I have read the review on the Climax. Supposedly with the Tsunami card they run fairly well. Does anyone know if they have the same issues with gears cracking as the Shays produced by the same manufacturer. I have held off buying one of these fairly expensive engines because I do not look forward to doing the NWSL rebuild treatment to have a reliable engine. MR’s reviews are almost meaningless because they never seem to address these critical issues. I would like to hear from anyone who has one of these engines with some significant run time - what are your experiences? - Mike
Hi Mike,
I’ ve had both the 2-truck and newer 3-truck version of Spectrum’s HO Climax and find they are quite different. The 3-trk version is a larger loco and mine has run quite well. The original 2-trk version I had spent more time at Bachmann’s Philly repair shop than it did on my layout. I never had a chance to look at both side by side but the 2-trucker never ran more than 10 minutes between repairs and failures and the new 3-truck version has already logged over 10 hours of running. My only complaint is I had to extend my backwoods engine house so the 3-trk would fit inside. Bachmann exchanged the old one for a new 3-trk version after the original Climax was returned for the third time. I will be converting the new one to a 2-truck shortly- it looks like an easy conversion. Given the increased size of the newer version I suspect it has beefier gears; it certainly has run better for me.
Hi Mike,
I’ ve had both the 2-truck and newer 3-truck version of Spectrum’s HO Climax and find they are quite different. The 3-trk version is a larger loco and mine has run quite well. The original 2-trk version I had spent more time at Bachmann’s Philly repair shop than it did on my layout. I never had a chance to look at both side by side but the 2-trucker never ran more than 10 minutes between repairs and failures and the new 3-truck version has already logged over 10 hours of running. My only complaint is I had to extend my backwoods engine house so the 3-trk would fit inside. Bachmann exchanged the old one for a new 3-trk version after the original Climax was returned for the third time. I will be converting the new one to a 2-truck shortly- it looks like an easy conversion. Given the increased size of the newer version I suspect it has beefier gears; it certainly has run better for me.