So I go to one of my storage drawers today to look at a walthers gp9 that I havent run for a few months now. Well I go and pull it out and this is what I find. Look at the bending at both ends
I looked at it closely and see it is bent and cracking on the frame so I remove the body and it just fell apart.
Can anybody tell me why a engine that was fine a few months ago looks like it was thrown against a wall?? all it has dones is sit in a drawer. The drawer wasnt bending at all.
Jeremy
Got any kid’s? [:-^]
I dont have kids.
I dont know if walthers would help me out or not? a engine sitting in a storage drawer shouldnt bend itself in like that.
I remember this problem from the old Zamak frames and bodies. They were known to suddenly snap or even disintegrate if they came from poor castings. Unfortunately it still happens with today’s cast frames. If the frame has a weak spot caused by a poor casting or an improperly mixed alloy the it will be prone to breaking and can do so whether it’s handled or not. Glueing the frame back together isn’t an option as it will break again right next to the repaired area. You’ll have to get another frame and move everything onto it. The Walthers GP9m body will also clip right onto an Athearn GP7/9 frame with no modification other than lowering the headlight.
Thanks for tips Jeff, I have never see this happen before.
Think walthers would send me a new frame?
So…I take it that the locomotive/storage drawer was not in an overly-warm room or exposed to excessive heat?
Tom
You’ll likely have better luck looking for one being sold for parts and salvage the frame. I’ve seen this happen with some older Athearn and Bachmann locos I had. I had one that ran with a busted frame for over a year before I found a replacement.
I have seen and heard of things like this happening and it happened to me, though a different scale. If the engine has been producing a lot of heat when it runs (for whatever reason) it can really fatigue the parts inside. If you didn’t touch the loco immediately after running it, you might not have noticed the heat.
In my case I had an old steamer that I never touched and ran often. One day it started to smoke. It was very hot when I picked it up and when I took it apart to see what was the matter it completely disintegrated. I ask around at a train show and they said extreme heat would do that.
I was a kid and didn’t know about regular maintenance. Today things are different.
Brent[C):-)]
Nope I have central air so the rooms stays the same all year round.
Im a little apprehensive about returning the locos to the drawer now as I afraid the slight sink from it will cause this to other engines. Anybody have a idea on how I can add something to stiffen them up?
If there sitting on their wheels there shouldn’t be a problem. I think you just got the classic ‘bad’ frame. The last loco I had it happen with was an Athearn AC4400. It broke right in front of the rear truck where the frame was thinnest. With a bad frame it doesn’t matter what you do. It’s going to break no matter what.
Yeah, with a bad frame, it doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do. This a fault in the metal not due to fatigue. If your engines are running that hot, then something else is drastically wrong!
As to the GP9m, you could try Walthers first, then ebay or Athearn. I just had to replace a Rivarossi Big Boy frame that was cracked, found one on ebay for 10 bucks.
Zamac is supposed to be an alloy containing only zinc and a little aluminum, magnesium and/or copper. Correctly mixed, there should be no issues at all with durability.
However, some manufacturers obviously still use lead for some items. This is no problem at all as long as the lead is kept separated from the zinc or zinc/aluminum alloys.
If too much lead (beyond a trace amount) gets into the zamac metal, it causes intergranular corrosion–meaning the metal will fail–it is then only a matter of time. (Keeping the metal painted helps to prolong its life, if it is in fact impure).
At one time many years ago lead was used in zamac alloys (for toys and Lionel trains, particularly the wheels on older Lionel) because lead helps metal flow into the molds more effectively, so the resulting castings are much cleaner. Various people have informed me that was ages ago and “nobody” does that anymore–not even in China, Korea, or Japan.
However, it may be possible that lead got into this frame by accident…or else some other impurity. That likely caused the failure, and not a little heat.
John
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Walthers doesn’t keep any spare parts in stock. I would look on eBay if I were you.
Rich
Yeah I was kind of being sarcastic about walthers sending me a new frame.
I dont think any sort of heat could have caused this as I think I only ran the engine for about a hour all together in the last 3 years. Its no big loss to me as I have another walthers gp9 and I could just use it for parts for that. Still sucks that Im down a engine.
What about friends of the wife that has kids?
$45 for a new shell and a chassis to boot.
Rich
If I had the money I’d buy it!
Thanks for the link Rich, it would be too expensive to have it shipped to Canada, well too much for a walthers trainline engine anyways.
Maybe I will buy it and have it shipped to Jeff, then he can send it to me [:P]
JeremyB
You can place your order through Dave Cool at Canadian Express Line and significantly reduce your shipping costs. It may take a bit longer to arrive.
http://www.canadianexpressline.com/
I have no interest whatsoever in this business, other than as a satisfied customer.
Dave