I'll say this. I was in N for many many years. I'll never go back. For me, anyway, it's just too small when it comes to repairs; couplers, wiring, too thick/wide tires, tiniest screws. N is fine when it's running and certainly better than HO, train length-wise. As N HAS improved by leaps and bounds over the years, it makes me think, as long as the unit you buy IS of a much newer or newest run, I'd say buy it. Bachmann is very good now. I have the HO 'modernized 4-4-0' and it's sweet mechanically, electronically, sound-wise, and esthetically and is all metal. The tender is plastic (which is good as it's less weight to pull) The tender wheels are all metal and carry current as well as drivers. I also have the updated version of the 4-6-0 ten wheeler or 'Casey Jones' and ditto on quality (the headlight used to be anemic and now could burn out your retina !). I'd imagine the N versions must be the same high quality..Hope it works out the same for you..M.
Randy sent me a pine number for Atlas and I was able to talk to a guy and they'll repair it, So tomorrow I'm shipping it to them.
This was more than ten years before the Atlas eight wheeler appeared. It was a Bachpersonn locomotive, allright. I talked to the Disney guys. I asked them if it were a Bachmann and they confirmed that it was and that they had re-worked it heavily. This was even before the last runs of the cardboard box or the first of the plastic box versions of the B-mann eight wheeler. Those were the acceptable and pretty good versions, respectively.
Yes, it was a Bachman all right. I tried to talk to them about it. Didn't get anywhere, now I have an Atlas, broken down, sent to Atlas. Have learned my lesson, no more 4-4-0's.
The bigger scales, like HO are very nice. My wife won't let me have a layout in her stinking house. I have an 8x8 shed in the back yard, and I have a 2x6 work bench. So I have room for a 2x4 foot layout. So I have a layout that size on my work bench. That means N scale. I have no choice. So that's where I'm at.
If you want a nineteenth century pike and you are having problems with the eight wheelers, be aware that Athearn has a 2-8-0 and a 2-6-0. These are based on 1880s prototypes. For a long time, these were the best running N scale steam locomotives out-of-the-box. They are simple locomotives; so simple that I have bought some basket cases at shows for five or ten dollars and restored them to running condition with little effort or time. There is no current production available, but Athearn has announced a new run of the passenger cars and the 2-8-0. The Athearns are copies of the old MDC designs. The 2-8-0 is very low drivered and has both middle driver pairs blinded, which allows it to run on sharp curves. The 2-6-0 is simply the 2-8-0 with the wheels re-arranged. The middle driver pair is blind on the mogul. The Athearns do have a few minor improvements, such as decent knuckle couplers on front and back as well as using the better construction method on the tender that MDC implemented when it brought out the 2-6-0. Many vendors and dealers have both the Athearn and MDC as NOS. You can buy either one; one runs as well as the other. You will have to upgrade the couplers on the MDCs,, but that is not a difficult task. Do not use the MDC knuckle couplers; they do not like to couple and if you manage to get them to couple, they come uncoupled quickly. Look on line at the sites of the various reputable e-Tailers. Oddly enough, I find better prices at certain e-Tailers than I do on FeePay or Amazon for these things. The Athearn/MDCs run well and pull acceptably, given their small size. You can even "Modernise" the 2-6-0 to run on a pike of just about any era where railroads were still operating steam, by adding "updated" appurtenances (such as a power reverse or a more "modern" headlight fixture) to reflect an old locomotive that was repeatedly rebuilt. The 2-6-0 has sixty three inch drivers, which makes it suited to almost any era where steam ran. The very small drivers of the 2-8-0 mark it as a nineteenth century locomotive, although removing the pilot truck and using it as an 0-8-0 would not be out of the question. In addition, some roads did have similar 2-8-0s up to the end of the Second World War. Some of those likely had been slated for the scrap yard, but, when the U.S. of A. became involved in that war, just about anything that rolled was put to work.
I double headed two of the old Bachmann 4-4-0s with a link pin style drawbar to run on my Christmas tree loops. No switches to worry about on the Unitrak so they run round and round without problems. This phone video is kind of crappy but shows how slow I run them.
Hi Randgust, would be very interested in the weights for the Bachmann as well as the setup for the front axle of the atlas - do you have a photo?
PM me with your email and I'll PayPal you an invoice - $5 for the two. On the front truck - this is what it looks like now:
Atlas called me today. They asked if I had the receipt for the movie, I said no. He said if I had it he's recommend I return it. He, (Wilson), said a bunch of parts are missing and he'd get it running and mail it back to me. He's very helpful. I told him to trash it if it was going to cost much. He didn't want to do that. Good man Wilson.
Atlas just called me, you name it, motor's burnt up, a bunch of side rods are missing and other parts are missing. I told him to trash it. I won't ever touch a 4-4-0 again. They have another engine like the one I sent in. $25.00 service, $50.00 for the locomotive. I told him to forget it. I'll never buy a used engine off eBay again. It cost me $80.00 for nothing, BEWARE guys.
First, does your ebay listing itemize or otherwise clearly show pictures of the missing/damaged parts? If all it says is "needs repair", arriving with completely missing parts can still be considered not as described. Did Atlas provide a list of the missing parts? Will they still send it back to you? I ask because I remove the stock motor anyway, replacing with a gear reduction motor. You may consider this particular unit a loss, but as they say, one mans garbage is another's treasure. You might still be able to recoup something for it. Here's a Mogul I did with a gear reduction motor.
Speaking about one man's treasure... What about getting it back from Atlas and then putting it back on eBay with the listed defects. True disclosure. Start the auction at $0.99 and see where it goes from there. You will recoup some part of that $80.
Woah, that little machine is pulling quite some load. Did you put in extra weight? And what motor is it you used? Thanks, Sven
It's the Kato 12v motor with one of the Gizmozone gear heads (I forget the ratio), wired up with a TCS Z2. This video is before I added tungsten putty to simulate a tender load.
It's a Gizmoszone GHV541V3 (5.14:1, 3V motor) They're about $9 each. The motors are the same size as a Kato 11-105 12v motor and I've put 12V motors on mine. Pairing one of those gearboxes up with a 12V motor is my favorite small + cheap gearhead for single-shaft drive applications. Their web page was all screwed up until a couple days ago, it's OK again. Same application on my scratchbuilt Lima 2-6-0 (Atlas chassis) which was also inspired by Chris Schmucks's 2-6-2 that used a Faulhaber - which is a fine motor and gearhead, just darn expensive. Torque and low speed on this combination is stellar, and it still has pretty good medium speed.
I'm a dealer and have both the Atlas and Bachman 4-4-0's when I test ran them I was impressed how all the B'man ones ran. they ran much slower and smoother then the Atlas. I did not run them long just a few laps around a T-trak loop to make sure they ran before I try to sell them rich www.rslaserkits.com
