It seems that some people dislike all Bachmann N scale steam locos and I would agree with this before spectrum steam came 2001? But since then I have been very happy with them. yes I have had to tweak something on a couple of them this was do to QC and not the design. I also got then at a good price. All of then run very well, they do seem to take 1 or 2 hours off running to break them in, but this does not bother me. What I have noticed since I have been following N scale discussion boards is that when someone starts a positive Bachmann thread, posts commonly show up blasting all Bachmann steam as junk. Thats fine,we are talking about a hobby ( something we Play with ) I remember on the old Atlas site that angers flared on a Bachmann Spectrum J thread between Bachmann Likers and haters where one person quite the forum or so they said, because of the back and forth argument about the Bachmann (spectrum ) J being a good engine or junk. This is for fun, it is a hobby. Being Tactful can go along to avoiding these types of problems. Just look at the posts that you can see on ford vs Chevy truck site. Just my 2 cents By the way here are my Bachmann Steam Locomotives.I think spectrum steam runs good. the 2-6-6-2 just pull the ore train up a curved 2% grade.
Folks speak from experience. Since the QC of these particular products can vary all over the map, your success with them is noted, and I am happy for you. You did have to tweak some, yet you got them for a good price, so that is another plus. If a person had to pay near full list, and had to "tweak" them, mayhaps you could understand their frustration.
But if a person had to pay "near full list" then whose fault is that? Certainly not Bachmann's. For anyone with Bachmann Spectrum steam who thinks their locomotives are junk my offer to take them off your hands still stands. Thus far, no one has taken me up on it. By the way such engines will be tweaked (if needed) and given to less fortunate children.
My regular action of any scale failed Botch stuff is to make absolutely certain it cannot harm another hobbyist, and it is carefully disassembled and destroyed. Far more effective. In fact, if I get any, and I mean any smaller scale stuff from that manufacturer in a buy, we don't even try any more. Not worth the effort. Some folks end up paying higher than you or I would....not their fault, they just haven't learned. Good thing about it is they will A) figure out how to buy things cheaper, and B) never buy Bach stuff again.
My point is if someone is on the forum talking about how much they like a certain Bachmann engine that they just got. it seems that it is somewhat common for someone to post response that it is junk or will be soon and that they will never buy Bachmann again. If some likes a new purchase and shares that on this site WHY bash it ? It is different if someone asks about the quality of said engine or what others experiences have been. If I am going to pay MSRP for any engine I would probably go to my LHS and test it first. Remember this is suppose to be fun. If we take our trains too serious we could forget the fun parts of model railroading. I have bought many non working engine on feebay and fixed them in a s little as 5 minutes. As long as we disclaim that they have a problem , nonrunning or junk we are not harming another n scaler.
Re-read my first post in this thread. I didn't bash anybody. Or any thing. But....but....newbies to the hobby, no matter what scale, need to be aware. Let's pick on LS from the same manufacturer. They have 7 distinct chassis versions of the 4-6-0, trying to get something that works, in almost if not more than 20 years. They had a nice outside framed 2-8-0, really looks good. Axle gears split. NWSL makes a Delrin replacement, BBT makes a new gearbox. $800-ish MSRP, street, oh, $225. Latest inside framed 2-8-0, MSRP 1900-ish, street 750-800, and at a meet a year ago, when asked where their new 2-8-0's were, it seems they were on the workbench, each one with a split gear. Trolleys...circuit boards burned up (after assurances these would have no problems). Latest 2-6-0, motors. I could be far more specific, but how many folks in LS were turned off by expensive locomotives quitting? One ops session here, in 20 minutes, two of the older 2-8-0's split gears on a grade, and if that wasn't fun....trains fully out of control coming backwards down the grade. People need to do research, find out what they are getting into. Electronics is another BIG bugaboo. Decoders....often OEM from some supplier, built to the imorter's specifications. Sometimes not even to nmra dcc specs. Let's take what I believe is the H0 EM-1. OEM. Talk to the outfit that made them, if you want a different manufacturer decoder, and plug it in, one of two things happens. It won't work (best scenario) or it will smoke (worst scenario). Unfortunately, in all scales, folks with new equipment are all sorts of excited..rightfully so..about the