago it wasn't that way(the body pushed out). I think over time it was too much of a strain on the shell & that's why the shell is pushed out & cracked.
[...] My 2 FA units have flat ends on both ends of the frame.[...] When I was mounting the magnetic couplers a few years ago it wasn't that way(the body pushed out).[...]
Larry, nothing against you, or anything, but I can't help but wonder, if maybe you accidentally swapped the chassis between the FA & FB's when doing the coupler conversions? Just a random thought/conclusion from reading.
Right where the shell is pushed out is where the frame is rounded instead of flat like the other end of the frame. My 2 FA units have flat ends on both ends of the frame.
Josh is right. I should of read this post more carefully. It says it all. You accidentally swapped the shells.
If you swap them back, you might be able to push the shell back into somewhat decent shape and hide the rest with a good weathering job.
Larry, nothing against you, or anything, but I can't help but wonder, if maybe you accidentally swapped the chassis between the FA & FB's when doing the coupler conversions? Just a random thought/conclusion from reading.
I already checked that. There's no way they will interchange. The A units are LifeLike engines & the B units are Trainline. They don't have the same kind of chassis or the shell latch's. I even tried to change them & the same problem would happen w/both chassis of the end being rounded & pushing out the flat end on the B shell.
I had the LifeLike engines about 5 years before I bought the Trainline engines.
I have an A&B unit of NYC from Trainline & the frames are completely different than on the defunct B unit frames.
Thanks for the idea anyway.
Larry, I'd e-mail those pictures to Walthers and let their customer service guys look at them. It sure seems like something was wrong right from the beginning. Walthers has been pretty good with me when they had an obvious product defect.
Larry, I'd e-mail those pictures to Walthers and let their customer service guys look at them. It sure seems like something was wrong right from the beginning. Walthers has been pretty good with me when they had an obvious product defect.
I did email those pics to Walthers customer service & their repair dept. They told me that they didn't ship those 2 engines to me because they always check their items before they send them out. Well, I got news for them, they didn't check those before they shipped them out to me.
I took the shells off today w/a screwdriver(pried them off) & someone had forced thin plastic shims between the shell & the side of the frame so the shell wouldn't fall off. I started checking other engines & found that Bachmann has the exact same chassis under their F-A units. So, I guess I'll have to find another use for the engines that I'm stuck with.
One reason Walthers won't take them back is because I don't have a receipt & they won't take the time to look in their records to see if I bought them at their location.
I'm going to send them an email tonight & have my name removed from their mailing list & my monthly catalog delivery.
Larry just a thought but it sounds like someone else had those engines and they were sent back to Walthers and restocked on ther shelves. Sounds like you got someone elses junk !!!!!!
How did your FAs come with Nickel Silver wheels....
Looking at the pics, there is NO way that the shell would have even survived past the first time it was put on. I can not believe you didn't see that when replacing the couplers.
Larry just a thought but it sounds like someone else had those engines and they were sent back to Walthers and restocked on ther shelves. Sounds like you got someone elses junk !!!!!!
I think you're right. Walthers said they never sold me those engines. All they have to do is look back thru my purchases, but, they don't want to bother.
That's OK, I've got a project to build 2 scratch built loco's for myself & I'll use both of those engines.
How did your FAs come with Nickel Silver wheels....
Looking at the pics, there is NO way that the shell would have even survived past the first time it was put on. I can not believe you didn't see that when replacing the couplers.
As far as the Nickel Silver wheels, can't answer that.
You know what they say about Old People "Blind in one eye & can't see out of the other". Well, I'm old & sometimes I just don't see things that are wrong until they give me a fit.
