Thanks!  I think the lack of lubrication combined with sitting on the shelf, does these things in prematurely.  I would advise ANYONE buying a new loco(especially the old black-box runs), to carefully check and make sure everything is OK before going through the break-in period.  Perhaps it's a simple oversight, perhaps they somehow "missed" getting greased at the factory, or maybe the amount of oil/grease applied was so small that it "evaporated" and went dry during shipping?  Don't forget these things are coming from half-way around the world and will spend WEEKS bouncing around on a cargo ship before getting here...  Just a thought.  Nonetheless, I'm going to give my Connie another chance to prove itself...

I will say one thing, at least these locos are fairly simple.  Mechanically, there isn't too much that can go wrong, and should a problem occur that you can repair yourself, it's pretty easy.  I too agree with you that this is most likely what happened--except in my case there was NO lubrication on anything--gears or bearings...

Just for the hell of it, I took apart my 2-8-0 to see the "guts".  That quality of the internals and wiring was truly appalling.  Metal shavings inside the motor frame indicate the gears were grinding. Absolutely NO grease on the worm gear.  Dry bearing on both ends, missing a screw, and the one wire leading to the tender was frayed and ready to break because it was pinched between the metal frame and the cab. I shook my head in disbelief.  My opinion?  These things are overpriced pieces of junk.  If I were the president or CEO of this company, I would be embarrassed to manufacture, market, and sell this stuff.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  Typical made-in-China quality.  I'm not gonna bother sending it in.  It'll make a nice dummy to put on a spur or somewhere.  Not fit for mainline use that's for certain.   This was the last straw.

Well IMO, anything and I do mean ANYTHING is an improvement over the old pancake motors they used years ago...  Those things were a disgrace.  Any engine that had one I would strip down and convert to a dummy.  That's about all they were good for.

My 2-8-0 is awaiting shipment..  We'll see what kind of luck I have when I get it back.

Very weird... What's the item number?  Roadname?  The saga deepens...

Mine came in a black box too.  What are they using now?

That's pretty much how mine ran too, along with a 2-8-0 that died not 30 minutes later.  Send it back.  I'd say it's a dud.  100%

Mine wasn't DCC equipped either.  It must be an older unit since the Western Pacific roadname isn't even offered in the 2-8-0 anymore.  I sent mine off for repair today.  I spoke to a girl named Laura at Customer Service and she told me the turnaround was approximately 4 weeks...

Good luck, Diddley.  Let's hope our stories both have a happy ending...

For the record, I too had issues with my 2-8-0 right out of the box.  Western Pacific 2-8-0  Item#11421.  Same problem that Diddley mentioned.  Ran for about 30 minutes and she lost power and seized up. The gears sounded like a coffee grinder too.  Anyway, I returned it to Bachmann who sent me a brand new one 4 weeks later and so far, so good.  Interesting.  Let me know how things go when you get your engine back.