My excitement of receiving my third replacement BNSF ES44AC from Lionel quickly changed to disappointment and disgust.  Upon opening the box, I could tell by the packaging that it had been previously opened by someone else, just like the last defective replacement they sent me.  In both cases, the packs of silica gel were wedged in so the loco shifted in shipping and ripped the small packets open allowing little silica beads to be all over the inside of the foam and box.  Also, all 3 locomotives had broken steps on the pilots needing glued back on.  I know how to carefully open and handle these by now, and I am very cautious to see how they come “out of the box”.  They can’t even be packaged and shipped without damage.

In any case, everything seemed to work and I thought this saga was finally over.  Then, as I started playing with the idle and power save sounds and volume, I realized this banshee squeal through the sound system and speaker that I’ve only heard before on a Radio Shack 100-in-1 Electronic Kit Project.

I’m done with this nonsense.  A bad Lionel Genset Switcher and (3) bad Lionel ES44AC Hybrids in a row is more than enough for me to see there are major problems here.  Each of the problem locos has had a list of 5 or more things wrong with it, except this last one which only really had 3 problems.  I’ve tried to be patient, but for now I need to see what can be done to remedy this situation…hopefully in the form of a refund.