Future of ON30

[railtwister]

Beware:  Not sure if this is the right spot but from my point of view Bachmann On30 does not look good. Bought a new Cliamax about a mont ago. When I got around to it tried to run it. It would run backwards great would only run about an inch or two forward before it would stop.

Sent it back to Bachmann, I have had good luck with their warranty work in the past and had quick turn around.  Well after a little more than 6 weeks I get a call from Bachmann. Apparantly they are unable to repair or do not have parts they were not clear on that point.

In any case they did not have any to send out a replacement either. Ended up having to accept a On30 ( I hope) Porter 0-4-2T as a replacement engine.

By the way no Shays either.  So they are batting  "O" on the On30 .

No way is that an equivalent exchange, it's sort of like buying a Lincoln, and them giving you a Ford instead. What happened to the new replacement gears that they supposedly had made up to address the problems with the Climax? What about all those folks who bought Shays and Climaxes that came with a "Lifetime warranty"? If this is their idea of customer service, why would anyone even consider spending their hard-earned $$$ for the new 2-4-4-2 or the long promised Stearns Heisler (if it ever shows up)? There is now a long string of Bachmann On30 products that have been produced with defective drivetrains; the Shay, Climax, Railtruck, Railbus, and some Gas Mechanical switchers, to say nothing of the HO product line, which has a similar number of pieces. Very disappointing...

Bill in FtL

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Beware:  Not sure if this is the right spot but from my point of view Bachmann On30 does not look good. Bought a new Cliamax about a mont ago. When I got around to it tried to run it. It would run backwards great would only run about an inch or two forward before it would stop.

Sent it back to Bachmann, I have had good luck with their warranty work in the past and had quick turn around.  Well after a little more than 6 weeks I get a call from Bachmann. Apparantly they are unable to repair or do not have parts they were not clear on that point.

In any case they did not have any to send out a replacement either. Ended up having to accept a On30 ( I hope) Porter 0-4-2T as a replacement engine.

By the way no Shays either.  So they are batting  "O" on the On30 .

No way is that an equivalent exchange, it's sort of like buying a Lincoln, and them giving you a Ford instead. What happened to the new replacement gears that they supposedly had made up to address the problems with the Climax? What about all those folks who bought Shays and Climaxes that came with a "Lifetime warranty"? If this is their idea of customer service, why would anyone even consider spending their hard-earned $$$ for the new 2-4-4-2 or the long promised Stearns Heisler (if it ever shows up)? There is now a long string of Bachmann On30 products that have been produced with defective drivetrains; the Shay, Climax, Railtruck, Railbus, and some Gas Mechanical switchers, to say nothing of the HO product line, which has a similar number of pieces. Very disappointing...

Bill in FtL

I doubt this will make anyone feel any better, but I had a similar experience with my Williams by Bachmann O-gauge ten-wheeler--or, at least, I consider it similar. I bought the 4-6-0 in AT&SF lettering because the engine was all black and appeared to be an easy candidate to reletter for the Virginia & Truckee because the engine looks a lot like the Baldwin ten-wheelers the V&T bought shortly after 1900. Anyway, the engine was defective, and Bachmann couldn't repair it or replace it with another AT&SF engine. I had to accept a gray Union Pacific engine.

Maybe it's just the time of year.

(Unfortunately I didn't think of what someone else later suggested: Why couldn't they swap shells so I could have my AT&SF engine and tender shells on a working mechanism? My stupidity.  )