equipment. Glowing reports. Then, after a while, you start hearing of the problems. Boy, if we had those issues in the early days of H0, English, Mantua, PennLine, Varney....they hobby would have imploded. All of my old equipment still has original gears, motors, all of that. Being forewarned is being fore armed. Just a thought, and not bashing or belittling anything you have...like I said, if it works for you, I am happy for you. It isn't limited to this outfit by a long shot. It is, however, indicative of the place of manufacture for almost all brands. Unfortunate. When it started, you could buy cheap, if it quit, buy another, but to spend what you have to spend now and have the issues some have (some...not you) is doing what for the hobby? Maybe it's that there are far more units out in the field (collectively), and the percentage hasn't changed. Maybe it's that with the algore we are hearing more, and more often, with no real change in percentages of issues. And you're purchases off evilbait....why are they there? Not anything to do with manufacturer, but nowadays with folks who embrace "plug and pray" and have no idea how it all works....it quits (and it might just be dirty wheels and pickups) and they haven't a clue. I recall encouraging folks in H0 who were new to the hobby to find a steam loco kit. MDC/Roundhouse, Varney, Mantua, whatever they could find cheap, and build it. I was soundly criticized by the old hands (which most were younger than I) for even suggesting that. Well, they learn about right rail positive, loco moves forward. They learn wiring. How to set gear mesh. How to lubricate, how to make the chassis roll, how to assemble valve gear. But, no, now if it quits it goes on evilbait, and someone (like you) who has the skillset to fix it, gets it and fixes it. Interesting to watch.
Also, companies, and their products, change over time. Back in the 80's and 90's Hyundai was an embarrassment quality-wise. But now, they are beating the Japanese in quality and customer satisfaction. http://fortune.com/2015/06/29/korean-japanese-cars-quality/ Why can't the same be said for MRR manufacturers?
What I was saying. Kader bought the company in question in 1984 or so. They've had over 30 years to get it right.
It's wonderful if you have that option. None of the shops in my area, that are remotely local, will get in a loco from Bachmann unless someone requests it. If that particular sample happens not to run well, you can't just pull another one off the shelf to try and the shop has to go to the expense and effort of returning it to their supplier. So, at that point, you either give up or see if the shop will get in another one. Go through that a few times and the shop will eventually decline to accept your order. Then you're stuck buying sight unseen from an e-tailer.
I was not commenting on your post. I was specking about posts were some one is sharing some positives on a particular engine they have and I start seeing posts that say how it is a piece of junk and how they will never buy another one. It is one thing to explain why we do not like a engine and share the problems we had (like spook shows site) but to just slam a engine as junk with no explanation as to why is not benefiting any one. I have seen posts were where they were referencing the old white gear engines instead of newer spectrum. Years ago I started a thread on the Atlas forum how my spectrum J pulled every car I had and someone started saying how they were junk, others comment on how they liked the that J and it turned into a online argument. It latter became obvious the person who was bashing the J was talking about the old white gear 80s release. It is not always what we say, but how we say it.
Well....in all scales I have had to deal with, I decided long ago I would not buy a new engine from that company ever again. Year or two down the road, when they show up on evilbait or elsewhere for pennies on the dollar, if I would like to poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick....errr....try to fix it, I might pick one up. In LS, they come in the bottom of boxes of other stuff. I scrap a lot for parts. Keep other folks running. Let us reference the latest N scale steam offering, and the thread where it could not be fixed due to no parts. Let's don't even argue about what the owner may or may not have done. To have a new release, with zero parts support, is something I have seen before, and just because it has been done before, doesn't make it right. Maybe they have their stuff together this time. All we can do is wait. To give them a little credit, one locomotive (not N) by that company had a real issue...to the point the owner's manual stated 50 hours of break-in. Well, it broke before 50 hours. They came up with a fix...and their people told me on the phone, "What we design and send to China, often what comes back we do not recognize". Part of the problems facing a wholly-owned subsidiary, I would guess.
