Considering buying a Bachmann 2-8-0 Consolidation, but it’s not part of thier Spectrum line - I’ve never bought a Bachmann steamer that wasn’t a Spectrum.
Anyone have this loco? I’d appreciate your input - is it a decent runner? Smooth? Good puller? Or not so much?
Please don’t just generally bash the Bachmann non-Spectrum line, I’m well aware of the reputation, I’m asking about the Consolidation in particular.
Ed
Pretty tough to talk about the NON Spectrum line without “bashing” it, the only exception migh tbe some of the “Silver Series” freight cars.
The engine you are referring to is a “train set” engine, nuff said?
Mark
Ed,
Years ago, Bachmann had a 2-8-0 in their standard line that was a model of a Reading engine. The drive was quite poor, as was the detailing. A lot of Reading fans did rebuild them on better chassis with very nice results.
In the mid 90’s, Bachmann released their Baldwin 2-8-0 in their Spectrum line. I have 2 of these and they are great running engines. In the past year or so, that engine has been re-assigned to their standard line and offered as ‘DCC Onboard’ or ‘Sound Onboard’ - it appears to be the same Spectrum engine that was DCC Ready, now with DCC and or Sound.
Jim
The only ones any good are those I have seen rebuilt completely, don’t waste your money as you can pick up a spectrum one for pretty cheap (I got one for $36.00 out the door once).
The current Bachmann 2-8-0 is the former Spectrum unit. The Spectrum 2-8-0 is the best reviewed steam engines in its price range, and it hasn’t been changed in any way from the Spectrum days (except for the electronics). My 2-8-0 is one of my smoothest and quietest running steam engines, and it has good pulling power too. So I say go ahead and get one![:D]
One thing to keep in mind is that Bachmann’s quality control isn’t the best around, even in the Spectrum line. If you get a bad one, Bachmann will replace it.
Bachmann´s return policy is alright IF you live in the US, I had a bad one I needed to have replaced but the shipping and handling fees were more expensive than the loco itself…
Apparently you did not understand or comprehend the original posting.
If you did, you would not have responded with such an uninformed reply. There have been a lot of changes in quality in the last few years in the model railroad world.
Model Railroad News, which has a reputation for telling it like it is, regarding their reviews of model railroad equipment has recognized that Bachmann is quite able to produce quality products.
This has been discussed a lot in the Bachmann forums which are in the Bachmann site. Some of you might look at those forums once in a while. You do not have to join.
Once I picked up a two motor 44 ton fot a few dollars and a motor eventuality went bad. Sent it in and received a new single motor 44 ton, DCC ready.
The 2-8-0 is quite a popular loco. By the way, it has a three pole motor now.
Rich
The current release of the Bachmann 2-8-0 in the standard line is, as stated by Bachmann and as confirmed by a number of outside sources, the EXACT SAME LOCO recently offered in the Spectrum Line. In the standard line it is not offered with sound - but is sound decoder ready. The biggest change is the model no longer comes in a big expensive box.
As Bachmann has made great strides in both quality and features, a number of older products have been moved from the Spectrum line to Regular line with no changes in their feaures or quality.
They include the GE 44 Tonner, GE 70 tonner and the 2-8-0.
Some production runs of 2-8-0’s have skew wound 3 pole motors, some have straight wound 5 pole motors. Being an owner of both, and a total of 8 Bachmann 2-8-0’s spaning most every production change, there is no difference in the performance of the two motors.
One important tip for all owners of Bachmann 2-8-0’s and most Spectrum steamers in general - remove the noise suppression capacitor from the circuit board - doing so will greatly improve slow speed performance of the loco on DC or DCC.
While many past Bachmann regular line products did have problems and bad reputation, I would suggest to all you are selling yourself short if you prejudge their NEW offerings based on problems from 10, 20 or 30 years ago.
I have over 35 Bachmann locos, mostly Spectrum, but also regular line 2-8-4’s, 44 tonners and 70 tonners - ALL are great running and well detailed and are a great value for the money.
Bash Bachmann all you want - I have 35 of them, had to send three back over the last 8-10 years.
I have nine pieces of Broadway - two of them took major rebuilding to get working, one other came missing parts, two others needed minor mods to track well - who has a better track record by percentage?
T
And if I purchased a product from Sweden, that was aimed at a Swedish market, I would risk similar problems.
Bachmann, while owned by a company in China, is for the purposes of offering this part of their product line, an American company - and as such they provide great service to their customers here.
If the European market for North American model trains was large enough, companies like Bachmann would make suitable marketing, distribution and service arrangements - but its not, so they don’t.
