December 10, 2009

New InterMountain Cab Forwards: Another OEM Fiasco

InterMountain Locos
What do you think? Let us know!

The new release of the InterMountain Cab Forwards may not be worth keeping. We were warned of the problems from other dealers who received their shipments about a week ago. Ironically, except for the major issues described below, this is a very nice loco with crisp generous detail, nice sound and what appears to be a smooth drive linkage, but ...

We received our orders from InterMountain today and tested 3 at random, all with the same appalling results:

Initially the locomotives appear to run all right but after operating for about 10 minutes they begin to noticeably slow down and will not increase speed at all from a slow speed even at speed step 28/128!

Since others dealers had warned us about this we asked them about the causes and possible fixes.

The general consensus is that the locomotive drivetrain needs thorough lubrication by the customer. The instructions that come with the loco clearly state this, we have a copy below.

In addition all of us agree that the motor is at best marginal for this application and lacks sufficient power. Thus, under the best of conditions the loco will run slow. To counteract this InterMountain recommends raising your track voltage to above 16 Volts. While this will help, raising the voltage will make all DCC decoders run hotter, not desirable.

We are in the process of contacting all our customers to give them the option to either keep the loco or cancel their order. Here’s what you are deciding for your $440.00 investment:

Do you want to invest in the labor to completely lube a brand new loco and then do it routinely due to the insufficient motor? Are you happy under ideal conditions with the low top speed, about 50 mph? Does the marginally powered motor concern you? Keep in mind that there is a good chance this motor will burn out in the future due to its diminutive size. Do you want to run your HO layout at 16 V+?

Look at the photo of the tender wiring, this is exactly how it appears when the tender shell is removed, does that quality reflect the amount you've invested?