The Heavy mountains are calling my name but the Berkshires look good too. People seem to like the berks, anything bad to say say about which would sway me one way or the other? Straight DC on these, I think, must run smoothly (they already look pretty good). 2-8-0s would be OK, 2-10-2s look good but too light to pull much. am I right?
And, any opinions on replacing the Rivarossi berks with Bachmann?
Thanks-
Mike
I can comment on the Spectrum Series locomotives; 2-8-0, 4-8-2, & 2-10-2
All of my locomotives have smooth running mechanisms and good details.
Things to watch for on all series are poor electrical contacts on the tender axles. This can be remedied by adjusting the contact wiper/spring and soldering a wire to the spring and running it directly to the board/decoder.
As far as draw bar pull, all locomotives are capable haulers. Pulling ability can be improved using Bull Frog Snot. This is a product I have used on many locomotives with great results.
I have no opinion regarding the Berk/Rivarossi
Mike, I have large fleet of Bachmann steamers and run DC, so here are my thoughts:
The best of all the Bachmann steamers in terms of smoothness, slow speed and pulling power is the Heavy Mountain. I have nine of them, they are the backbone of the ACR steam fleet.
The 2-8-0’s are likely next, but to get the best performance from them you MUST remove the noise suppression capacitors from the circuit boards. This greatly improves slow speed operation.
Both of these locos, and most other Bachmann steamers will benifit from added weight in the tenders and a few other mods - here is a link to an earlier thread:
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/181314.aspx
I also have 5 of the Berks, but have converted them to freelanced heavy Mikados:
Out of the box these locos are way too light, but there is plenty of room for weight and I ad about 5.5 oz to them. They then pull nearly as well as the the Heavy Mountains, and run almost as smooth. They are without a doubt a better model than the old Rivarossi, but they lack some of the detail common on the Spectrum models like the Heavy Mountain. I add a few details to mine, tender railings, deck plates, etc.
The problem with the 2-10-2 is not lack of weight, it is that it does not have as good of a suspension design as the Heavy Mountain, so even with the same cast bo
Yes the Berkshires (and NYC Niagara, SP Daylight, and N&W J) are not Spectrum, they are a step down (what used to be called “Bachmann Plus”). They’re still not bad from what I’ve read in reviews, but I wouldn’t expect them to be as good as Spectrum. They decoders are pretty basic, most people replace them pretty quickly.
My Spectrum light 4-8-2, 2-6-6-2 and 2-10-0 are great runners, the 2-10-0 came with factory Tsunami. I’d recommend any of them.
Mike,
One other important thing - for DC operation remove the decoders and install the jumpers - they all run much better on DC without the dual mode DCC docoders in the loop.
Sheldon
My largest Bachmann steamer is a 4-8-4 Niagara. Not a Spectrum but still a good quiet runner. I got a fantastic deal on it. Picked it up still new in the box for $5 at a yard sale.
ALthough I ddon’t have what you are considering buying, I DO have a couple of Bachmann’s smaller steam engines with DCC OnBoard and one DCC OnBoard light Mike…
They actually do very well for being smaller steamers.
Most of my entire fleet {steam and diesels} are Bachmann DCC OnBoard. Only one give me slight problems as it growls on slow startup.
They are all of the these: Spectrums, Spectrums that became “standard” and “standard” issue Bachmanns.
I have one Athearn and don’t like it, allt he rest are Bachmann in my 13 loco fleet,
Just my experience and opinion, others may vary.
I’ve got 5 Spectrums–2-8-0, 2-10-0, 2-6-6-2 and 2 Heavy 4-8-2’s. All DC, absolutely no problems with any of them. Smooth runners, very respectable haulers and very nicely detailed for their price range. The surprise out of the batch is the little 2-10-0 which doesn’t fit any wheel arrangement of the railroad that I model, but was too ‘cute’ to pass up. That little devil can really HAUL for it’s size (it’s no bigger than my 2-8-0). And their USRA 2-6-6-2 is a better hauler than my far more expensive Proto 2000 USRA 2-8-8-2. Go figure----
I’d like to see Bachmann come out with a heavy 2-10-2 that ISN’T a USRA–and fix the balance problem on the 10-coupled loco.
But for my money, the Spectrum DC locos are a darned good buy.
Tom
I have a variety of steam engines. Most of my roster are Bachmann Spectrum engines. I also have a number of Heritage (Proto) as well.
The finish of the Spectrums is very close to that of the Proto steam, one of my Spectrum engines is the SY mike and the detail of that engine even surpasses the Proto engines.
I would recommend that Spectrum over the Heritage engines, especially in light of the much higher street prices of the Proto engines.
I just received a couple of the new Spectrum Climax engines and they are superb little engines if you are planning a mine or logging on your layout.
The 2-10-2’s are not too light to pull, but you better have some pretty broad curves to run them smoothly. I have a BLI and a Spectrum 2-10-2. My double main line curves are 30" and 32" radius. Both 2-10-2’s can be finicky on the curves, but the Spectrum is worse than the BLI.
Rich
I have a DC Spectrum Consolidation 2-8-0 which I got some years ago. Looks good, runs good, pulls well. What’s not to like? The rest of the Bachmann Spectrum steamers have a good rep on the internet.