I was at my local train club working on their poorly done n scale layout, i had bought one of my own engines to run around for some enjoyment while cleaning out the layout. After not seeing the engine come out the the first tunnel, and waiting about ten minutes, my nerves kicked in and i went under to see what the problem was. After discovering the short circut i found that my front power truck hit the short ciruct and melted the whole power truck, and wheels. I contacted life like about the problem and they said that they didnt have tech support and that i wouldnt be able to send it to them because they didnt have anyone there to do any repairs. After hearing this unusual and shocking news, the coustomer service rep. said that there werent completely assembled power trucks that could replace this item. Ahh. im in n scale aint now way i can assemble these trucks from scratch, so she said there was silver trucks from a gp20 that were pre assembeled. yeah!! after recieving the package today i noticed that these trucks were just the frames with no parts. lol, mabey lifelike should get some employess who know what there talking about!!!:(((((( anyway does anyone know where i could get the complete power trucks for this lifelike proto 1000 series gp18,
That’s strange, because I’ve always had just the opposite experience with LifeLike Customer Service. I had an HO scale Proto 2000 BL-2 with a melted truck caused by an internal short in the engine. LifeLike sent two fully-assembled replacement trucks absolutely free, and they even paid the postage.
I’m with cacole. I’ve gone to lifelike for a number of parts. E-9 shells and various parts and always got great service. Of course, like him, I’m in HO. Maybe you should change scales
I’m with tatans on this one. When my locos disappear from view, my ears turn into $2M sensors that can detect even the most minute vibration, voltage, amperage, and speed changes. My ears pick up a derailment as it happens, not after it happens…of course, (cough, cough) I never get derailments in my tunnels, you know…it’s just that IF I did…
well. the did send the wrong part with free postage, they said that it wasnt a complete part that there were about five diffrerent parts that would have to be put together, but she assured me that the one she was sending was complete. [:X] IT WOULD BE NICE IF THESE PEOPLE KNEW WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THERE. great shipping, great packaging, great prices. suckey knowledge.
Tim,I can understand you not responding for 10 minutes time does seem to fly when you are working…Listen to this :
At one of the clubs that I was member of I was running 2 Athearn GP7s and about 20-25 cars-all Athearn…Anyway other members started showing up and it was decided we would go to a local fast food joint and get a bit to eat…We was gone around 45 minutes or so upon returning to the club we heard this train running…Who in the world is running a train? we wonder…Well upon checking here is my 2 GP7s still running laps over the layout that included grades and tunnels…So,if I can become distracted by talking and forgetting about the train I was running then I can clearly understand you not responding quickly to your train. and that makes you human in my books.[:D]
As far as you locomotive you may want to check e bay and see if you can get a second unit on the cheap to use as parts.
No one has answered nscaleboy’s question
I dont have anything to offer, im sorry to say
but what I suggest is that you contact LL again, judging from all the positive experiences above.
Good luck with your engine
Siddharth
I’m with tatans and selector. I don’t let my locos get out of my sight more than a few seconds… As long as it’s making the right sounds and doing the right things I’m cool, but when it goes in the tunnel and doesn’t come out, I shut down the power and go see what’s wrong.
I’ve got a friend that gets up and leaves his trains running while he goes and digs around in the ice box for a snack, goes to the bathroom or gets distracted by the TV in the livingroom. He knows better than to do this, and has had some bad things to happen before, but he hasn’t learned his lesson yet. Oh well. Glad I’m not paying his repair bills…
I’ve been known to leave locos moving while doing something else, haven’t had any ill effects. I do watch closely for a few minutes but after that I leave them to cruise around and break in the mechanism. I’ll be listening carefully for any odd noises though, rather than just leaving them unattended. With a healthy loco this really isn’t a problem, and when you have models with a recommended break-in time of four hours sitting and watching them would drive you to distraction.
But, Matt, the point is that they fool you. They behave like perfect gentlemen and ladies (your choice) for as long as it takes. Then, BAM, as soon as you leave the room for a pee break or a glass of milk and a cookie, that is when the little elf jumps onto the loco and steers it into a sprung switch, or over a bit of grit and off the layout it tumbles.
Can you say, “Hon, I need another 4-8-2,…what’s that?.. um, yeah, the brass one.”