Hi All, I received the new Bachmann Thomas last week. After checking it out I decided to share a few photos and comments. Here is a comparison with the Bachmann release on the left and the older Tomix on the right. Same perspective with the coaches. If you want to use these in a railway park tourist attraction, the newer versions do blend in better with your prototypical stuff. I always thought this was a way to have a little Island of Sodor on the layout without going too far down the fantasy trail. Biggest issue for me was running quality. The Tomix needed to be kept at 50% throttle on DCC to run smoothly. Otherwise the mechanism was erratic. I joked that was "prototypical" for Thomas. Seems he was always hustling on the TV shows. At regular intervals I needed to re-quarter the drivers due to slippage in the mechanism. Happily the new Bachmann model is much smoother. Only the front drivers are geared, with the other pairs driven by the side rods. Pickup is better than I expected with six wheels and a short wheelbase. I ran it below 10% throttle for extended runs and it did not stop once on my Kato-turnout-equipped test track. It did not always start so I think clean track, clean wheels and good break-in are in order. Aren't they always? Since I hope to use Thomas at shows, especially holiday shows, (if we get to have those again) a decoder was essential. I found a TCS Z2 fit without modifying frame or shell. Remove 4 screws from the bottom and gently slide the shell off. Unsolder the wires from the PC board atop the frame and remove the PC board. I soldered the motor wires directly to the decoder and spliced the rail wires. Removed the lighting wires completely. Kapton under the decoder for insulation and over the top to hold it in place. Then... ...gently dressed the wires to fit in the cab area. Be careful with the screws holding the shell in place. They are the self-threading variety and the long tubes they thread into are relatively thin-walled. Mine were cracked the first time I removed the shell. Still held tight when re-installed, but be forewarned. BTW, I used a TCS Z2 because it was the smallest decoder I had on hand. Please post a reply if you successfully install other decoders. Last shot on the test track. This time the Tomix on the left and the Bachmann on the right. I removed the Rapido coupler from the front. The factory couplers are a two-piece design that I have never seen before. I do not have any kind of replacement that will fit Thomas, Annie or Clarabel. Anyway, I didn't like how it looked and I am not planning to do any switching. In short, I am pleased with the new guy. My intended use is to let Thomas pull Annie and Clarabel around endlessly during holiday open houses. The old trio were a huge hit in the past. The new trio are much smoother, will run at much lower speeds and I expect will require less maintenance. As I mentioned, if you put in a different decoder please share the info. I would also like to know if anyone has tested Percy. Finally, I always thought it would be fun to put a sound decoder in one of the coaches and download phrases to coincide with the function keys so Thomas could say "Hello" and speak to visitors. Anybody got the know-how to make that happen? Stay safe,
Seeing the two Thomases side by side confirms the the Tomix is really HO narrow gauge which I have heard several times before. So I am glad I held off on ordering the Tomix version for the Grandkids.
I wonder how the Bachmann Thomas would handle the Kato Unitram corners? If he could run on those then I could build a more interesting layout for the kid's display.
Thanks for the info Mark. I have the Tomix version. I think there were at least two revisions, if not three, of the Tomix and I have the most recent version. Anyway, I'm surprised that the Bachmann one is that much smaller. I don't find the Tomix version to be that big but when you put the two next to each other it really shows. Do you know if Bachmann will have a Henry or James? I'm in the process of ATTEMPTING to DCC the Tomix Henry for a friend and it's near impossible. I think I'm just going to give up since I don't want to risk damaging a loco that's not mine. BTW, my Tomix version runs quite smooth and I can get it to run quite slow too. Starts off without a push. I'm not doubting you, maybe because I have the latest version of the Tomix.
I have three axle locos that navigate Kato 6 inch radius track fine. So if the distance between the wheels is 11 or 12 N scale feet where the center of the wheels contact the track it can at least handle that and certainly Kato's 7 inch and 8 inch curves.
My P42s do not handle these curves at all and they are 4 axle locos!! Good to know that some 6 axle units can.
I am not referring to movable axles but the fixed axles of a WDT or a smaller steam with 3 axles and small drivers.
Edit: OOPS! John snuck in. Your four axle P42 has the two trucks fixed in length apart from each other. Thomas is just a 3-axle "single truck" loco.
About the smallest diesel out there that will handle to Kato 6 inch and 7 inch rad track is the 44 tonner or any small diesel with two axle trucks that have the same wheelbase as the 44 tonner. My 70 tonners will not handle the 6 inch radius because of a longer wheelbase but are used as mainline engines on my kato unitrack 7 and 8 inch mains. A long while ago I researched what would run on the smallest radius track before deciding to go with a layout with a narrow gauge flavor and set up a test track using flex track. Those results where posted on this board sometime ago probably 5 or 6 years ago. If the new Bmann Thomas coaches and cars are 40 foot and under they should run fine on a tight radius and the fact that they are a single axle truck even more so.
MK, "Thanks for the info Mark. I have the Tomix version. "I think there were at least two revisions, if not three, of the Tomix and I have the most recent version." I know there are at least three Tomix versions. I have two, a very old one (I think 90's) with the gears on the outside of the frame. The newer one shown in my post has a split frame, but slightly different from that shown on the TCS installation page. I do not know if there are more versions or where mine fits in the lineage. "Do you know if Bachmann will have a Henry or James?" I don't know. "BTW, my Tomix version runs quite smooth and I can get it to run quite slow too. Starts off without a push. I'm not doubting you, maybe because I have the latest version of the Tomix." Again referring to the TCS installation page, the installer (Michael Mahwah) noted that his version ran very smoothly if he got it set up properly. I followed his suggestions, but could never get mine quite right. As I noted it was a different version from mine, but I would happily entertain the idea that it was all these thumbs I am working with Stay safe,
I'd been holding off on getting a Thomas specifically because I didn't know if I could get DCC in there. Looks like I can, so I may need to start looking. I also may need to get a better soldering iron, or smaller tips for mine. As far as the Tomix being bigger, I believe Tomix is a Japanese company. N scale in Japan tends to be 1:150 instead of 1:160 to line up with Japan mostly having 3'-6" gauge track (Shinkansen models tend to be 1:160). So that may also be a factor.
The size difference is interesting. I was thinking about getting the Bachmann James to go with my Tomix Thomas but it looks like that would be a bit of a mismatch. Don't know which version I have but knock on wood no issues with running or slow speed. It's still DC though.
1/150 is not that much out in difference with 1/160 because I have a number of 1/150 scale in the harbor area mixed with 1/160. Based on the size difference that is why I contend that the Tomix version is HO narrow gauge. A size comparison between a small HO scale O-6-0 and the Tomix 0-6-0 would show that. And I have seen the Tomix version advertised as Hon30.
There's going to be a Bachmann James in N? (Man, I hope so!!!!) I don't see it on their list. You got inside info?
Well, my mind is really going. I meant to say Percy. and didn't mean to get anyone's hopes up unintentionally. I will say that in watching one of the many live sessions hosted by Train World, The guy from Bachmann did make it should like there would be more to come in N scale Thomas world.
