I heralded the new Roco outside frame 009 chassis when it first came
out and indeed have used it on a number of our locos. They worked
smoothly and perfectly, but I now have to say that after a period of
time, a major problem has arisen.
The axles run in a die cast block and are held in place by a plastic
keeper plate. Wear has taken place on both the steel axles, die cast
block and keeper plate which causes side play. As this gets worse,
the locos become more and more unstable and eventually progress in a
similar manner to a very drunk seaman on his way back aboard.
This is effectively the end of a very expensive chassis. In several
cases I had modified non-essential parts of the chassis to fit the
body which has then, of course invalidated the warranty.
I will admit that County Gate has a very long loop (44ft) and what
with heavy grades and rolling stock, much is asked of them.
Nevertheless, you folks should be aware of the difficulties I have
experienced. The design has been deemed by a number of serious
engineers to be one that will inevitably wear in this way.
The score so far is my Russell....chassis is scrap and my Alco has
also started to waddle.
I have now begun discussing this problem with an excellent engineer
and hope that quite soon an alternative is available. This person can
also properly build Backwoods chassis, by the way, and Russell is to
revert to one of these.
best regards
JdF