LGB confusion.....

[tac foley]

NOT, I hasten to add, on MY part, but LGB's!!! I know, I know, it's hard when you find out that the company you've been worshipping for decades has actually screwed up, but it seems that in THIS case, they have...

Y'see, I have a collection of cabeeses going back many years - this is one of them [awaiting a re-paint into something a little less like a lil' red caboose] - the LGB number is 42793, and this pdf purports to be the instructions for it - https://static.maerklin.de/damcontent/c7/d6/c7d6c5561203e89e32d228710b6f2e511559901761.pdf



I want to take it to pieces so that the repaint can be done properly, in accordance with my standards. Please note the configuration of the cupola - there is no test, but it is rather important.

I also have THIS older caboose, LGB number 4071 -



Note, please, the configuration of the cupola on THIS model.

I think that most here would agree that they are not the same, and that dismantling it using the instructions for dismantling the other may well be different.

Referring to the PDF, you can instantly see that this is, indeed, the case. and why would I refer to the pdf? Well, it is because pages 1 through 13 refer to the top model, but page 14 refers to the lower model.

I wrote Maerklin/LGB or vise-versa, pointing this out, and was advised as follows -

Dear Mr. Foley,

the only user manual we have available for 42793 you will find on our website under

https://static.maerklin.de/damcontent/c7/d6/c7d6c5561203e89e32d228710b6f2e511559901761.pdf

Sincerely yours,

Your Maerklin Customer Service

Frank Mayer

Gebr. Maerklin & Cie. GmbH

In mitigation, this pathetic 'instruction sheet' is all that accompanied the top caboose - a pretty useless 'set of instructions' for dismantling a fairly complex model with lighting and numerous internal parts.



It seems that to company is unable to provide either an explanation, or a correction for what is plainly a co- mix-up.

So, anybody here taking one of the newer cabeeses to peeses?

TIA

 

[Greg Elmassian]

that is funny, the page 14 seems to want to address the lighting, but the roof that has the light is not the same caboose...

Oh how the mighty have fallen, no longer measured by the same yardstick

Greg

 

[korm kormsen]

what can one expect?
LGB went broke. was bought by another company (Maerklin) that had gone broke too.
so all idealists, modelers, railroadfans and engineers were replaced by economists.
things like this are the inevitable results.

 

[Paradise]

Questioning a large company's incompetence in trying to make things better is like telling a dog how to play poker unless it will obviously effect their bottom line.

 

[idlemarvel]

what can one expect?
LGB went broke. was bought by another company (Maerklin) that had gone broke too.
so all idealists, modelers, railroadfans and engineers were replaced by economists.
things like this are the inevitable results.

Poor and inaccurate manuals is not the exclusive domain of LGB or model railways, it applies to virtually all aspects of modern life. User documentation is very low on the totem pole of priorities. I'd rather have more good products if an economic choice has to be made.

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

a pretty useless 'set of instructions'

The family-owned LGB produced "expoloded diagrams", showing every single part in a model, each with a number that allowed you to order any part. This recognised that, along with modellers happy to run their railways "out-of-the-box", there was a sizeable community of those of us wanting to create "one-off specials" by mixing and matching LGB components (Guilty, m'lud!).

The Marklin-owned LGB does not recognise the existence of this second group, and the only spare parts that they are willing to supply are the "consumables" - like bulbs, screws, couplings, etc. As a result, their diagrams do not need to be detailed, they only need to be indicative of the locations of the spare parts that that they are willing to supply. So the parts diagram for the 6-wheeled HF130 diesels 23591 and 70580 include a line diagram of the cab and engine cover for the 4-wheeled 2090-series model!

For example http://www.gbdb.info/data/zeichnung/LGB/70580.pdf

When I asked Marklin why this was, they were quite happy to admit that "a spare part drawing is made to identify the position of a spare part. In detail it can be different from the real design of a part"

Just something we are going to have to put up with, I'm afraid.

Best wishes

David

 

[Rhinochugger]

First mistake - worshipping LGB

 

[Paul M]

I suppose it depends on the market they're aiming for. Toy or modeellers

 

[AustrianNG]

Oh common Tac.
A man of your calibre can surely work out how to disassemble a simple cabooose.
It's not rocket science.

 

[tac foley]

It's like this, y'see. I'm trying to do it without accidentally breaking anything, since I'm too poor to buy a replacement.

F'rinstance, taking my Fn3 Accucraft D&RGW van apart was a nightmare, with many odd parts interlocking and screws that held bits together that did not seem to be connected. Getting it back together would have been easier if I'd been inside doing it.

 

[Eaglecliff]

My grouse with LGB (as was) is that every Stainz loco has the same coal-hole lid raised, and every 4-wheel coach has the same window open, on each side. If I wanted an open window in a coach, which I probably wouldn’t, and certainly not two, I’d rather do it myself.

 

[Rhinochugger]

It's like this, y'see. I'm trying to do it without accidentally breaking anything, since I'm too poor to buy a replacement.

F'rinstance, taking my Fn3 Accucraft D&RGW van apart was a nightmare, with many odd parts interlocking and screws that held bits together that did not seem to be connected. Getting it back together would have been easier if I'd been inside doing it.

The Accy brass caboose is far easier to dismantle than the plastic one - the shorter wheelbase caboose does rather pose an intelligence test for dismantling. It's OK once you've done it once

 

[Paul M]

It's OK once you've done it once

Is that because you've learnt your lesson and got someone else to do it?

 

[Rhinochugger]

Is that because you've learnt your lesson and got someone else to do it?

When I eventually got the thing apart, I converted the lighting to battery power, 'cos of the drag and squeak of the brass contact strips