See their announcements here ===== http://www.bachmanntrains.com/messageboard/messages/30751.html ===== eNjoy
Hmmm.......N scale SD45s by Bachmann.....wonder how it'll look and run..... Now, before any of you start tossing flames at Bachmann, I have two HO scale 44-tonners and one HO scale 70-tonner (Spectrum line) that look and run very well. To me, Bachmann is hit-or-miss in HO scale. I can only hope it's on the "hit" side in N.
No flaming here. I own several good pieces of equipment from Bachamann including Dash-8's and their consolidation. They too are starting to make great strides in N-scale (about time) Incidentally, I owned one of the old SD-45's with the old spring drive that I believe Bachmann made. Anyone that has owned one of them puppies can appreciate just how far we have come! Russ
That's pretty good news. Considering how well recieved the Consolidation was recieved by the N scale community I believe this will be fine models. Maybe they'll even make N scale affordable again!
After what they did with the consolidation I will be in line to purchase their light mountain. Things are really looking up for Steam Power.
This could be a very interesting development. Yes, all fo the diesels are re-releases for them, so they are not stepping on anyone's toes here. As stated, the 2-8-0 was a hit, so maybe the 4-8-2 will be as well. This is gonna have to be a wait-and-see. as I already have half a dozen Dash 8s that I have worked with to get running pretty well, but the shell could be better, which is what I am hoping for.
The light mountain sounds good, I wish it was a heavy C&O prototype tho. That HO 2-6-6-2 looks promising, as they'll likely do the same in N eventually if it goes well, and I'd probably be in line for 2-3 of those to use as mine shifters.
Intermountain showed samples of their 50' single door boxcar (CB&Q and others prototype with full side sill, roofwalk/no roofwalk versions. Also drawings of the nearly completed Fruit Growers Express wood reefer (a different car than Atlas, MicroTrains, Red Caboose, ConCor, Roco, et.al). FTs coming along with factory painted shells shown. MicroTrains has a 1940's fancy paint scheme REA reefer for a show special, very sharp. At least three new car bodies are coming in the next half year. MDC was not at the show, nor ConCor. Model Power pacific was run on the NWNTRAK layout at the show; very smooth runner with impressive mechanism construction ; skewed armature motor, flywheel/worm gear ahead of motor, sharp graphics, fine wheels; good puller. Due Oct/Nov timeframe and worth waiting for. No evididence of new FP7; should be much better than trainset version based on copy of Trix F7. Praying Mantis has a bunch of new Johnny (30???) Lightning Monopoly die cast cars in close to N Scale size along with their 1/64 counterparts. New paint and details on the Classic Minatures vehicles look great; new body styles will come in early 2003. Red Caboose has two styles of centerbeams on their new cars; open and opera.
Dangit, I forgot about their HO scale Russian Decapod. Now if they came out with an N scale Russkie, I'd get one! Especially if it's a Frisco Russkie
My humble (and honest opinion)... I am very surprised at the announcement for SD45's. With Kato re-releasing the SD40's, you have to wonder if the SD45's are far behind?! Kato has made their units improved and DCC ready.... It would be interesting to see what Bachmann comes out with. Harold
All the new stuff that Bachmann has announced is supposed to be DCC ready coming with or without a decoder. Russ The Hoffman Valley RR
A Bachmann SD45. Now that sounds interesting. I wonder what kind of improvements they are making to the dash 8's? Is it just to be DCC ready or will there be more?
Just out of curiosity, why would SD40's signal the re-release of the SD45's? Kato has so many models they're just sitting on that they haven't re-released for years, GP38-2, GP50, U30C, C30-7, etc. To me, those would seem more needed that SD45's...
The Model Power representative (name escapes me at the moment) at the show on Saturday was very talkative about the new USRA Pacific. They are planning to do versions with Vandy tenders and also new cab tooling for a Canadian version. Should be interesting. He also started asking what we wanted to see done next, so hopefully this won't be the only good steam engine to come from MP in the near future. As for the Pacific they had on display, the mechanism looks very impressive. They were able to stuff a nice *big* flyweel into the boiler. It looked to be only a 3 pole motor in the one they had torn apart in the booth, but that didn't seem to be a detriment. The one running on NW N-trak layout was really smooth, so the flywheel must be helping it out.
hey bnsf fan the bachmann unit is to be an all new unit. new shell casting and the whole works. the rep said the frame will be made in chine , hmmm sound familiar, and will be dcc ready. he said everyone will be pleasently surprised when these come out, his words were this ain't the same ole bachmann!
Points of clarification on this thread... Bachmann has never made an SD45. Besides the Kato model, Atlas released a Mehano (Yugoslavia at the time, now Slovenia) with a single truck drive. LifeLike, Model Power and AHM have also imported this locomotive. Later, ConCor revised it to a double truck drive and also used the shell on their own metal frame mechanism. The Bachmann model will be completely new tooling and it sounds like it will use die cast metal for the frames, trucks and sill. The Dash8-40C and Dash 8-40CW will also be brand new from the ground up. The Light Mountain will be the next steam engine. Perhaps the Heavy will follow; one can only hope. More steam is on the way; it just wasn't announced at the show. There is some confusion about the status of the Athearn F59PHI; I saw a removeable circuit board almost identical to the Intermountain FT which can be swapped for a DCC Decoder (similar to the E-R Sharknoses) and remember talking to AJ at Digitrax who I thought said he had a decoder ready for the Athearn engine.... but somebody posted that they got an email from Athearn saying that the F59PHI is not DCC Friendly.... I think they are confusing "Ready - Comes with a Decoder" with "Friendly - Easy to drop in a Decoder with no soldering or modifications". I did not look under the hood at the MT FT to see what the DCC provisions were, and neglected to ask them about the side number panel on the Santa Fe and other shells. They had a Santa Fe Catwisker unit on display but I did not observe if it had side numberboards. They have stated they are doing multiple shells for accuracy so would be very surprised to find that they are not including an important variation that their competitiors are doing. Charlie
I sure hope the Athearn's are DCC ready in N scale. In this day and age, it is just plain dumb not to. But I will hold my breath and hope.
With the current trend towards DCC I can't imagine that a company entering the N arena with all the product offering that Athearn will have would tool up any locomotives without making room for DCC capabilities. They would be cutting out too much of the market share in an already small industry.
The Intermountain ATSF FT's will have the correct side number windows but if the ATSF version that we have all seen from MT is the version that is released, then it does not. For a ATSF modeler, leaving this detail off the model would be a deal breaker.
My guess is that you are seeing stand-in models on the wrong shell..... there are too many roads that had the funny windows to ignore that as a body shell variation. Charlie
