So, why are there so many defects with the Hogwarts Express?
Defects? Care to elaborate?
Welcome to the forum!
Rob
Mine seems defect free to me!
PS Welcome!
Please share. I’m unaware that there are any widespread defects, and I just finished testing one for the february issue.
Bob Keller.
If you haven’t done so, check out the recent thread entitled Hogwarts Express, by Semaphore. As so often happens around here, one drop of rain must have been perceived as a monsoon. In my posts on that thread, I listed several things that I have seen reported ONCE each on one the several forums that I haunt. The only exception involves the pick-up rollers. After all, every car in the set has them. I have seen a small number of reports, including photographs on another forum, of the little rivets (the “axles” that hold the rollers to the pickup assembly) being improperly peened and the roller got loose and cockeyed in its mount.
As far as I know there is no tidal-wave of defects. In fact, I have stated that I think Lionel’s quality control is greatly improved in recent months and Hogwarts is probably no exception. But as you well know, bad news gets propagated widely and rapidly; and false rumors always spread faster than the truth.
The thrust of my portion of that thread was simply to encourage new owners to check out their gifts (I mentioned both trains and bicycles as examples) prior to the holiday morning in order to avoid major disappointments. It seems obvious that no matter how rare a failure may be statistically, if one happens to affect your kid it is 100%.
Perhaps someone else has further information.
I check ANY expensive toy out at the dealer BEFORE I bring it home! That goes for my trains, bikes, automobiles, whatever!
This is why having a relationship with your local dealer is so important.
With trains being made overseas, shipping across the Pacific in a container strapped to the deck of a freighter, off-loaded onto double-stack container cars for the juant across America to Detroit, off-loaded again at Lionel, split up and re-shipped via UPS to the wholesale market, re-split up and shipped again to the retail market, and then individually re-packed and shipped again to your home, is it any wonder that there are some things knocked loose from time to time?
Jon [8D]
Kooljock1,
Exactly so! In addition: some items may not have been correctly assembled or tightened at the factory. There is a post on another forum where a piece of Atlas equipment apparently came out of the box with several loose items. One had completely fallen off. That post could be read to suggest that the problem is widespread, but no evidence has been presented to support any such conclusion. Evidently the Poster’s question is driven by just two examples.
If the author of this current thread is talking about the “American” whistle sound, the lack of sillouettes in the windows, the pause at startup, the paint color, or the fact that the loco requires curves of 36 inch diameter or more, these are not “defects” in my humble opinion. They are “design decisions,” or even “features,” taken by Lionel presumably to ensure that the HWX sets could be sold at a certain price and delivered in time for the holidays. You can agree with them or not, but at least you have sufficient information to make an informed purchasing decision. Some of them, however, expecially the wide-curve requirement seem to have taken a lot of people by surprise. Evidently, they hadn’t read the fine print in the catalog. Posts of mine that highlighted these were intended to provide a “heads-up;” and not to suggest that the Hogwarts train was a bummer. It’s not. I have one. It’s beautiful and it has ZERO DEFECTS – right out of the box.
When I see a topic like this, from a person who has very few posts, I check out their past posts. Enough said. Joe
One at Miss Edna’s [Todd’s Train Depot] is fine and running great.
No problems with the “preview” demo at the store and it probably has more run time than anyone elses.
I don’t use the CW-80, but mine has about 90 minutes of layout running. No problems yet. You should take into consideration that there are people who don’t have the set but take something they hear and try to turn it into a huge deal. happens all the time on forums.
I am happy to report that both sets I bought for my daughter run with no problems. it is a great looking set and I now even know where to get them for $209. [:)]
Hold on a second, let me get my wand … Correctum Defectum … there, problem solved.