Anyone have an opinion on these N-Scale Locomotives

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Howdy,

Has anyone tried the following engines:

Bachmann

-2-6-6-2 articulated

-4-8-4 N&W J class (new spectrum)

Model Power

-New FP-7

How well do they run, look or can be made to look, and DCC Readiness?

Thanks

Chuck

2

Sorry, I haven’t had the opportunity to run any of those, but there are a few recent discussions on the Atlas forum about the J that might interest you.

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33848

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=33998

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34360

Theres also this on the Challengers:

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=34480

3

Here is an in depth review of the FP7:

http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/mpf7.html

4

Thanks Phillip!

Believe it or not, I didn’t know anything about the Atlas board. You have opened up a new can of worms for me!

Chuck

5

Thanks Bruce.

I guess I will just keep saving for the intermountain version.

Chuck

6

I have 3 of the Bachmann 2-6-6-2’s and they are a very smooth runners, however they did not pull very well on grades so on 2 of them I machined 2 drivers on each and installed traction tires (i still have to do the 3rd one).

That made them a very good loco out of them.

I also have one of the Bachmann 4-8-4’s and it too is a good loco but is limited on traction.

I shimmed the bearing blocks to get the drivers to all contact the rail and this helped.

I installed decoders in all of the above, difficulty on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the most difficult, I rate all about a 8.

7

He’s hooked, he’s hooked, his brain is cooked!