I live in the deep south Florida.. the kids play baseball year round. Football in the fall and soccer in the spring.. and believe it or not hockey leagues. I watch a lot of baseball, hockey and of course nascar. Can't stand my local buccaneers... so football is out unless I really feel like watching someone else play. Trains are my release and I'm glad to see all the discussion of everything.... good people in these forums... everyone is friendly.

Jbrock, no problem no need to apologize... I know everyone is having fun... just for a heads up I got the Varney dockside up and running last night ... on to more projects. Might try to recast the original parts but that's a project for a different day....

Hopefully home plate..... I guess we have gotten a little off subject but it is the world series.... got my replacement chassis today gonna try and put the Varney together tonite.. hopefully with better luck one front pilot step is gone but what can you do when you try to get old parts. Ill be glad to get it together and move on to a  penn line that's waiting on the shelf. Got half a dozen roundhouse and some Mantua to build also... my wife is beginning to think I am a train addict... so what's so bad about that

I'm with you Woody the kits can become an obsession. Thanks to all for a little metallurgy class. Thankfully the Varney is the first time I have run into this problem but I'm sure it probably won't be the last. I enjoy the building and upkeep of the old engines, they keep my mind and hands active. Don't get me wrong I have newer models also and I enjoy reading the different posts about problems other people run into and the solutions others on the site provide. Love this site it's a friendly forum. Thanks to Bachmann for all they do to help us with the knowledge they have and Thanks for all the info I have gotten on this post.

Thanks for the suggestions I managed to find a frame on ebay. I have no idea on how the kit was stored but I believe it may have been stored badly. The frame looks like a bad casting (very rough looking) not smooth at all. I bought the kit at a yard sale. Given that and the age of the kit I guess you take your luck where you can. This time it was bad. But saying that this is the first kit I have bought that has given me trouble. Collecting trains is fun but as I have learned to work on them I found that building has helped with my understanding of how to keep up with maintenance. Guess I should look a little more closely when I buy.

Hi,
I am building a 1949 Varney Dockside. I have found the castings to be very brittle. With 2 breakages so far. One on the cylinder and one on the frame. The cylinder was not such a big deal and I epoxied it. The one on the frame is the problem as the break in at the rear axel.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to repair the casting? I have been building loco's for a while now and this is my first problem like this.  Any help would be appreciated.