Sheldon
My Spectrum 2-8-0 came stock with a Mabuchi FK-130SH. 3-pole, straight slot armature. This is one of the best 3-pole motors ever made besides the Canon DN22, in my opinion, and is known for its quiet running and high reliability.
Has Bachmann ever used a 5-pole motor in the 2-8-0?
YES
Thanks for the replies and good info. Aside from the one “bashing” post, which the author has already been scolded for, this is just the info I was hoping for - seems like this is a worthwhile model to own, despite not being branded as “Spectrum”.
And Sheldon, thanks for the reminder about Peach Creek - I should have thought of them, as I am in Maryland, and know they are big into Bachmann.
Ed
Sheldon wrote: - “f the European market for North American model trains was large enough, companies like Bachmann would make suitable marketing, distribution and service arrangements - but its not, so they don’t.” Sheldon. Bachmann UK, have a large share of the UK market. But you’re correct, they don’t serve the European market at all.
I hope you don’t think reporting the truth is just ‘bashing’. I can only tell you of my personal experience with the older SPECTRUM Bachmann 2-8-0. In the late 90’s, this loco was released with much hoopla about how ‘smoothly’ it ran. A friend bought one and had a Soundtraxx decoder installed. I was so swayed by the hoopla that I bought one too, not even questioning him about the ‘smoothness’ he experienced. BTW, the original price was $200.
I recently opened the box again, my memory being pretty cloudy. Suffice to say, it runs like a train set engine. I recall now, that my friend finally admitted his was a bit of a dog as well. Both of our engines arrived with the headlight broken off, and apparently missing a headlight fitting. I remember now too, that mine never ran very well at all.
A total sample of two. Not real good for statistical purposes. But - I know exactly what happened to both of us. I really don’t know anyone personally who bought this engine that was happy with it. Yet lots of folks online seem to love it.
I’d not spend much on it, were I you.
jrc
I hope you don’t think reporting the truth is just ‘bashing’. I can only tell you of my personal experience with the older SPECTRUM Bachmann 2-8-0. In the late 90’s, this loco was released with much hoopla about how ‘smoothly’ it ran. A friend bought one and had a Soundtraxx decoder installed. I was so swayed by the hoopla that I bought one too, not even questioning him about the ‘smoothness’ he experienced. BTW, the original price was $200.
I recently opened the box again, my memory being pretty cloudy. Suffice to say, it runs like a train set engine. I recall now, that my friend finally admitted his was a bit of a dog as well. Both of our engines arrived with the headlight broken off, and apparently missing a headlight fitting. I remember now too, that mine never ran very well at all.
A total sample of two. Not real good for statistical purposes. But - I know exactly what happened to both of us. I really don’t know anyone personally who bought this engine that was happy with it. Yet lots of folks online seem to love it. But I don’t know any of those people personally.
Frankly, I’d not spend much on it, were I you.
jrc
I don’t, and thanks for reporting your first hand experiences. But I get the impression they have improved since then. I’ll find out tomorrow, when I visit Peach Creek Shops - by the way, we’re talking about $85. with DCC, no sound. I’ll report back.
Ed
My experience with the Bachmann 2-8-0 has been positive, although as other posters have mentioned, QC can be a bit splotchy. One of them ran fine, the other one had a crankpin snap in two while I was running it in. Bachmann promptly sent out a replacement mechanism - after I swapped over the shells, they gave me no further problems.
I have seven of them - four bought new when this model was first released, and three bought used. All run beautifully and pull well, too.
I run DC, and recently removed all of the electronic circuitry, with the result that the locos run even better. Four like this are in-service…
…while the other three are torn down, awaiting rebuilding as CNR locos:
If I needed more locos to operate my layout, I wouldn’t hesitate to add more of them.
Wayne
In the short span of his thread, I count about 20 good units and three duds. If I add in those of friends who’s owership experiance I am aware of it becomes about 40 good units and 4 duds.
Duds that Bachmann willingly and cheerfully replaces, generally at no cost.
And, as a regular on the Bachmann board for many more years than on this board, I have read lots from others, more good than bad.
Yes, in the past Bachmann has sometimes struggled with a slightly higher “dud” rate than some other brands, but that does seem to be changing.
So again, bash all you want and I will continue to remind all about my poor experiances with the supposedly superior products from Broadway Limited - which in my experiances have only been more expensive and required more “rebuilding” to meet my standards.
AND, I will repeat, many of those poor performance “complaints” with the 2-8-0 about quick starts and poor slow speed, are easily fixed by simply removing the noise suppresion capacitor from the lighting board. It makes them run great.
Sheldon