The collapsing of the power pick-up springs is one of the main "wrinkles" that had to be addressed when the Climax first came out. I also had my springs collapse and tried to stretch them out to no avail. When I had my Climax fitted with an RCS r/c battery installation I no longer needed them but Dave Goodson recommended using the springs from Kadee couplers as replacements as the tension in the original ones that have collapsed will have been irrepairably weakened.

IF you get through to an actual person I would agree! The one place where they truly seem to have dropped the ball is with their e-mail! Why advertise and maintain an electronic form for communicating with the service dept. if no one ever seems to answer?

Thanks Jon, I completely spaced the name of the stack! I have seen a Bachmann 10-Wheeler with a Lima Diamond stack in a picture that was sent into Garden Railways a couple of years ago. Jon's right in that it definitely gives the engine a 'different" look!

The barrel of the stacks are not even close to being the same diameter. If you want one to fit a K-27 I'm afraid that you will have to scratch build the base. This is the "adaptor" that TOC was referring to I believe. The opening in the K-27 is going to be too large for the Shay's base to cover. (You might be able to add a strip of styrene to the bottom to make it large enough though.) The stack style you are referring to is the Ely/Thomas stack. Depending upon whether you can get one from a 36 ton version or a 38 ton will determine whether you will need the entire stack or just the base to be modified (there were different versions.) Hope this helps.

   I'm going to agree with Greg on this one although I share everyone's frustration with Bachmann's decisions whether they be in customer service, marketing OR product developement! Yelling on a forum doesn't persuade as Greg has said. On the other hand Bachmann has never given any indication that it considers customer service to be of importance. At least it doesn't seem to! Why else go to the trouble of having an e-mail address for customer service? In fact, why have a form to fill out? If nobody is ever going to read the e-mails it would behoove Bachmann to get rid of the link! I would rather take my chances with the telephone.
   For some reason Bachmann has never had any kind of parts backlog. This is probably a business decision but considering that there are "issues" beginning to creep up with locomotives, it might be time to revisit this decision! The goodwill of current customers should be of paramount importance! Being able to keep these beauties running properly would go a long way toward that goal!

   Guys, I spoke with someone who has some knowledge about these matters and I asked him what was going on. He responded that the 2-8-0 suffered from a quality control issue with the plastic (this has been documented with the tender truck disintegrations) due to "impurities" being introduced into the plastic bins before they are melted down and extruded into parts. Now, the gear cracking may or may not be partially attributable to this but age does make the plastic shrink somewhat and the gear is tight against an unyeilding axle....ergo, it cracks! Before you scream at Bachmann, this has occurred on other manufacturer's products as well!
  The problem may be isolated to a few from a particular batch that suffered the "impurity" problem or it might be systemic! We won't know for a while. It doesn't appear to be a design flaw. At least it doesn't appear that undue stress is being generated due to inadequate adhesion (like the too short screws in the tender trucks.) I would advise Bachmann that they need to seriously address this issue as the 2-8-0 was their flagship locomotive until the introduction of the K-27! How they handle after-initial-sales problems that will only show up years after the fact is a critical indication of the longetivity of Bachmann's products!

Hmm...I honestly don't know! If the NiMH batteries are just as small then they definitely will fit in the Porter! (Good to know. Thanks for the clarification.!)

I'm not sure about the NiMH batteries. When Dave Goodson did the installation of an RCS system with Sierra sound in my Climax he said that he had to use NiCad due to size restrictions. The Porter can be done without a trailing car but area is definitely a consideration!

The tools are "accessories" that can be added to your model to enhance it's appearance. If you don't want them you don't need to use them! Since you deem them "toy tools" it probably means that you are not thinking of them in a "scale model accessory" capacity. I would suggest trading them to somebody for something you would prefer.

Since you asked for comments, the Bachmann forum is really the wrong place to ask about LGB vs Aristocraft! (it's considered "bad form!" )
  I would suggest taking your question to the Aristocraft Forum where I'm sure you will get some specific answers. Of course, the Aristo forum doesn't allow "discussion" of competitor's merchandise!
  A far better place to get answers would be the large scale websites:
www.mylargescale.com
www.largescalecentral.com
www.largescale.com
www.scalerailsonline.com

You will find answers to virtually all of your questions! In fact, the Aristo vs LGB Mikado has a couple entire threads devoted to this issue! Give it a whirl.

I remember the pictures that were on the Bachmann website! That caboose was a beauty!! I'm not sure why they cancelled the introduction of those Fn3 cars but that caboose would definitely be the one that I would like to see modeled!

Ooooh...you forgot the K-28! The D&RG also had 2-8-0's that were outside frame. They acquired them from the Crystal River Railroad. Their designations were C-21 and C-25. (The C-21's were affectionately known as the "little mudhens," a reference to the K-27 class being known as "mudhen.")
  On of the more interesting examples of an outside frame engine is the Hawaiian plantation engine in a 2-6-2 arrangement! Now there would be a neat engine to model!!

It was ridiculously light! While it looked great, the little engine would just spin it's wheels trying to pull two cars up a 3% grade! I had to add lead weight (probably should have said "pack") everywhere! I eventually sold it on ebay but it was a sweet looking little locomotive!

Hmmm.....at first I was partial to an inside frame 2-8-0 (C-16, 17, 18 or 19) but the "Connie" is still being advertised so...... Y'know, that C&S #22 is one sweet locomotive! The more I look at it the more I like it! It might just be time for a Spectrum Mogul in Fn3! Hmmmm..........

  Honestly, I'd give a call to Dave Goodson (curmudgeon) at Northwest Remote Control Systems (NWRCS) as he replaces most of our yellow lights with brighter bulbs and he probably has a whole box of those yellow ones! Just Google NWRCS and you'll get his website. He can also give you tips on exactly what resistor and how to mount it!