I would think that Bachmann would be losing a fair share of the market by offering their Spectrum only in DCC, as there are quite a few of us out here that for one reason or another don’t really see the need to convert our DC layouts, as of yet (or ever).
Why bite the wallet that still feeds you a great deal of your product? [:-^]
Tom
Option would be to take the DCC chip out and replace it with a plug. Bachmann includes a plug with their DCC equiped engines. Note that the Bachmann DCC chip is a very low cost chip with few functions. Their DCC unit will run on both DC and DCC. I have bought their DCC engines and removed the DCC unit for use one on of my secondary lines which is DC.
My experience with steamers has been almost identical with Kens. The little Bachmann Spectrums run and sound great and I’ve had trouble with both the BLI (read much more expensive) engines that I own. I’d buy another Spectrum in a heartbeat even though many folks have said that they have quality control issues.
Jarrell
I’ll recommend the Proto 2000 Heritage 2-8-4. There are at least two currently operational, and they will be together at Owosso this year. There are two others which could become operational with a little work and a lot of money. The models are very smooth runners, very well detailed but a shade weak in tractive effort. So just get two of 'em and run doubleheaders!
I have a Proto 2000 2-10-2 and it runs very smooth, the engine is like a swiss swatch when your throttle is at “1”. It will also pass through tight curves and is a good puller with the traction tires installed even up inclines.
The Broadway Limited/PCM Yb-6 2-8-8-2 is awesome with the Lok German Sound system.
The MTH Mikado with chuffing smoke is a real nice model and its mainly Diecast. It will run on most curves and has good lighting.Th sound is very nice the speaker has a large baffle to create a deep sound.
The Broadway Limited Blue line Cab Forward is very nice model and unique. The engine has good detail and the sound is decent. The engine will handle tight curves for a large loco. They are still around and just recently got released.
Any TRIX locomotive is top notch for running performance and the sound performance is good. They are very pricy but if its made in Germany its got to be good. Though they are cheaper than brass without a loss in quality. These engines can crawl real nice and pull like a stubborn mule.
GTX
As a German model railroader who has just started to go into US prototype modelling, I am surprised to read so much about quality issues of all leading brands in this market. Whenever I bought a loco from one of the “big names”, be it Marklin, Trix, Roco or Fleischmann, I never encountered any problem at all - they were all excellent runners right out of the box! No broken off parts, no hitch in their get-along… All of them also had proper manuals describing how to dismantle, maintain and service the loco.
OK, German manufacturers are asking outrageous prices ( A Trix USRA Light Mike is more than double the price of a BLI Blueline one) and a lot of the locos are also produced in China, but IMHO, paying 200 - 300 $ is also some investment that demands quality! It is up to us to educate our suppliers!
bli’s are some of the best loco’s for the money. they got a great service dept and will stand behind their products.i own over 19 of pcm’s bluelines and paragram’s they rarely give me problems.i only sent back two of them for repairs .one had sound problems .the other was pilot truck wouldn’t track right .also gouing to buying their paragon 2 series in steam power .also bachman has some good running steam loco/s just as long that you get the spectrum series . they also have a good service dept…
Original poster back now.
Thank you for your replies. The DCC Spectrum Consolidation at $89.99 seems a good option. Others I found included Spectrum Heavy Mountain $99.99, P2K 2-10-2 $139.98. Spectrum 2-10-2 DCC $79.99 and BLI Mikado Sound $149.99.
I have 28" curves but grade is 3.5%. What load could either of the Spectrums haul up this grade? I would want it to haul 3 or 4 passenger cars. It will represent a preserved locomotive that gets an occasional main line run.
Thank you.
Bill
3.5% huh? Yikes. Are you sure you are not running a logging railroad there? I know that my Spectrum 2-8-0 will easily pull 8 -10 NMRA weighted freight cars plus a caboose up my 2% max grade. But the 3.5% is pretty steep. Might need help from someone else.
My BLI 4-8-2 sounds and looks wonderful and has been more reliable than Athern .The Bachman I have are runners and my experience with their after market service was amazing.A real sleeper is the new IHC Preimer Gold series I have a new 4-6-2 that I bought for “little visitors” and found a real runner !
How many freight cars can a Bachmann 2-10-2 handle on a 4% grade?
Do the Bachmann 2-10-2´s go through 18 inch curves without problems?
Would it be possible to install a smoke unit into the engine? What do you think?
Which of the 3 steam locos is the strongest puller with the biggest tractive effort: The Bachmann 2-10-2, the MTH 2-8-2 or the Märklin/Trix 2-8-2?
I have four Bachmann Spectrums, all with sound, my favorites are the 2-8-0’s. All flawless runners. I just bought a BlueLine Paragon 2 and so far so good. Having a grand time with all of the associated gadgets and sounds. Check it out:
Hopefully those links work.
