# Accucraft GS-5... no power



## csinc (Jun 8, 2008)

Got my GS-5 yesterday. Thing looks great, and basically seems to work pretty well. Heated up quick, kept pressure, water pump worked fine. But the thing seems to have no power. It could barely pull itself and tender, I did not try with any cars.

This is my first big Accucraft. I only have a B&O dockside from them, which works great. Does it just need tons of running in, or are other modifications going to be required? 

Pretty sure the dockside could pull it and 10 cars.

-Adam


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## scottemcdonald (Jan 11, 2008)

Adam, 

Check to make sure both burners are firing. My GS4 has a habit of one burner going out during the run and is my first sign that I'm not firing in both tubes. I also crank the fuel up to ensure a good strong fire to keep the huge 1 litre boiler going. I can't be thrifty by trying to fire it at minimum, I have to crank mine up and get the burners roaring! 

Scott


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By csinc on 10 Aug 2011 08:58 AM 
Got my GS-5 yesterday. Thing looks great, and basically seems to work pretty well. Heated up quick, kept pressure, water pump worked fine. But the thing seems to have no power. It could barely pull itself and tender, I did not try with any cars.

This is my first big Accucraft. I only have a B&O dockside from them, which works great. Does it just need tons of running in, or are other modifications going to be required? 

Pretty sure the dockside could pull it and 10 cars.

-Adam 



Adam, could be a host of things or something simple, might try calling Cliff at Accucraft:

[*]Blockage in steam line[*]Blow by[*]Superheater tube[*]Timing[*]Steam pickup line[*]Throttle[*]running gear bind
[/list]


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## csinc (Jun 8, 2008)

Pressure is fine, so probably not the burners. Guess I will call Accucraft. Would be nice if they tested these a bit before they went out the door. Looking in the archives it seems a lot of people have issues out of the box.


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## jfrank (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By csinc on 10 Aug 2011 09:40 AM 
Pressure is fine, so probably not the burners. Guess I will call Accucraft. Would be nice if they tested these a bit before they went out the door. Looking in the archives it seems a lot of people have issues out of the box. If the engine does not run right the best thing you can do is return it to Accucraft. I have found they have the best service of anyone. Cliff will either have it fixed or send you a new one. Supposedly they test these before they leave the factory in China...........but who really knows. Returning it does at least two good things. It alerts Accucraft that they have a problem and it gets you a good engine.


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Posted By jfrank on 10 Aug 2011 12:34 PM 
It alerts Accucraft that they have a problem and it gets you a good engine. 

Oh dear!
Accucraft needs to get better.
A local fellow to me is on his third Royal Hudson, and it still isn't that good, so exchange doesn't always mean that you will get a 'good' engine!
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## csinc (Jun 8, 2008)

Called Cliff and he is going to have me try a few simple things first and then we will take it from there. Some more testing a the factory would be nice though in the future.

-Adam


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Adam
We just received one, we'll let you know if there is any thing we discover that might help.


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## csinc (Jun 8, 2008)

Guys,

I feel like a moron, but I figured out my locomotives problem. Cliff suggested I make sure everything was hooked up OK with the axle pump. So I turned the locomotive over to check it out and discovered black foam between the top of the trucks on the trailing trucks and tender used to protect during shipping. I never saw them as the blended in when I unpacked. I removed them and now everything is OK. All the drag from the foam was slowing the loco down.


Maybe the mods can just delete this thread, as it really serves no purpose and won't help people in the future looking for information on this locomotive (other than to check all packaging).

-Adam


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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

No, it should be left up so that others won't be stuck in the same predicament with other new locos Accucraft is currently shipping out. Don't beat yourself up over it. Anybody could have made that mistake. Glad you don't have to do any shipping to fix the problem.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Your public honesty does you credit Adam. I'm sure Cliff appreciates it - as do we.


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## jfrank (Jan 2, 2008)

LOL, everyone does something like that from time to time. Glad Cliff could help you out. It does pay to call.


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## privero (Jan 18, 2008)

Adam, can you post some photos of that beautifull engine? Is it different than the GS-4? 

Thank you , Patricio


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Adam, 
So, glad that it was a 'non' problem. 
I take back what I said about Accucraft needing to improve! 
All the best, 
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## livesteam53 (Jan 4, 2008)

I have and have seen a few others leaving the foam under the wheels and wondering whats wrong. 
So here I am not the only one who has done it. 
We all get in a hurry to get it up and running and don't check to see that we left the foam tucked under the wheels.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I'm laughing only because as I was unpacking my EBT #12 this morning, I kept coming across more and more pieces of black foam tucked here and there, wondering if I _really_ got them all. 

Later, 

K


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## Andre Anderson (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By privero on 10 Aug 2011 08:55 PM 
Adam, can you post some photos of that beautifull engine? Is it different than the GS-4? 

Thank you , Patricio 
Greetings,

The GS-5's were built from GS-4's, in fact they started as the last two GS-4's and the only real difference between the two classes is that the GS-4's had plain bearings and the GS-5's had roller bearings. The 4458 used Timken and the 4459 use SKF. There were several visual differences between the two classes, first all of the main rods had rounder ends to handle the roller bearings at that location, the side rods also had rounder hubs where the side rod pins connected to the drivers, the trailing truck and the tender trucks had round bearing covers with either Timken or SKF on the cover depending on which company manufactured the bearings, and finally at the center of the drivers the center of the GS-4's had a white star to signify that they had plain bearings while the GS-5's had a set of dots in a circle to signify that they had roller bearings.


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## Tom Burns (May 11, 2008)

Adam,

At least Cliff was polite and did not ask “Are you sure you removed all the packing before you tried to run it?” I can only imagine the entertaining calls Cliff must get. I think this is a far more common problem than people are willing to admit as it happened to me. The unnoticed foam packing did not cause a power issue in my case but it took a while for me to figure out why the darn tender would not stay on the track.

Andre – I am glad somebody finally explained the difference between the GS-4 and GS-5 as they look identical to me. At least now I know how to tell the difference.

Tom Burns


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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

In all my interactions with Cliff over the phone and via emails during my decision on what engine to get, Accucraft is lucky to have someone like him.


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## csinc (Jun 8, 2008)

I will get some pictures of it running next time I have it on the track. It is a very good looking locomotive. It does have the white dots around the drivers to indicate the roller bearings, like the poster above described so seems pretty accurately painted. 

It runs for a long time and steams up really quick which I think is great. Speed is easily controllable as well. 

Cliff was very helpful, and is a great asset as mentioned above. 


-Adam


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## privero (Jan 18, 2008)

Hi All:

So is it worth it on this new engine to have it improve, by let say Gordon Watson levers or TRX or it comes so different than the previous model the GS-4 that it is really not necesary.

Regards,

Patricio


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