It’s only been 3 months since I sent it in [:p] and in the mail today there was a package from Bachmann. (I had already guess what it was[:p]). It ran pretty good but after and hour it got noisy but it RUNS and that’s all I care about. It’s fun to watch the side rods spin[:D][:D]. I’ll review it after I get my Tech4 260 power pack back from MRC (that has 300 speed steps and the pack I use now has about 3 speed steps). It doesn’t run as good as my old spectrum GP30 but it still needs a little more break in time to loosen everything up. Slow speed running isn’t the greatest. It pretty much goes from 1 SMPH to 20 SMPH in a second but I’m sure this would improve when I get my MRC power pack back.
Good for you![:D]
One thing about waiting so long for something is the longer you wait, the more excited you are when you get it. Well, at least for me anyway.[:D]
I had to send my 4-8-4 Niagara back after a couple years because it had gotten so bad from factory defects. The axles split, the frame was cracked where the rear truck was, causing the truck to fall out, and an eccentric was loose. They sent me a new one a month later, and I haven’t had a single problem with it since.[:D]
I got some pics of it[swg]. I tried using the flash on a few. Sorry if they’re blurry, my camera is old enough to use a 3 1/2" floppy disk and there is a lot of quality lost because of that.
Very nice, dingoix. I have the very same locomotive. Runs great with my Spectrum UP light mountain. You’re right about it not being the best at slow speeds. I haven’t run mine all that much, so it may improve in time.
OT, but I bought a Bachmann UP 4-8-4 (the Santa Fe clone in UP grayhound paint) off ebay a while back. It looks great but all the axles are split! Does anyone know where I could send it to get fixed (and possibly have DCC installed)?. I would send it to Bachmann but I’m afraid they’d just send me the new version with the high-mounted headlight, which I don’t like…
I use super-glue to fix split axles. I put a little bit on the smaller part of the axle that presses into the plastic axle, press it in, and make sure it’s quartered before it’s dried. I fixed a couple of my uncle’s old 4-8-4s like this (with the pancake motors), and one of them has gotten to be one of the smoothest running steam engines I’ve seen![:D]
ATTENTION- tonight I patched it for CGW. I’ll get some pics this wekend.
I was having a problem where it would speed up & slow down, as if some body was playing w/ my power pack. Well I cleaned ALL the track and it runs better. When my other engines ran smooth this one ran terrible so the track must be clean for it to run good. My only other gripe is that this unit is NOISY. But it does run.
every once in a while I to get a peice of bad track that just will not clean or somthing
just like you sead, I have a few bman 2-8-0’s but they don’t seem to pull as good as me proto 2000’s so I don’t run them very much. I am still checking the mail for my K4 from the buchman 
nice shots that camera is not that bad
Ken
K
“every once in a while I to get a peice of bad track that just will not clean or somthing”
Between expansion from heating and cooling, and benchwork expnsion from humidity changes, if the joiners twist and flex they will start to open up and then you have intermittant contact and problems with current flow. Any piece of track that shows electrical problems and doesn’t seem to take cleaning is a good candidate for at least one solder joint.
Best route is to get a Bowser replacement chassis, making sure you get one of thier new motors which is DCC compatible, or get an Alliance replacement motor.
http://www.bowser-trains.com/hoemrrs/mechanisms/mechanisms.htm
http://www.bowser-trains.com/hoother/dcc/dcc.htm
http://www.alliancelink.com/alp/
I’ll try to get new pics of the 2-8-0 tomorrow as it’s now CGW, not UP anymore.
More pics. Some were taken with it at full speed and me running alongside the layout w/ my camera [swg]
her first test-run as CGW
you can see a corner of the TYCO depot as the train rushes by
stalled on the grade; waiting for the GP40 to come & pull it up the hill. The engineer had the wheels spinning and then after he gave up and called for a helper to get the train up the grade; a railfan got a nice shot of it.
at speed and running good
nice
Good for you. My first quality steam locomotive was a Spectrum 2-8-0 purchased at a show. Helluva engine for the money.