The other day I was at my LHS, and I saw these really out standing looking models, from a distance they looked like Athearns genesis SD45-2, but, having just looked at athearns website that same day I knew that Athearn has announced the blue bonnet scheme, but, have not released it yet. I scratched my head, and finally I asked the store owner if I could go behind the counter to take a closer look ( it was in a glass display case), the owner being a friend of mine said, " go for it". so I walked up to it and just stared at it, assuming that it was some kind of brass import or something. the detail was absolutely amazing and the paint was crisp and sharp. Not being able to tell who made it I asked the owner of the store who makes that engine, and he said,“Bachmann”. Bachmann!!! fabulous! I fell in love. Bachmanns EMD SD-45 is a FINE looking model, I liked it so much, I want 4 of them. But, you cant judge a book by its cover. So I was wondering if anyone has bought the latest DCC equipped Bachmann EMD SD-45, if so, how does it run, is it noisy like an athearn, is it powerfull, are you pleased with it?
I dont have the SD45. But i did recently purchase a new spectrum dash 8. The new spectrum diesels are much better than the old ones. They are quiet and smooth runners and mine came DCC ready. I havent really pulled a large train with it yet so I dont know about pulling power, but it is pretty heavy and should be pretty good. My only complaint is that the handrails seem a little clunky next to my Katos and P2Ks. Overall Im pretty happy with it.
Would it be possible to switch the better, Kato, handrails on to them? I’ve often wondered about doing this between various makes and between old Atlas heavy handrails and new ones…
The latest Athearn run very good, but not super. aThey are Genesis and the detail is great. Before you buy, run it and make sure the one you are buying from you LHS runs to your desires.
The Bachmann SD45 is not in the same planet in the level of quality of the Genesis SD45-2. If you want a good SD45, check out Kato.
The Genesis SD45-2 is a great model, saw one with sound in action at my LHS the other day. But have you seen the newest Spectrum SD45’s? True they aren’t as good as the Kato’s, but they are cheap and have much better detail then the old ones.
You are probably thinking of the older spectrum diesels. And you would be right about those, but the new ones, i mean the BRAND NEW ones are great. Kato is a little better but the specs can be found very cheap on ebay. My dash 8 was $30.
As far as the handrails, I’m sure it could be done but would probably be a lot of work and wouldnt look very good it if wasnt done
The old Bachmann SD45 was closer to Standard line quality, which isn’t bad, but I’ve heard from everyone who owns the new ones (except one guy on the Bach Man forum, which I only visit) that they’re excellent models.[:D] If I want an SD45, I’ll either get the Bachmann or Genesis, or both, because they look like they’re great engines.[:D]
You aren’t going to convince any of the old school here that Bachmann has finally put out a decent diesel HO locomotive! I got one of the newest ones (SD45) several months ago and posted a review of it here. All it met with was scorn and ridicule. Granted it isn’t quite up to P2K or Kato quality but can you get one of those at MB Kleins for $29?
Actually old prejudices dies hard…I seen these Bachmann SD45 running at the club and stood in awl as I saw how smooth these units ran and how 2 units was tugging 45 cars with ease…Kinda made a believer out of me.
I don’t know about Brakie’s club layout but when I tried my single Spectrum SD45 on our club layout it pulled about 25 mixed type freight cars up a 2.5% grade without slipping. I ran it for about half an hour and when I pulled it off the track the motor was slightly warm. I have since installed a decoder and it still runs great.