Empire Builder Set - Disappointment

[DoubleDAZ]

This really stinks.  I sent my loco off on Jan 6 and got a note Saturday saying Bachmann  received it on Jan 25 and there is a 6 week turnaround.  Now, I don't care about the turnaround time or even the overall time, but I sent it by USPS Priority Mail and am pretty disappointed it took almost 20 days,  for Priority Mail???

To be fair to the USPS, I don't know if the 25th was the day the repair department received it or if it really took that long to go from here to there.  My guess is it was maybe received by Bachmann earlier, then checked out and sent for repair.  Having worked for the USPS, I just find this strange.

Oh well, at least Bachmann has it and will get to it at some point. 

[DoubleDAZ]

Well, I guess I was forewarned Bachmann turnaround was slow, but here it is March 26th and still nothing on my Empire Builder loco repair.  That makes over 11 weeks since I sent it off and 8.5 weeks since they acknowledged receipt.  I would bug them via email, but now I'm curious just how long it's going to take without being a squeaky wheel. 

[DoubleDAZ]

Guess what arrived in the mail today?  A new 4-8-4 Santa Fe.  I'm surprised I didn't get an email, but at least I don't have to think about it now.

Anyway, I just ran it a bit, but it runs so much better than the other one ever did.  I'm going to hold off breaking it in though until I decide what to do about track.  I've taken my E-Z Track apart so many times, I think I've loosened things up too much and there are a lot of gaps now.  While I like the E-Z Track concept, I think I want to go the more traditional route with regular track, roadbed and I guess a lot of glue.  I haven't given up though, next step is to purchase a sheet of foam and put together a test track.  I need to practice soldering, etc., before I tackle a final layout.

With that in mind, I've finalized my layout design, but I think I want to reconsider wider curves and see what that does to the design.  I've kind of convinced myself that while the locos will run on the 11.25" curves, I'm going to encounter too many hassles over time and that will not be fun.  But, I wanted to get this design finished so I have something to compare to as I try some mods.  Better to do that now.  I'll probably have to settle for shorter runs, but I think I'll be okay with that now that I at least have my "vision" down in XTrackCAD.  Besides shorter runs with 19" curves will let me run longer trains and there is something to be said for that.

I do have to give kudos to Bachmann for replacing the loco hassle-free, no questions asked.