I have made the division that I will change over to On30, as I like the larger building size, and I will build a layout in On30 after I sell the layout I have. I would like to know, how good are the Bachmann engines, as they seem to be the only manufacturer of plastic On30 engines. I have my eye on the 4-6-0 especially, and I would like to know how good it is. Thanks!
One of our HO scale club members has a Bachmann On30 steam engine that he runs on our outdoor modular setup during open houses. It has a Tsunami sound decoder and runs very smoothly.
As you’ve already discovered, Bachmann seems to be the only source of mass produced plastic locomotives and rolling stock in On30. If you have any experience with Bachmann Spectrum HO scale steam engines they are very similar in quality to the On30 products.
Most of my trains are HO but i have 6-8 ON30 Bachmann engines. The ON30 steam i have all run very well and are on par with the HO Spectrum line. I am very pleased with them and they can be had at deep discounts if you shop around.
Bob
Some suffer from the split gear problem the plagues the HO engines.
I’ve run a couple, they run great and look good. The higher end models sound phenominal.
Ricky
This is most common in the shay and climax (along with the HO shay and climax). I think Northwest Shortline offers metal replacement gears for the On30 shay.
How good is the 4-6-0? Is it good running, and what’s it’s pulling power?
I switched to On30 some years back, love that T boilered shay. I have 2- 2-6-0s, 2 shays 1 Forney with sound and an 0-4-2 . I also have the rail truck. They all run great. The rail truck can have some problems on turnouts, short wheel base an not many pick ups. I also have one Broadway limited 2-8-0, with DCC it had problems til a friend found a fix now it runs fine.
Dave