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Purchased the Lionchief + GP7 from the Hobby Store today got it home and got ready to run if for the first time. Made sure the smoke unit was off and it was switch for conventional mode so I kept it there to run. It had Railsounds on put it into forward and off it went for 3 seconds. Then it stopped dead but with the Railsounds revving for a higher speed. Ran in reverse the same thing. Put batteries in the remote and did the same. Ran my other locomotives no issues. I was very disappointed as the other features were very nice.  Did not even try the smoke unit as I was not going to keep it. Lucky for me the Hobby shop is 10 minutes away. Packed it all back up and took it to the Hobby Store. They gave me a full refund and thanked me for letting them know the issue.  It was not meant to be for me to have one today but someday I will be able to enjoy one.

Last edited by Kurtds
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KURTDS,

          Sorry about your bad luck.  For a model train enthusiast there may be no worse feeling than buying a brand new engine that doesn't work properly right out of the box.  I have had this misfortune happen to me but wasn't lucky enough to have the hobby store only ten minutes away.  

OKHIKER posted:

KURTDS,

          Sorry about your bad luck.  For a model train enthusiast there may be no worse feeling than buying a brand new engine that doesn't work properly right out of the box.  I have had this misfortune happen to me but wasn't lucky enough to have the hobby store only ten minutes away.  

I can't agree more. One time after I got home from the hobby shop (which is a short while away from myself) the train I purchased would not run at all. I did get a refund and eventually a replacement, but it is a bad feeling. KURTDS, I hope that you get your replacement soon, as you seemed very excited about this engine from your post. Good luck.

Thanks. I will get one soon as I am hooked. Here in Portland having any new stock on the display to sell is very rare as they would rather you pre order everything. I understand they do not want to be stuck with something nobody wants. On the other hand seeing it first hand and being able to see what it can do to me is a great selling point. I see via the Internet there are some for sale on line. With this being last years stock I will go this route and not wait to see if my Train store gets another one in. If you go to the Lionel store they are out of stock. So I doubt the Train store I go to will be able to get one. 

I too purchased the Lion Chief  GP7 Northern Pacific in 2015. Mine suffered the same issue as mentioned in this thread. Took it to my local hobby shop. They claimed they repaired it. I got it home and the issue still presented itself. I looked in the instructions which said this could be a problem and if so take engine to an authorized repair shop or send it to Lionel. I called Lionel and sent the engine to them. When speaking to them, they were very gracious. They repaired the engine within 3 weeks or so. Haven't had a problem with it since.

I would always want to see the new engine run in the hobby shop.  I bought a MTH Premier S2 from English Model RR shop years ago.  He demonstrated it for me and he had issues making it work initially but we eventually got it running fine.  We were both interested in having it work properly.  I purchased it and have never had another problem with it. Go figure.   But with the complexity of new engines and all the wiring I believe every shop worth their salt should demo the engine before it leaves the store.  Do you buy a new car without test driving it?  

You are correct and did that in the past when I purchased a Ready to Run set from them that was used. They check to make sure everything was there and ran the locomotive to make sure it work. Living 10 minutes away from the place made it easy to return. They gave me a refund no questions asked.  Their test track is very short and I don't think we would have seen the issue I had it. No worries as it was sorted out.

 

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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