Now your talking semantics of course cars were in their infancy back in those days as compared to the level of sophistication that they are designed and built to by today’s standards. But all things being equal Henry Ford never ad a recall the size and scope of the great Toyota disaster so much for modern technology. The analogy was intended ti illustrate that even though. a 1917 Model T ford with all it’s so called short coming withstood the test of time and is still here today. I can say with almost complete certainty that in 97 years you won’t be seeing any entry level cars be any manufacture around.
IIRC, Henry never had a recall because there was no agency responsible for highway safety. There would have been no reason for a recall because they wouldn’t have realized they had defective vehicles. Toyota’s real problem is not a technological problem, but a failure of organization and the loss of the founder’s vision.
If you want an analogy more suited to us how about Steam locomotives that are still in use today. Granted they are spending leisurely days hauling rail fan’s up and down tourist railroads and many have been lovingly restored but the point is these machines like the Model T Ford were built to last and the men who built them took pride in what they did. Think about this with all the complexity and hundreds if not thousands of individual parts that make up a steam locomotive. There were no computer program or CNC machines or robot welders etc. to build them. There were rooms full of men sitting at drafting tables with slide rules and welders and riveters and steam fitters designing and building every single part.
The steam locomotive in its 2 cylinder simple exemplar is not a particularly complex machine. Even countries not known for their manufacturing prowess (e.g. New Zealand) could manufacture them. Furthermore, steam locomotives, over their lifespans quite frequently had very few of their original parts le
It’s obvious that your the your in the minority of poster who realities that this is an unfortunate part of the hobby and there was/is a simple solution to the O/P’s problem just stop crying about and send it back end of story. All the bitching and anger isn’t going to change anything. He didn’t feel as though he was responsible in any way shape or form or that “Let the buyer beware” did not apply in his case. It’s a fact of life but we all need to be our own consumer advocate all of the time. If trans were 100% perfect 100% of the time there wouldn’t be test tracks in Train stores one reason to buy form your LHS rather then the internet.
If you feel trains today are built to a high standard and have never experienced any manufactures defects then your definitely in a minority. I have prewar Lionel’s that run like the day they came out of the box I also have brass locomotives that are from the 1960’s that run like a Swiss watch and far exceed modern versions in both brass and resin in every respect. It’s all do to pride in workmanship I am not about to Hi-jack the O/P’s thread and turn it in to a flame war of nit picking useless statements and details. We agree to disagree and leave it at that.
And it was delivered at my hobby shop on thursday. ( it came with a shipment for the store, as iordered it thru them. Than pisses my right off, a 180 dollar engine, gone. although i did steal a clip, the exact same from my RTR AC4400CW ( CP 8546) Great job athearn, just freaking great.
Here’s the OP’s second post on the engine:
well, we didnt pay that close attention to the train trucks, as we were both happy that th train actually arrived. didnt see the fault till i got home. Anyway, i have e-mailed athearn, and called them, but ill callt them tomorrow morning anyways. he’ll help me out.
The engine was ordered through a bricks and mortar shop. It was delivered to a shop. The OP picked it up from the shop. IOW, it could have been inspected/test run BEFORE delivery was actually accepted. Instead, the OP took it home without so much as looking at it, found out there was something wrong and then went on a rant against Athearn and UPS. We still don’t know if it was a factory defect or damage in shipment and probably never will.
If you feel trains today are built to a high standard and have never experienced any manufactures defects then your definitely in a minority. I have prewar Lionel’s that run like the day they came out of the box I also have brass locomotives that are from the 1960’s that run like a Swiss watch and far exceed modern versions in both brass and resin in every respect. It’s all do to pride in workmanship
Of course I’ve experienced manufacturing defects and/or shipment damage. However, when I ran into it, it was in the store and it was thus the shop owner’s issue, not mine. I would ask for another and that would be inspected/test run before I accepted it.
“Pride in workmanship” is the issue? How do you get that in this case? We just DON"T KNOW what caused the problem with the OP’s engine. You’ve taken a single example of a problem and blown it into a rant against modern manufacturing when the root cause of the OP’s problem remains shrouded in mystery. The fact that you have stuff from the 60’s still running is totally irrelevant. Wouldn’t surprise me if the OP’s engine, once the problem is fixed, runs quite well for a long time assuming that it’s maintained properly.
