A couple of adages: “You get what you pay for”; “Buyer beware; if it looks too good to be true, it is”.
With that said, I have seen recent ads for Bachman-brand low-priced locos and rolling stock. Several items fit my current needs. Earlier (1980s) experiences with Bachmann were disappointing. Therefore, I am hesitant to purchase because I am not confident about the quality in terms of scale-accuracy and/or operation of Bachmann products. So…
Are there recent reviews and experiences with the current generation of Bachmann locos and rolling stock? Based on quality, why shouldn’t I purchase?
If you could be more specific about what you are looking at it would help us guide you. I have 2 of Bachmanns Sound Values locos that are very good runners for$95 each. At the other end I threw out a Bman 44Tonner after the gears cracked.
Even though I didn’t purchase any Bachmann products in the 1980’s-early 1990’s) I saw that the quality of these products was not as good as even the blue box Athearn products at that time, I just saw that the quality, in the box, was not that good. I looked for things like body mounted vs. truck mounted couplers, prototypically correct paint jobs, and other finer details.
In my view, that all changed with the advent of Bahmann’s Spectrum and Plus lines. Although some on this forum would argue that Bachmann products within the last two decades (middle 90’s to present) are not that good a quality, I considered these products to be at least as good as Athearn’s offerings in a lot of respects. I have two A-B sets of Bachmann Plus F7’s (probably late 90’s releases) and I can say that they are decent runners. No, they’re not as good as, say, Atlas or some of the newer Athearn products, or Stewart, or BLI, etc, but they are, in my opinion, a good buy for the money these days. There are others on this forum that are much more versed than I on the subject of these products and have much more experience than I, so We’ll see what the others have to say.
It depends what you want to model. In general, the Spectrum line is Bachmann’s top line of locomotives. They make some nice steamers - in particular, their 2-8-0 Consolidated. It runs very smoothly and looks great.
With that said, Bachmann’s offerings tend to be more generic. You’ll have to look at the line(s) you want to model to determine whether or not it is a good stand-in for the prototype. For the New York Central, there’s little that Bachmann offers that resembles their locomotives; hence, why I don’t own any.
I remember the Bachmann offerings of the 80’s-90’s and to say they were terrible would be an understatement. However the quality of their locos and rol,ling stock has improved greatly since then. Bachmann diesels are now among my first choices when I’m looking for new motive power. I have three of their GP7’s, a GP9, a GP38-2 and several GP40’s. A lot of my rolling stock is Bachmann Silver Series and I recommend it. The metal wheels are good but bthe couplers are cheap plastic versions of Kadee couplers. I replace these with Kadee #148 or #119 metal couplers depending on the application.
Generally, the newer models Bachmann has released have made great strides and gotten generally good reviews. A friend has several of the recent 4-4-0 offerings and they are a great value for the money.
On the other hand, older models continue to be produced with updates. The 44 tonner’s old dual motoer system was upgraded to a shortened version of what was under the 70 tonner. That was good. Problem is the driveline (cups and axle drive gears) is a weakness with the 70 tonner of late – and you can’t just buy the broken part, you have to buy a complete truck or chassis to get those parts.
Customer service under warranty is generally called good, so if it breaks, they’ll do right,
Bachmann builds to spec. They can do cheap and questionable and they can do exquisite detail in a sophisticated loco. Bachmann builds the Blackstone locos and they are second to none. So don’t go too cheap, do you homework on specific items of inetrest and you should be OK if they have something you need.
I have a 2-8-0 Consolidation, a 44 tonner, a three truck shay, and an 0-6-0 switcher. All have been very satisfactory, run well, good paint, good looks. The 0-6-0 was a train show basket case that I rebuilt and brought back to life. All of them are as nice, or nicer, than my Athearn blue box diesels, Mantua steamers, IHC steamers, and Proto2K diesels.
I actually have three Bachmann locomotives. The first one is a Bachmann Spectrum consolidation 2-8-0 I bought few years ago. I put a DCC decoder in it and it is a very dependable locomotive that runs well.
The other two are DCC On Board GP-9 I bought during the last year. Although they don’t have the details you find in P2K locomotive, they are nice and run very well. The decoder could be noisy though. In fact, the first one had a decoder that was too noisy and difficult to adjust for slow speed. I put a NCE decoder in it. I now have a great locomotive. The second loco which is of the same model but bought few months later ran perfect right out of the box.
Bachmann steam here–2-8-0, 2-10-0, 4-8-2 and 2-6-6-2, all pretty much generic, all nicely detailed and all very smooth runners and decent pullers. I’d say the oldest one (4-8-2) dates from the late '90’s or early 2000 and the latest one 2-10-0 was picked up last year. All of them have been trouble free. I like them.
