Martin E

When you say the brake gears had snapped off, do you mean the separate moulded part that glues inside the bogie sideframe? In my experience one pings off the first time you tackle any work on any given bogie, fortunately it's a very simple job to glue them back onto their locating dimples.

We seem to be talking about the same thing. And I think I'll follow your lead and just glue the stuff back together again. A little DIY never hurt anyone, right? (Famous last words!)

Nice pictures there, Summer_Saturday!

Just received 47535 and 47612, and very nice models they are. Unfortunately both had broken bogie frames, the brake gears had snapped off. This means that three out of the four Class 47:s that I've taken delivery of in the last month have been damaged. The packaging showed no sign of malhandling during shipping, so that would indicate that the frames were broken during packaging at the factory. I have written a nice e-mail to Bachmann to let them know. Hopefully I can purchase spare bogie frames from them, I don't think it would be worth the hassle to send them back to the retailer. It would be nice to have whole locos though.

Sorry for being such a downer, I'll try to post someting more cheerful in the future!

Just received my 3 Bachmann 47461's today, 1 as an investment, 1 to keep as 47461 and 1 to change into 47705. However please take a good look if you have ordered any of these as 2 of mine arrived damaged. The parcel as delivered today was undamaged but the inner plastic packaging of 2 models was badly cracked and broken with the resulting damage of broken/loose handrails. I phoned Rails and they have told me to return the damaged ones but I think I will still keep the less damaged one to turn into 47705 and ask for a refund on the other. Anyway please be aware of a possible damage issue.

That sounds only too familiar. My 47975 arrived the other day. The parcel itself looked fine, but just like in the case mentioned above, the inner plastic packaging was broken and the loco's windscreen was lying in the driver's knee, one windscreen whiper missing and detailing on one boogie broken off. Not the kind of state you would like your brand new ?? 89.90 loco to be in. Anyway, I e-mailed Bachmann that replied that they would forward my complaint to whoever handles the shipping, who in turn would get back to me with instructions. That was two days ago and I've heard nothing from them so far. Since there is no evidence of malhandling during transport, I can only assume that someone at the factory had a bad day. Apparentely I'm not alone, so beware!