I notice most everyody here seems to model in either HO or N scale (the two most popular scales). I myself model HO, but my wife has been bugging me for the last couple of years about getting a big train for under the Christmas Tree. (god I love that girl!! [:D] ) So the other day I’m in my LHS’s and see three Bachman Big Hauler sets and started thinking… one of those would look great under a Christmas tree! Not to mention give me an excuse to get started on my dream ‘around the walls, through the house up on a shelf’ layout in G scale.
So my question is, does anybody have any experience (good or bad) with these sets as starter sets into G scale? I’m not looking for anything super pricey or display quality. Just looking for a classic big "toy train’ that eventually I could have running around my livingroom ceiling (well the walls anyway).
I have a battery-operated large-scale train but haven’t done too much with it yet. However, strike while the moment is ripe! Your wife sounds a lot like mine regarding trains. She got hooked on the Christmas Village thing which resulted in a nice 4 x 8 Lionel/Marx layout in one end of the livingroom for most of the winter months. Then a buddy came to visit who also has a wife with a similat bent. Her comments were - “If you move the layout to this wall next year, you can extend it across here and ----------------”. And my wife’s eyes glaze over and she says “Yah, Uhuh, cool, ---------!” We were truely blessed to hook up with women like these!
I’d be wary - I’ve seen a couple of battery powered “Christmas” large scale sets that were terrible - they could barely move and looked very cheap (they weren’t, but they looked it!). A good thing to check would be whether the set comes with metal or plastic rails? If they’re plastic it would be better to go for something like the Aristocraft sets (you get a decent loco, two items of rolling stock, a wireless throttle and the usual loop of track). They’re a little more expensive but will survive many years of use, and you will be able to add more track and stock to the layout later on. Hope this is of help!
I don’t have any personal experience with these, but I think the Big Hauler units are closer to the Spectrum line in HO than the standard G scale that Bachmann puts out. I think there’s another post about G scale: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=43808
Put your questions over on the Garden Railways Magazine forum and you’ll be more likely to get accurate answers.
Bachmann Big Haulers have been a mixed bag over the years. A friend of mine has one of them that he bought at Christmastime a few years ago, that has a stripped gear in the drive.
I found a document somewhere on the Internet about the history of Big Haulers and how to recognize the different versions that have been released over the years and how to correct the different problems with them. There have been at least 4 different versions of Big Haulers as far as the drive system in them is concerned, not to mention many different locomotive types.
Bachmann will allegedly send you a free replacement for the stripped gear if you have one and can provide the part number.
I don’t have a Big Hauler, but I have a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 narrow gauge Consolidation that stripped the gear. When I contacted Bachmann, they sent me a complete axle assembly to replace it.
Complete Big Hauler train sets, including track and power pack, usually sell for less than $100 at Wal-mart and other discount stores during the Christmas shopping season, so it’s a simple matter that “you get what you pay for!” Now is a good time to start shopping, because stores will begin putting out their Christmas merchandise right after Labor Day if they haven’t already done so.
None of the Big Hauler sets I have seen are battery operated, so people who are talking about battery operated trains probably have ones sold under the brand name of New Bright, and not Bachmann.