If you are interested, I have the axe George Washington used to chop down the cherry tree. The head has only been replaced 3 times and the handle 4–but it is original.[8D]
Instead, the OP took it home without so much as looking at it, found out there was something wrong and then went on a rant against Athearn and UPS. We still don’t know if it was a factory defect or damage in shipment and probably never will.
Andre
Andre,Having work part time in a hobby shop another question cross my mind…
Did the OP drop it on the way home?
I have seen “damage” locomotives returned that I know was OK when it left the store.However,by Ohio law we had to offer a replacement or refund the customer’s money…90% of the time it was a cash refund which left a lot open for jokes after the customer departed the store…
Such as:Momma gave him a choice…Return the locomotive or face the rolling pin…[:O]
If you are interested, I have the axe George Washington used to chop down the cherry tree. The head has only been replaced 3 times and the handle 4–but it is original.
Definitely designed to last. [swg]
I’ve got a toaster from around 1910. It actually still works. However, it’s horribly inefficient. Toasts only one side of a single piece of bread at a time and has an ingenious, if Rube Goldbergesque, mechanism to expose the other side of the bread. Nothing is enclosed, so much of the heat escapes before doing anything to the bread. IOW, as a toaster, it’s poorly designed for the task at hand. Still works, though. It’s an interesting example of an early 20th Century appliance and gives some insight into the mindset of designers of that era.
And it was delivered at my hobby shop on thursday. ( it came with a shipment for the store, as iordered it thru them. Than pisses my right off, a 180 dollar engine, gone. although i did steal a clip, the exact same from my RTR AC4400CW ( CP 8546) Great job athearn, just freaking great.
Here’s the OP’s second post on the engine:
well, we didnt pay that close attention to the train trucks, as we were both happy that th train actually arrived. didnt see the fault till i got home. Anyway, i have e-mailed athearn, and called them, but ill callt them tomorrow morning anyways. he’ll help me out.
Well you’ve just answered your own question the O/P clearly states that he didn’t pay much attention to the train trucks, so how do you do that without opening the box or even looking at it?
I purchased an Athearan RS3 from an LHS a few years back and like the O/P I asked them to order it for me as they didn’t have it in stock. When it came in the guy who used to do their repairs Carl said nice engine lets check it out. He not I took it out of the box and the trailing truck came off the locomotive and fell to the floor. He picked it up off the floor set it back in the box and it was returned and they sent another one with in the week.
If the O/P were to read his own post it’s obvious that UPS didn’t damage it, I am sure it wasn’t the only thing UPS delivered and if it was it didn’t come in the box you see when it sits on the shelf but in a larger box with packing on the inside. So if the alleged mishandling or what ever happened was enough to loosen the trucks or damage them don’t you think there would be obvious signs of damage to
Andre,Having work part time in a hobby shop another question cross my mind…
Did the OP drop it on the way home?
I also worked part time at a hobby shop more years ago than I’m willing to admit. As to whether or not the OP dropped the engine, we’ll probably never know. It would, however, be unfair to the OP to make an assumption that he did.
I have seen “damage” locomotives returned that I know was OK when it left the store.However,by Ohio law we had to offer a replacement or refund the customer’s money…90% of the time it was a cash refund which left a lot open for jokes after the customer departed the store…
Apparently the customers in those instances didn’t want the locomotive that much, or they would have taken a replacement. That raises the question of why they bought the item in the first place. It’s not directly hobby related, but a few days ago I bought a snake from Home Depot to de-clog a sink. The trap was clear, so the clog was further down the line. When I got the snake home, I found the housing was cracked in several places, so I turned right around and went for a replacement rather than a refund (I still needed the thing). The second time, I thoroughly inspected the housing for any kind of damage. I should have done that in the first place before leaving the parking lot. Oh well, the sink drains just fine now.
Such as:Momma gave him a choice…Return the locomotive or face the rolling pin…