I would place my vote on Bachmann's behave. No other manufacturer has produced as many steam locos as they have. Still waiting on the shay rerun, BLI is BLI, 1 cab forward, 1 FEF and redoes on old engines. No other manufacturer comes close to their amount of options. As a side, Concor still has my vote. The Galloping Goose is an impressive engineering feat. Yes, it is not narrow gauge, but you have to admit it is impressive. Concor supplied all of us "old timers" in the 70-80's with all our stuff. Let us give credit where credit is due and get back to fun!
After thinking a bit, if I paid full price only To have a engine quit I would feel very frustrated also. It does seem strange to release a new engine and not have spare parts. I believe we face more problems because of our choice of scale. It is small. Maybe one manufacture is worse than another. Still others have issues also. One example I have two Walthers sound Y3s, run great but very little is any parts are available if the motor goes bad I will have to. 1 try and repair it 2 modify the frame for a different motor 3 buy a used engine one off feebay take the parts I need 4 retire it. I do appreciate that Bachmann seems for the most parts to stock a lot of parts and I add there tenders to most older steam and two USRA Kato mikes and Japanese micro-Ace 2-8-0 That I made into a 0-8-0.
All of my Bachmann engines have been bought 'sight unseen' from an E- tailer. All are tested immediately by me and all have been top notch. Like I said on another thread there are a lot more positives than negatives here. And what's more we have seen the same thing repeated twice before. LifeLike made some stuff that made the old Bachmann stuff look good. Same is true of Model Power. But we saw both of them turn things around. Lifelike produced some nice locomotives before being bought by that N scale black hole, aka Walthers. Model Power was panned but their hobbyist FP7 is a great engine. Now with their teaming up with MRC their sound equipped steam is also good buys. As for Bachmann, I said it before and I will repeat it again. The Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 that was released in 2001 was a better engine than the so called 'gold standard' Kato Mikado. Still is.
After reading such a wide variation in experiences with this brand of locos, it starts to sound like the parable about the blind men and the elephant.
I have tested the waters with Bachmann starting back in the 1970 with there U36B locos. They ran, made some noise, and if you were smart and kept the motor segments clean they ran for a long time. The Bachmann locos that I have purchased in the last few years run and look great. I have some real lemons with Kato, my Kato F3s and F7s sound like coffee grinders, GP38s faster than slot cars, no slow speed running on DC, Kato SD70s trucks fall off. I guess according to some I should just quit purchasing Kato.
