On ebay australia there are some locos whitch are of the bachmann plus line. i have never heard of these before, and would like to know, are they any good, are they some peculair line that was only marketed in australia, are they relaible, etc. Has anyone ever heard of these before, are they still in production, etc. Iknow that if anyone knows about these it would be people on the forum.
have a nice day
Alexander13
The Plus line was thier intermediate line, between Spectrum and thier Standard line. All of the models that were in thier Plus line (and some former Spectrum models too) have been either de-moted to the Standard line, upgraded to Spectrum, or dropped for now. The Plus line generally had Spectrum quality chassis.
The EMD F7 model was quite good, not as good as Stewart, but much better than Athearn.
Do not purchase Bachmann Diesels if you wi***o actually run them.
Every model they make is also available from a better manufacturer so do not be fooled by the low prices.
The Plus F7 was a fine unit - the drive system wouldn’t embarrass a Genesis or Stewart loco when it’s in good order, it has a very well-balanced motor with twin flywheels and drive/pickup on all wheels so there’s no hesitation and the mechanism is very smooth. Mine (picked up 2nd hand) will run on for 2ft or so if you turn the power off at full throttle. Body detailing is a little sparse but it’d be easy enough to add handrails, lift rings, etc should you want to. In short, well worth a look.
There all union pacific, 2 F7A’s, 1 F7B and 1 B23-7. I don’t care about detail, just more parts to accidently get ripped and broken off. What is the quality of the motor and all of the other stuff that “makes it go”?
The motor is a very well balanced 5-pole skewed armature can motor, usually with dual flywheels. It’s the same motor that you’ll find in their highest quality Spectrum engines. The drive systems have quiet nylon gears, and if the mechanisms are well maintained, they’ll run as smooth and quiet as a Kato diesel.[:D]
I’ve never seen the Fs, but had a chance to run a Bachmann Plus B23-7 once. The detailing was sparse, but it was quiet and could out-pull my Athearn Blue Box FP45 and my Rivarossi 4-8-4 on a 3% grade!!! Great locomotive for the money, IMHO.
I recently aquired 1 F7A and 2 F7B Bachmann Plus locomotives. They are nicely weighted and run very quiet.
If they’re in good condition, buy them. Assuming all three are powered the ABA will pull almost anything. I can’t comment on the B23-7 as I don’t own one but the Fs are well worth it.
I have a small fleet of Bachmann Plus F7s. They run well, pull hard, but as stated the detailing is sparse. Well worth the 20 to 30 bucks I paid for them.
Nick
It seems that every time the name Bachmann appears in a post, someone chimes in with a lot of derogatory comments about how horrible anything made by Bachmann is and no one should even consider purchasing it.
I own many Bachmann Spectrum engines in both HO and G scale, and have never had a bad one. I also have a good-sized fleet of Bachmann Silver series rolling stock and it is also very good.
Several members of our local HO scale club have Bachmann Plus diesel engines and they all run very quietly and have better pulling power than many other brands, so go for it. How well these locomotives run is going to depend on how old they are and whether or not they have been abused, so I would read the e-Bay fine print very carefully.
People who denigrate Bachmann products apparently haven’t had any recent experience with them. Bachmann used to be the lowest quality on the market, but they have changed drastically over the past couple of years in order to survive.
I have tried them and make these claims. I bet nobody in your club has a C40-8??
If they do, and you say it runs better than Atlas, I want to see that trial??
Buyer beware[8][:0][:(!]
hop
True, no one owns a Bachmann C40-8 and I own only Bachmann Spectrum steam engines –
But I have 3 Atlas U33C models that have never ran well, even when new and after changing to NWSL wheels, because their motors are no good. On the other hand, I own the Atlas 9/11 Commorative locomotive and caboose set and they are very smooth runners with very good detail – but even Atlas strikes out sometimes. Every manufacturer has lemons now and then.
The early Atlas U-33 and 36s were Atlas’s first China venture. They wern’t too bad but did have their share of problems. My 2 u-36s will not run well with anything else- they barely run decent together. All the newest releases from Atlas (which I have well over a dozen) run exceptionally well and are some of the best plastic available.
I have never had any luck with any Bachman diesel- Plus or Specrtum, even a good running one out of the box would develop some problem in a short time. I have worked on many Plus F-7, trying to work the bugs out of them. Besides the half decent can motor and so-so chassis the rest of the drive trucks especially are terrible. The so called truck/ sidframe gear cover is the worst I have ever seen not even counting on the total lack of detail they call sideframes. The gearcases always seem to be filled with white gunk- I assume is suposed to be grease. All the excess needs to be removed and Labell 106 run instead. Of all the Bachman engines (diesel) that I know of from the various 50+ members in my club seem to have about a 50/50 shot of getting a good one that will continue to run decent. Their quality seems to be all over the place. I have just given up on their diesel. I must say this in no way reflects on Bachman “steam” all of the steam in the club and the few I have are excellent runners with only a couple of minor troubles usually found to be simple fixes.
I guess I can be added to the list of people making derogatory c
Now and then?
GP35, SD40-2, C40-8, GP30, F40PH, SD45. That is 6 for 6 in the J class.
All of these are available from at least one other manufacturer with a much, much, better product so why on earth would anyone spend a penny on these?
Never tried any of the Bachmann diesels–I run only steam (except for my Pioneer Zephyr), but the 3 Bachmann Spectrum steamers I have are quite smooth and trouble free. They’re also quite nicely detailed. However I DO remember having an early Bachmann 2-8-0 that sounded like a cement mixer and could barely pull its tender, so in comparision, I’d say that the company has improved considerably over the years.
I was looking at an FT-set of Bachmann Plus diesels a couple of weeks ago at my LHS, but the paint scheme was all wrong for my RR (Rio Grande silver and gold, instead of the original FT Rio Grande black and yellow), and the detailing looked a little crude, so I passed.
However, their Spectrum Steam line seems to have garnered a good reputation. As I said, I have no problems with mine.
Tom
I have a Bachmann Spectrum C&NW GE Dash8-40CW, and I have had absolutely NO problems with it. I have never had any problems with any of their newer Plus and Spectrum stuff. I have a Spectrum PRR K4 Pacific 4-6-2, Pluss F7A, 2 Plus F7Bs, and the Spectrum Dash 8-40CW.
Their cheap 0-6-0 switchers with smoke on the other hand run rough.
First people stop ripping on Bachmann cause you probably had a problem and you didnt get it fixed stop whinning. I own a GP35 by Bachmann Plus I detailed it out to look like a Milwaukee Road engine. Runs smooth, and has no problems at all On my first layout I had a 3% grade and pulled a dummy SD40-2 I had and about 5 cars without any slipoing… I also own their Spectrum Shay not one problem there either
I have had no problems with my Plus and spectrum models. They all run top notch. The older Bachmann line that had the pancake motor in thruck assembly left much to be disired. But the Plus & Spectrum line are good runners.
I always get a kick out of people who use the word “JUNK” on certain models and manufactures. Bet they buy all the loco’s out of the bargin bin at swap meets and train shows.