What’s your opinion of the Bachman Steam Locomotives?
I purchased my first one, a Spectrum, Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation. I was breaking it in when it started making screeching sounds and each time it made the sound the loco would slow down. I exchanged it for another and so far it seems to be working ok.
My second Bachmann Steam loco I purchased was a 4-8-0 Heavy Mountain. It ran sweet during breakin. It derailed going through a #4 turnout, that was my fault, and it wouldn’t run afterward. The problem was two fold. 1) somehow the connection between the loco and tender was lifting the tender just enough to keep the wheels from making contact with the rails. The other thing was the wiper that contacts the axle must have gotten hot enough when it derailed to warp it to the point it didn’t make good contact with the axle. I figured out what was wrong and fixed both problems. Now it runs fine once again.
My third and fourth Bachmann steam locos I purchased at the same time from Model Train Stuff online. Their prices were really good. I bought another 4-8-0 Heavy Mountain and a Russian Decapod 2-10-0.
I got both of them on Monday this week and was breaking them in at the same time when they both stopped running. After doing some checking I found that the Russian Decapod had a short in it somewhere. The Heavy Mountain runs fine.
The Decapod was running so sweet too. I called the store and they said to send it back for an exchange which I did. Hopefully it will be here by next week.
I have eight of their cheap diesels with DCC onboard and all of them run great. Go figure?
All the Bachman Steam Locomotives I bought are in the Specturm line which is suppose to be their top of the line. Is it just a fluke that I got two problem locos? Or are other people getting bad steamers from Bachmann?
I have a 4-6-0 which took some fiddling to get working properly - the pilot was too low, some of the detail parts were loose, and the wires from the tender to the loco were wayyyy too long. Also had to add lots fo weight to the tender, and then modify the inside for decoder space. But it runs reliably.
A friend at the modular club has benched his 2-8-0s due to their less than reliable record - mostly involving shorts I believe.
My Bachmann train set loco from ~30 years ago runs great - it even had no troubles right out of the box that it sat in for 20+ years. Another “go figure”.
For the first year I was a member here, the 2-8-0 seemed to get rave reviews. Now that people are buying these other steamers that you mention, the reviews are mixed. The members who have had them for some time say they are wonderful, but this latest batch seems to be plagued with quality control problems.
I have had nothing but good success with Bachmann Steamers except for one.
I have an older UP 4-8-4 and there is a bind in the drive train some where. when ever the enginer’s side drive rods reach the bottom of their rotation there is a momentary pause. I have been trying to find the cause with little success.
My Spectrum 2-8-0 currently has issiues. But I had it running on a public display I built and it got attacked by a squirlell. I have to decide if its worth fixing up or not.
I’ve got a Spectrum 2-8-0 and would not reccommend it. Wires to the tender were broke out of the box. finally sent it to bman this January… waited 3 months to get it back… ran good for a hour and then the crank pins began squeling so I picked up some oil and lubed them. Then it ran nice and quiet. HOWEVER, last week it locked up and then the gear on the axle was stripped off… Now I’ve got it all tore apart… once I complain to Bman and get a gear I pry won’t even be able to get this thing back together. It’s a B%$@# to assemble. I will sure try and might get it but it’s a cumbersome process.
I have three. A 2-8-0, 4-6-2 and a 2-10-2 that I just got yesterday. The first two run very well and I i have no complaints. Saying that, the 2-10-2 is going through some teething pains, ones that I’m willing to hash out.
As someone else recently said Bachmann is like a box of chocolates. Can’t be sure what you may get.
Personally I am still a Bachmann fan as their service dept. is second to none.
I’ve got eight Bachmann steamers: four 2-8-0s, two heavy 4-8-2s, one light 2-10-2, and one 62" drivered 4-6-0. I haven’t had problem one with any of them.
The problem with Bachmann engines is that they’re made in China, which has terrible quality control. Combine that with a long transit time in a container, and chances are good that you’ll occasionally get a lemon. Bachmann realizes this problem, which is why they’ve got such good customer service.
Sadly my bachmann 2-6-2 prairie was junk right out the box. The smoke box didn’t work correctly, smoke would come out the sides instead of the stack. Now the pin that holds the rods on the side of 1 of the drivers seems to work itself loose letting one of the rods get out of position causing a terrible bind giving the loco a wild jerking action. Plus it bleads smoke fluid all over the place. I am doubting i will own another.
I’ve got four Spectrums, one 2-8-0, two Heavy Mountains and a Shay. No problems with them so far, but I have to admit that I don’t run them that often (for some reason, though the Shay is nice and quiet, it doesn’t haul nearly as much as my old screaming-loud MDC Shay, so I put up with the screaming and use the MDC more). I’ve heard a lot about problems with some of the newer releases (mine are all between 2 and 4 years old), and it’s made me leery of picking up their new 2-10-2. Besides, most of the newer plastic steam (Spectrum, Proto, BLI) are just so ***ed DIFFICULT to get into if anything goes wrong, that I’m pretty much sticking with my brass steamers for now (3 screws and the boiler lifts off and it’s all there, waiting for you).
