Does anyone have any info about this model? Bachmann confirmed it will be released "in the fall". It is at Walthers under advanced reservation as well. Click on Advanced Search, choose N , click on "Show me only Advanced Reservation Items" and fill the MFG as Bachmann than do the search. It will show up. "Steam Powered 4-8-4 Northern w/Vanderbilt Tender -- GN "
Dude - Could you possibly be confusing this with the BACHMANN/SPECTRUM. 2-8-0??? That's the only SPECTRUM steam engine that has been announced so far. There will be a variation of the standard 4-8-4 released this fall with a Vanderbilt tender but it is going to have the same piece of @#*! 4-8-4 mechanism that they've been producing for years. Only the tender is new and to tell you the truth we don't think it's going to be "new-new". We think they are simply going to marry their existing Vanderbilt tender to the 4-8-4 engine. No big deal. This is NOT going to be part of the SPECTRUM line, it's only going to be a "White Box" release (as many of us dealers refer to it). Maybe Walthers listed it wrong. That certainly wouldn't be the first time that happened.
Oh I have one of the 4-8-4 engines, and it ran horrible, like the 2-6-2 prarie I also have. I logged about 4-5 hours of taking apart and re-assembling the 4-8-4 to get it to run properly. Now it runs fairly well, but not nearly as well as my Kato C57 2007-1 steamer (smoke deflector, white stripe). Runs as well as a diesel
Bachmann website lists this Spectrum 4-8-4 locomotive as an HO scale J class model not an N scale one. Also the site now shows the N scale 2-8-0 as well as F7 A&B units due in December. Both supposedly will be all new. We shall see.
I asked on their bullitin board a few weeks ago and "the bachmann" told me that in N scale a new 4-8-4 will be released in N scale, so I am not confused about the scale. But since it will use the same chassis it isn't a "new" item and probably wont be listed on the site.
