The new Bachmann HO 2-truck Climaxes have arrived. UPS delivered my package from Micro-Mark yesterday afternoon.
Many on this forum are likely familiar with the history of this model. About 10 years ago, Bachmann released their HO Climax and reports of split gear problems surfaced thereafter. NWSL produced replacement metal gears for the trucks, but this did not necessarily solve the problem, as split gears also developed up within the gear tower (plastic gears pressed onto metal shafts…). The locomotive really “fits” my layout, and I had several. Bachmann replaced the one inoperable Climax with a 3-truck Shay which is still running with the NWSL Shay regear. I had two other Bachmann Climaxes, but since they had received the regears they could not be returned to Bachmann and once the gear tower problems developed they became paperweights.
Bachmann later produced a 3-Truck Climax that had a better history. Apparently the gear system was much more robust. I never had one of the 3-truckers after getting hurt by the problems of the initial 2-truck models.
So now we have a re-released 2-Truck HO Climax that presumably has the improved gearing system found in the 3-truck. This model was initially announced in about August of 2014. I pre-ordered mine from MicroMark in early May and they advised me Monday (11/02/2015) that they had shipped. The package arrived without visible damage.
This is a small locomotive, measuring only about 36 scale feet long. The prototype is the 1910 55 ton Climax #3 of Moore-Keppel Co (cn 1059). This locomotive is currently operated by the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley RR in West Virginia. Videos of it in operation as the “Durbin Rocket” are readily found.
The model comes packaged in a clear formed “bubble”. Mine is unlettered black (smokebox is graphite color) and DC equipped - no sound module. I operate DC.&nb