But I will say that the Spectrums I have are very smooth and nice runners.
Tom
2 4-8-2 Heavy Mountains, 1 2-10-0 Decapod, 1 2-6-6-2 USRA Articulated and 1 light USRA 2-10-2 all runnig great (so far) and 1 Bachmann 4-8-4 improved SP War Baby that is performing just as well as the higher line Spectrums. Outside of a very abused and usecond hand old "pancake motored Northern 4-8-4 (since repowered with a Bowser repower kit) Bachmann has been 100% for me.
From what I’m reading it looks like for the most part Bachmann Steamers are ok. Seems a few of the newer runs are having some problems.
Well I should get my Decapod replacement early next week. Hope it turns out to be ok this time.
Thanks for the comments. I guess I’ll continue to buy Bachmann Steamers since they do look pretty good, are not expensive compared to many other brands, and problems seem to be sporadic.
I purchased a 2-6-0 Mogul a couple of years ago. There was a need for a small steam loco to run on the branch line of my layout and my budget ruled out their Spectrum line 4-6-0 or even more expensive models from other manufacurers.
Haven’t run the loco a huge amount, my hobby has been on the backburner for a while, but overall it seems to run well enough for the price I paid. Slow speed operation is okay with a pulse throttle. I need to figure out a way to mount a proper knuckle coupler in the front for switching moves. Detailing is not bad, but I go for the overall look of my equipment, certainly I’m not a rivet counter.
I’m surprised to see a number of problems from other forum members regarding the Spectrum line of locomotives, thought they were supposed to be better quality.
I picked up a heavy mountain last week and it’s still in the break in process but working just fine, it’s probably going to be used lightly, only on occasional excursion trips with a consist of Walthers and Spectrum heavyweights behind it.
Spectrum diesels have been hit or miss with me, my 44 Toners work well, but my older Dash-8 grinds as high speed.
have you checked lately
I sent a steamer in for service in jan (still waiting)
it was a simple exchange and its taking 3 months
looks like we have some new policys
I sent an email " lol no responce
asked about my older 2-10-4 was told I can only get a standard loco that cost $20
thats strange as this locomotive cost $139 new and now its only worth $20
whats up the bman’s a$$
I have a newer 4-8-4 Niagara and an old 4-4-0. Both of them run well, but not as smooth as some of my other steam engines. The 4-8-4 is very quiet, and does run pretty smooth.[:D]
I’m hoping to get a Spectrum 2-8-0 or 4-6-0 sometime, so I’ll see how good the Spectrum steam engines are.[:D]
I had a couple of older Bachmann steam engines. I was especially fond of the slot car motors and the nylon driver axle spacers used in my J and the GS4 models. I recently found the old drivers left over from when I re-powered them with the Bowser kits. Brought back some great memories. No problems with getting the drivers quartered, the NWSL quarter can stay on the shelf. No, just grab and twist. Till the next time. The center drivers were not blind, necessitating a lot of lateral play to allow the locos to take tight radius curves. All this play caused beating and banging on the driver hubs, which would eventually crack. Finally the plastic main drive gear cracks and at least this put the mechanism out of its misery. I got lucky and bought the Bowser re-power kits at a LHS going out of business sale for ½ off. Still cost me over $75 for the 2 kits.
To be fair Bachmann no longer uses this drive but from the sounds of things they are still having some issues.
I addressed this issue in another topic shortly after I joined the forum ten days ago. I am an N-scaler and the only Bachmann steamer I own is a 2-8-0 - which, with the little running it has had, has run flawlessly.
Years ago while visiting the since dismantalled N-scale club on Davis-Monthan AFB at Tucson I had the distinct pleasure of observing a couple of 4-8-4s running flawlessly on the layout there. Now I don’t know how familiar you are with pre-Spectrum steamers (N-Scale) from Bachmann but I never saw a 4-8-4 run that didn’t remind me of a three legged camel - up - down - and sideways all at the same time. (we used to refer to goyals as having a “Hitch in her getalong”). Wasn’t any hitch in these two lady"s getalong. The woman (yep!! A WAF who was also an instrument technician and was well experienced in working with small parts) who owned them had reworked them and they ran like precision timepieces. Don’t know exactly what she did but I was told that she had a total investment in these two units of less than two hundred dollars…Cheaper than brass!!!
I bought two Three truck shays and one of them went bad in a week. Sent it in and they replaced no questions asked in three weeks. I did have an old time 4-8-0 that broke after years of working and they replaced that for a small fee. Their customer service has always been helpful and for the price, I think they do a good job.
