What is your opinion of these locomotives? Sound any good? Mechanism good? Do sounds continue when loco is idled? Reliable? I am particularly interested in the HO 2-6-0 mogul.
I got the mogul and it’s going back to Bachmann as the drivers are improperly mounted. The sound is OK. It is my first sound equipped loco though so I don’t have anything to compare it to.
I have a 4-6-0 and just got a 2-6-6-2, both with sound (Tsunami) and love them. These are the Spectrum line locos if that is what you are asking about. I will buy more as I find models I am interested in. The detail level is great and the sound is fantastic. You have to adjust the different sounds to suit your taste but there is a lot to play with. I use Decoder Pro on my laptop to set the sound levels and adjustments, which makes life easy.
-Bob
I just picked up a set of the new 2-6-0’s in the CN markings.
These engines run well, have good slow speed control, With the valve gear they look great.
The sound certainly is not of the same quality as their Tsunami versions, but then that is reflected in the price of the product. I find the sound to be acceptable.
The DC sound options are great. Every time you start the engine you get two toots of the whistle if going forward, reverse direction you get three toots of the whistle bell and the bells rings for a while and of course the chuffing…
These engines are a bit light so adding weight should help with that aspect. They do not have traction tires so they do slip rather easily.
The level of detail is somewhat limited, but adding detail is not that complicated. If you go to the Bachmann site some of the owners are already posting pics of upgraded engines.
Bachmann has a winner with this engine, they will sell a lot of these. Wonder what the next steam offering will be in this series?
I bought the 2-6-0 Pennsylvania for my son for Christmas last year. For $109 it’s a darned fine locomotive in my opinion, and yes sounds continue when idleing.
Dan
From the one I have, I’d say yes; mechanism seems sturdy, and sound is decent (although you dont get as many functions as the more expensive ones. Up to a steam hiss).
You won’t find a better locomotive for the price, I would say. I’m thrilled with my Mogul.
After reading the posts in the great boiler band controversy I decided that it might be worth getting one to see what it was like. However nobody had the PRR version so I let it slide. Today I was at the Greenberg show in Wilmington, MA and in the back right hand corner was Star Hobby with a load of Bachmann engines. Lo and behold, they had the PRR version and even better it was priced at $95.00 which beat the mail order prices of $109. There was the 7 buck admission charge and sales tax but the lack of shipping costs more than made up for it. Lets not get into the gas cost for the drive from central New Hampshire, although my wife and I had a nice lunch along the way so she was happy.
When I got home I waited for about 30 seconds before pulling the engine out of the box and putting it on the layout. I had it running in another 30 seconds. I love the PRR engines from BLI but the plug between the tender and engine can be a major pain to get seated. The Mogul came with the wires in place, a definite plus for me.
A first among many sound equipped engines was the fact that the volume didn’t blow the plaster off the walls. It’s on the quiet side which was kinda nice. My hearing is fading fast enough.
I haven’t had a chance to do too much with it but it was pulling 14 cars on level track with no trouble. I had been afraid that an engine so light wouldn’t be able to pull that much. It is a sweet little engine. The first Bachmann engine I bought was a class J about 20 years ago. It was a present for my son and he was more than a little upset when the drivers fell off. Since them I have been leery of the Bachmann brand although I do have a couple of the On30 engines and they have behaved themselves. This little guy is going to make me take another look at their line.
Regarding the boiler bands,