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In lugnet.trains, Anthony Sava wrote:
Dear Anthony,
you are asking a lot of questions and not all of them can be anwered, but I will
try with some of the most important.
> So... was there indeed a production problem with the Super Chief wheels?
Definitely these had too high friction due to mismoulded parts done by a
third-party-supplier.
> If so, what was it? Does this problem effect the Super Chief rolling stock?
The Super Chief was not running properly. The too high friction ended with
unwanted breaks. The motors were to weak to overcome the running resitance.
In the early days of the 9V system 2 motors were able to pull 126 waggons
(tested in a FGLTC record run!). The Santa Fe trains were partly not even
running with 1 engine and 3 waggons. Motors overheated and the train stopped.
The problem can be seen here:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=264039
> If not, what was the problem that slowed the train down?
Too thick walls in the brick holder were the main problem. The wheels touched
these walls. Especially in cases when the wheels were not properly done but
showed a moulding mark.
> Was it ever fixed on the production line? If so, about when in the production
> schedule was it fixed? (i.e. all sets made after a certain date)
this has been asked dozens of times at Jake. Nothing but blabla as feedback, as
far as I know. (quote: maybe the friction is intended by TLC because otherwise
the cars will run from the table during built up").
> Does LEGO still offer replacement wheel sets?
If you have trouble with yours, they will surely replace them.
> Will they be new grey?
What are you talking about? The colour change is that minor - kids will not take
note of it at all. LEGO never gave any comments which sets are sold in which
colour. They even sell sets in two colours under the same set number. Anyway:
this is not a question to discuss in this group unless you want to be timed out
by some admins. So please stop discussing it here!
> If no help from LEGO is available, is there a way to fix the wheels? I've heard
> one can 'shave' some of the plastic off the wheels to make them clear the track
> better, what is the process for this?
If you are of age 18+ (in US maybe even 21+?): take a scalpell and cut away a
part of the too thick walls of the wheel block (the one which is shown in the
picture I linked above).
If you are of age less than 22, please thank TLC for giving you wheels with
friction. These will help you during the building phase as Jake mentioned in
Zwolle 2003. - Its not a bug it's a feature!
Leg Godt!
Ben
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Santa Fe Super Chief wheel question
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| Last year at Brickfest '05, Christina and I bought ourselves a complete set of the Santa Fe Super Chief (1 engine, 5 cars). I've been hearing about the problems people have been having with the wheel sets, but it's been so long since the error was (...) (18 years ago, 23-Feb-06, to lugnet.trains)
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