If I have any across-the-board brickbat for B-mann steam, or any of the latest B-mann power, it would be that it is too easy to fry the "smart" decoders on D.C. As I do not use DCC, this is not that big a deal, I simply remove the fried decoder, wire around it and put the locomotive back to work. While I am aware that this topic is about Bachpersonn SPECTRUM, steam, I am going to include some of the Standard Line issues, as it appears that Bachmann has upgraded that. B&O EM-1 2-8-8-4: Excellent locomotive, superior slow speed control and running on DC, which is quite atypical of "smart" decoder equipped power. USRA 0-6-0: New and Improved! version, mind you. Once you replace the stock tender with a SPECTRUM tender, modified according to Spookshow's tutorial, this is the best steam switcher out there. While the pulling power might leave a bit to be desired, that is more a result of its small size and concommitant light weight than any design flaw. The thing creeps every bit as well as any flywheel-equipped Kato, but the B-mann does it without flywheels. My one copy, modified as described, works one of the most demanding jobs on my pike. ALCo 2-6-0: This is a very good locomotive out-of-the box. Unlike many B-manns, it did not require extensive break-in. One of mine did fry a decoder, so I made the repair and found that it runs better on DC without what is alleged to be a "smart" decoder. The slow speed control and running are excellent. It creeps every bit as well as any Kato, but, again, the B-mann does not need flywheels to creep like that. Pulling power is acceptable for so small a locomotive. Baldwin 4-6-0: A good locomotive with good pulling power. One of mine did fry a decoder. Once I did the repair, again, the slow speed control improved markedly. Like the 2-6-0, it creeps every bit as well as any Kato. Early issues did have the problem of a crankpin's flying out and the USRA standard tender is a bit much. USRA heavy 4-8-2: Another excellent locomotive. The pulling power is good, the slow speed control is good on DC, despite the presence of the so-called "smart" decoder. USRA 2-6-6-2: I was going to give this one a pass, as I was more interested in small to average sized steam, and more of that was appearing. I saw one at a show for an excellent price, so I bought it. Quickly did I learn why this vendor was dumping them. JUNQUE. I understand that B-mann did correct the problems in subsequent issues of this, but I did not buy another one. The complaints about the first runs of this one were legion. There were various fixes suggested, none of which worked consistently. The pulling power was a bit anemic for so large a locomotive. The slow speed control was good, as long as the gearing did not bind, skip, hiccup or the rods and valve gear did not fly off the thing. USRA light 4-8-2: The first runs had poor pulling power due to a flaw in either the design or manufacturing that resulted in the tyred driver's failure to contact the rails properly. They ran well enough, but could not pull much. There was a fix that involved the shimming of the bearing block on the tyred driver. This did improve the pulling power, but, in some cases. made the locomotive run poorly. Out of the six that I have, two became parts because putting the shim made them run so poorly. The others are allright. I understand that B-mann did address the pulling power problem in subsequent runs of this one. Generic 2-8-0: This was a try-before-you-buy for the first two runs. I "tried before I buyed" all of mine and wound up with one lemon out of twelve. On the lemon, the Loc-Tite broke, so the drivers would not function. These things do require EXTENSIVE break-in. All of mine are still running. The pulling power and slow speed control are excellent. Except for the one that became parts, all of mine still run and run well. B-mann did fix the problems in subsequent runs of this. This and the Kato Mikado are still the two yardsticks against which all N scale steam is measured. I may have forgotten about one or two. My chronology may be incorrect, as well. Of the eight listed here, two were very bad, the rest good to excellent. Out of the two very bad, B-mann did make the necessary adjustments. I have had no problems with the gears or anything such as that. Many years later, my 2-8-0s are still working.
The Bachmann decoder has been panned by many as too big, too primitive and/or too inadequate. Most people into DCC remove it and go with a better decoder usually with sound. That is relatively easy to do. Frying decoders is not uncommon in DCC although anymore it isn't very common either. Like all things when conditions are right then sh*t happens. Because of Bachmann steam is making a comeback in N scale. As one who favors the transitional post WWII era I applaud them.
Even thought I model Milwaukee road in southern Minnesota I have added a freelance line so I can run what I want, The DM&IR is also a favorite railroad so I finally bought a DM&IR USRA 2-10-2 at a good price it ran good (I run DC) but it had a oscillating sound (TT driver was moving around ) and low pulling power compared to reviews. I had remembered spook show review and fix for this problem and removed the TT driver which is not pinned to the rods added a tiny pieces of electrical tape to the frame slot and now runs quiet and tripled its pulling power. It was a no $ fix. The 2-6-6-2 in the 1st post video is a 1st release ,I did some work to it ,but it has run good for years now and it pulls good. Side point .. I have found that the Kato mikes have a close low speed range with the 2-6-6-2. They run good together on DC.
I understand that many of the Con-Cor locomotives that are often mentioned as excellent were made by Kato or the earlier company that is Kato. The two U-50s I purchased are examples of those sort of locomotives in my view.
