As the repair guy for my LHS, I see a lot of messed up stuff. Here is a good one. New Lionchief Plus CSX GP38 diesel. Customer had it for about a week. Apparently, no lubrication was applied in the Chinese factory. The customer didn't oil the axles either, but that's never a surprise. Chinese factory oil is usually enough to push through the 1-year warranty, after all. So, the customer brings it in broken. A substance resembling black copier toner comes spilling out everywhere. Huge mess. It was ground up metal. All the axle bearings were shot. The axles were worn down too. The interesting part was that I discovered that Lionel made a change to their Magne-Traction axles at some point recently. Axles always seemed solid in the past, at least made out of steel, not brass. Apparently, they are now thin, hollow brass tubes with loose magnets dropped in. Not good for wear at all. The entire axle falls apart. See attached photo. Another cost cutting misadventure on Lionel's part...
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