De Luxe
You wont get many answers with the 4% grade question as that grade is too steep for most layouts.
The Bachmann 2-10-2 will according to the Model Railroader review posted on this site does indicate the engine will handle 18" curves
Check the Bachmann site for the diagram showing the breakdown of this engine.
Tractive efforts will vary greatly, the Bachmann 2-10-2 does not have traction wheels some of the others do. You are aware of the large differences in retail prices of these engines I assume.
I just recently purchased a Bachmann Spectrum Light 2-10-2. I can’t answer anything about a 4% grade but it did handle an 18 inch curve on my test track with only minor issues. I don’t know about its pulling power but it seems weak compared to Bachmann’s 4-8-2’s.
As for pulling, I have found the Blueline’s from BLI are very strong engines. I know a lot of people have had issues with them from a quality control perspective but I have been very pleased with them for the price I paid.
Thanks for the info! Maybe Mehano 2-10-2´s do it better, and maybe there is a possibility to re-equipp them with a more powerful motor…
Very seldom is a more powerful motor the answer to increasing pulling power. If the motor has sufficient power/torque to spin the driving wheels under load without exceeding its maximum current draw, it has suffcient power/torque. Most all today’s models have motors with sufficient power. The 4 factors that can lead to increased pulling power are:
It’s unlikely an IHC 2-10-2 would do better as far as pulling ability, the Spectrum engine has a metal boiler and the IHC one I believe is plastic, so is much lighter.
Any engine is going to have it’s pulling power drastically reduced by a 4% grade. As I recall, the 2% grade I had on my previous layout cut an engine’s pulling power by about 1/2. On a 4% grade I wouldn’t be surprised if an engine could only haul say 40% of what it could on a level grade.
fw:
This should not make a difference, actually. Dry friction is virtually independent of contact area…if you’ve got two pounds on four drivers or eighteen drivers, you’ll have the same tractive effort. If nonpowered wheels are carrying too much weight, they rob traction by removing this weight from the drivers…equalization can help with this. Any observed traction benefits are owed to this truck issue, and probably to the greater care an equalized engine is usually constructed with.
If you piled on scrap and ballasted a GP9 up to the same weight as a drag-freight SD9, you would have virtually the same tractive effort, but you’d overload the axles. Axle load isn’t a problem in the smaller scales. It might start to be in O, on small rail.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction
wj:
I did some figuring on this a while back and came up with interesting and illuminating results. If you’re using heavy cars with balky bearings, and brutal old die-cast locos with enough yank to pull a train of 'em - a typical situation Last Thursday - the effect of grades is masked. If you’ve got featherweight locos pulling trains of fre
In a perfect world, where frcition actually equals the normal force (weight) times coeffcient, your point would be valid. Read your reference carefully. Contact area does impact kinetic friction, although it is not used in the 1st approximation model cited. Real world track, both prototype and model, has vertical irregularities. Equalization is essential on the prototype to deal with these irregularities, and helpful-to-essential on the model. P87 models have to be equalized to deal with vertical irregularities in the track. NMRA-spec models generally do not need equalization to stay on the track but empirical experi
Okay,
I took some time to actually test your question on a test track I had set up and I ran some comparisons to other engine types as well for questions 1 and 2.
I tested the Bachmann 2-10-2 Light engine on a 4% grade on a straightaway with an 18" curve at the top of the straightaway. I used a test pull of 6 freight cars consisting of 4 refrigerator cars and 1 baggage car and 1 reefer (don’t ask why this combination, it was just handy).
For comparison, I also tested a 0-6-0 switcher, a 4-6-2 Pacific, and a 4-8-2 Berkshire from Bachmann as well. I also tested a BLI N&W Class A 2-6-6-4 and a T1 Duplex 4-4-4-4 for curiousity.
The BLI Class A and T1 had no issues with either the 4% grade or the 18" curve at 4% grade other than a minor slowing in speed.
On the Bachmann trains, I had very different results. The 0-6-0 could “barely” make it up the incline and basically spun its wheels when it hit the 18" curve at 4%. Not doable in my opinion.
The 4-6-2 Pacific managed the 4% grade but suffered wheelslip at the curve. It could still make it through but there was slipping and on one run, a slip of the front leading trucks off the tracks. Doable but not advisable.
The Berkshire made it without any real issues and performed almost as well as the N&W Class A.
The 2-10-2 did make it up the 4% grade with moderate reduction in speed but when it hit the curve, it performed worse than the Pacific. It had significant wheelslip and the trailing or leading trucks did derail slightly on about half the runs. I also had it completely derail on one attempt but that was a slip off the tracks as opposed to a full derailment.
I don’t think a Light 2-10-2 could do it with 6 freight cars on an even basis.&nbs