Instead of posting many different topics about Bachman products, put all your reviews,complaints,likes, etc here.
This will hopefully reduce the number of threads pertaining to the same thing.
EZ Track is a trap.
If you’re looking to save a few bucks, their rolling stock is okay, but their locos are usually junk - at least the older ones were. The Spectrum locos are okay - most of the time. As for their automobiles, people and so forth. Don’t waste your money if you have a choice - at least in N scale. I bought a set of their automobiles a number of years ago and ended up using most of them in an auto graveyard because they looked so lousy…
Tracklayer
How so? I have never used anything but Atlas track so I am just wondering.
Thanks,
Jim
IT snaps together and it is easy. You buy the turnouts and they take a lot of work and filing to get them right. Then you add structure and the track is too high so you have to raise the sourounding area. I haven’t run trains in weeks because of the work I’ve been doing to make the track look right.
It’s EZ at first, then as you progress it keeps getting harder and harder.
i have a bachmann b30-7 i got one week before christmas. i runs great by itself but i stick anything in front or behind it. It derails every 4-6 inches.
I was a confirmed anti Bachmann person based on some awful cheap rolling stock I picked up early in my return to MRR (I did not know any better then!) After 4 years I finally purchased an HO Spectrum Shay and it runs like a jewel. I installed the Soundtraxx specific decoder and it makes for a very enjoyable model.
I have a spectrum 2-8-0 and it’s been nothing but junk. the wires to the tender have been broken since it came out of the box. Had them fixed twice. Still doesn’t do anything sparks shoot out from under then tender and the power-pack overloads. Maybe it runs good, i don’t know, detail is very good on it. What I would avoid is regular bachmann, we had a crowd of people once who thought those $30 DCC GP40’s were high quality. I just don’t understand how a $30 bachmann loco is as good as Athearn.
disclaimer the post is not intended to offend anyone and those who are offended shoud sue the stUPid railroad
If you are seeing sparks and the powerpack is overloading, you have a dead short in the tender somewhere. Wires are touching that should not? Wheel sets are reversed? Something that should be very correctable is in the wrong place. A bit of troubleshooting with an ohm meter should allow you to find and resolve this one. If you can see where the sparks are coming from, that is the first place to investigate.
Might be an idea to start such a thread as this by correctly spelling the firm - its Bachmann - two "n"s at the end. Anyone wanting to search for this thread in the future would not find it if they spelled the name properly.
Bob Boudreau
Their new “Silver Series” cars are actually pretty good value - you get metal wheels and reasonable weight along with good paintwork, all you need to do is fit Kadees (may need to alter the coupler boxes but that’s not difficult) and weather to taste.
I love all their Spectrum steamers, in N, HO and On30. Their HO heavyweight passenger cars aren’t bad either. Their non-Spectrum line of engines and cars, and their Spectrum diesels, are pretty much worthless.
Bachmann’s F40s are great. I have a pair, and the only thing that’s wrong with them, is that the grab irons were flat against the carbody. All I had to do was use an xacto knife to gently pry them out further. These units even have the little strobes on the roof!
Bachmann’s train-set F units are great for repowering old Tyco Baldwin RF16s–simply file down the mounting lugs and the F unit drive slides right in. However, you have to build up pads to mount couplers on the shells though.
Some Bachmann stuff is garbage though. Take a look at the cars included with their autoracks and you’ll see what I mean 
i know it’s shorting out, but i think it’s those stupid wires going to the tender, i’ll let bachmann “repair or replace it at their option”- this thing has never run since it was new.
Try the Bachmann G scale equipment, it’s getting great reviews by all concerned. Rugged, reliable and reasonably priced. The Shay is something to behold in G scale!
The B’mann track is crap for outdoor use, it is made of stamped steel and will rust away in nothing flat. It still has use for indoor display and test track however. Most G scalers throw it away and buy Aristo-craft or LGB track.
I’ve have quite a bit of B’mann G scale equipment and I’ve put it through the rain, sleet and snow and baking sun. It has yet to give me any problems.
I understand the HO offerings are not the best in the world, and I don’t own a lot of it. I have one B’mann loco, DCC equipped and it’s serving me very well. Most of my HO rolling stock is Athearn.
Who ever “fixed” this did something very wrong. I hope they did not charge you. Shooting sparks and circuit breaking shorts are not good. Sounds like your wires or wheels are crossed.
Jim
took it to the LHS, they take stuff to a local person to have it fixed, charged me $5 the first time and after that i contacted the repair-guy directly and took it to him, another $5 -he said he even test-ran it so that’s $10 in this plus the $20 when it goes to bachmann and a few bucks to ship it to bachmann.
Aside from their EZ track I have a few of their engines.
I have a 2-8-0 and Sahy both with Soundtrax and I love them both.
My 4-4-0 will out pull all my small steamers, but won’'t make it over an EZ track turnout without stalling and it needs a pu***o get going.
I had a 4-8-4 Plus that worked pretty well, but I was told it was harder to convert to DCC than it was worth. I gave it away. Now that I understand DCC instalations a little better, I figure I should have hung on to it.
I have a 2-6-2 Plus that runs okay, and I will eventually give it a chance to join the Northwestern Pacific fleet when I start running them-say 3 years from now. I also have a Spectrum GP-35 that runs okay, but its undecroated and I haven’t installed a DCC so it sits.
My Bachmann 2-8-0 has run smoothly since I purchased it over 4 years ago. The detail on the locomotive is very good but some detail on the tender is oversized or not there at all. I also have the Bachmann mountain (4-8-2). It runs fine on the club layout but for some reason the pilot truck shorts out on my atlas switches on my home layout. I also have experience with a few of their diesels. The most recent SD45 (spectrum) is adequate as well as the GP30 and GP35. The GP50 shell looks like a toy but runs OK.
That’s my Bachmann experience.
Bob DeWoody
I think Bachmann’s alleged problem (at least for HO scale) is that they are not investing in their engineering and research & development department. Compared to Proto 2000, Atlas, Kato and so forth, Bachmann is way behind them and doesn’t seem to be interested in improving themselves. Look at Life Like. Both Bachmann and Life Like made very similar, cheap looking, cheap running equipment 20 years ago. Since then, LL came out with the Proto 2000 line which make very well engineered and detailed products. In that same span, Bachmann introduced the Spectrum line but the quality and detail of this line has never come close to that of P2K. So to me, Bachmann doesn’t care about R&D.