I recently purchased a Bachmann Alco 2-6-0 Mogul steamer with “Sound Value” decoder and am very pleased with the way it looks, sounds and operates. While not superdetailed, it has a quite acceptable level of detail and would be a great project for those looking to superdetail a small loco. I have already converted mine to an oil burner by removing the “clip-in” coal load casting and replacing is with a scratch-built oil tank insert.
This is a very small loco. My MDC 2-6-2 Santa Fe style Prarie kits tower over this little Alco and they are pretty small locos, too. The “Sound Value” decoder runs nicely and puts out a limited number of good quality sounds. The playable whistle function is a nice feature my MDC steamers don’t have with their early MRC sound decoders. This loco tracks nicely and has pulled 8 NMRA weighted freight cars on track with 1% or less grades. I need to reduce this to 4 cars on my helix inclines (2.6%) but these do represent prototypical train lengths for such a tiny locomotive! I would imagine this could be improved by adding a bit of weight to the boiler and/or Bullfrog Snot to a driver. If this one loco is representative of the current Bachmann line, I would have no problem with purchasing more Bachmann steamers.
“Quality” is a loaded word. Yes the quality has improved substantially in terms of paint jobs and chassis, but in terms of “fidelity” to the prototype, not so much improved. So if you aren’t picky about the models Bachman offers matching particular prototypes, and don’t mind somewhat “generic” models, I’d say g’head, buy.
I’ve heard they run much better and the paint jobs look nicer - it just depends on what your standards are and what you like. They aren’t for everyone - and they are more of an improved qulity entry level model - thats how I would describe them.
Disclaimer for Sheldon: The above comments are not aimed at Bachman steam - going forward, please remember I am not talking about Bachman steam. If a reader wants to know about Bachman steam, thats your job to comment, I’ll defer to you on that. Peace - from the guy who didn’t have a layout for the last 12+ years.
My current Bachmann roster consists of six locomotives. The largest and most complex is the B&O EM-1 2-8-8-4. Prior to the Bachmann release this engine was only available in VERY expensive brass OR moderately expensive brass (Challenger or Akane, respectively) The Bachmann EM-1 is a very impressive model and at this price level (about $300-350) is a terriffic VALUE. I have about a hundred hours running time on my pair and have no issues at all with them (however, a minor point is that they did not include the proper whistle in the sound module.) They came with DCC installed and if you wanted sound you added a plug-in board.
I recently picked up a pair of E-33 electrics and these look pretty decent but I have not had much time to run them since I have disassembled them for repainting. They seem to run fine on the test track but were a bit loud with some gear noise. Maybe I can quiet this down a bit with some tinkering.
Lastly I have an Alco S-2 switcher with sound. This is a great little engine, smooth runner and good sounds. Again, the VALUE was great since I paid right around $100 for it, that included DCC and SOUND!
I did have one of their three truck Shays and mine ran flawlessly and was superbly detailed but it just didn’t fit my scheme of things so I sold it.
Over the years Bachmann (along with Life-Like) has had a very broad array of products from toy-box junk to some super running engines. SO, let us know which engine you have in mind and we can be more specific for you.
Ya Bachmann 30 years ago was ‘toy train set’ quality, or thereabouts. Starting in the late eighties, they made great strides when they introduced their Spectrum line. Much of their stuff is very good, their new 50’ 1970’s boxcars with the sliding doors (without huge unrealistic side parts) are really nice. I have several Spectrum engines that all run well, and all the reviews I’ve read of the 2-6-0 are very good. MR did a video review a few months ago, you can find it on the MR site.
The OP did NOT say if he was interested in steam or diesel or what rolling stock he was interested in.
MOST of the SPECTRUM Steam locos are VERY accurate models of SPECIFIC prototypes, even if they are/were also offered in some “close enough” paint schemes.
The USRA 4-8-2 is very accurate in all the paint schemes it was offered in with the exception of the Southern Pacfic version.
ALL versions of the USRA 2-10-2, and the Russian 2-10-0 are accurate to their roadnames.
The PRR K4 and N&W J - both very accurate.
The Ma & Pa 4-6-0 and 4-4-0 both very accurate.
The 2-8-0, while some what generic, is a reasonable stand in for all the roadnames offered.
Both versions of the 2-6-6-2 are very accruate models in ALL the roadnames offered.
The 2-8-4 Berkshire/Kanawha from Bachmann is WAY more accurate for EVERY roadname offered than the over priced, crudely detailed model from MTH.
Your definition of “reasonable” and someone else’s definition of “reasonable” may actually be an “unreasonable” assumption. Given that Bachmann’s 2-8-0 Consolidated is “generic” by your own admission and should be the same - no matter which railroad line is represented - in my eyes the Bachmann Durango & Silverton & UP 2-8-0 Consolidateds pictured below is NOT a “reasonable” stand in for an NYC 2-8-0 Consolidated and, therefore, NOT for “all the roadnames offered”.
