Old vs Newer Climax

[mickeykelley]

Is there a way to tell which generation Climax you're looking at or when getting off eBay?

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Mickey,

Great question,  I have been wanting to research this one myself but have never had the time.  It would be great if one of our climax experts could help with this one.  I will add the info to the historical record as well.  The main way I know of right now is to ask the seller.  If there is a box the Bachmann item number is another way to tell.  There is always risk on good old evil bay.  I have collected some horror stories over the years     One guy told me that he bought a shay in the box which had some of the internal boards removed. Since the seller claimed he was not familiar with trains and the pictures were provided as the description and the seller said he had no way of testing it, he ended up stuck with it.  There was another case where a a later version shay was sold after the seller removed the good trucks, and replaced them with the older problematic trucks.  A more common ploy is to remove metal wheels from rolling stock and replace them with plastic wheels. 

The latest run would have the following item  numbers: 85093, 85094
85095
85096
85097
85098
86093  This and below are DCC with sound
86094
86095
86096
86097
86098

Happy hunting!

Bill

[charon]

Bill and Mickey,
The first run of Climaxes had 81 as the first two numbers in the model number and this latest, second run, has 85 & 86 as the first two numbers.  Hope this helps.
Chuck

[Kevin Strong]

There are physical differences as well. The most notable one is that the "new" climax has a much larger front coupler pocket, as seen here:



Also, look at the coal bunker on the rear. The new version has the extended coal boards or oil bunker making it taller (closer to the roof of the cab) than the older version. This is to accommodate the updated electronics in the bunker.

Later,

K

[bob kaplan]

I have been wondering if there is much difference in performance when the old and new are compared.   I have an older model and it sometimes has difficulty with LGB plastic frogs and almost stalls.   Is the performance of the newer one a bit more reliable?

[Kevin Strong]

I've not run the old one to really have a frame of reference for a comparison, but the new one is a very solid performer. I'm not running track power, so I can't comment on how it does with electrical pick-up over switches. The new gears and ball-bearing journals, however, make for very smooth slow speed operation.

Later,

K