Opinions on Bachman 2-10-2 w/ Tsunami sound

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi all:

I am considering picking up a couple of these, but want to know how they run, and what their reliability record is.

Thanks in advance,

Jerry Zeman

2

I have one that I bought in February of this year. It runs very well with good pulling power. The Tsunami sound is great. It is nicely detailed, much better than my other steam loco, a Blueline Mike. The 2-10-2 needs generous curves and good trackwork. I recommend it. The packaging, manuals, and other documentation are well above average.

3

I have also one question concerning the Bachmann 2-10-2:

are they also able to smoke? is there a possibility to put a smoke unit inside?

do they manage 30 (metal and plastic) freight cars on a 4% grade?

4

Forget about smoke in HO scale. Smoke oil leaves a sticky film on everything, including your track, and doesn’t look realistic at all.

5

Well well, that may be your opinion, but in my eyes a steam loco simply has to smoke, because without smoke it doesn´t look realistic at all. I never run my Big Boy and GS-4 without smoke (only on night runs), and I´m especially thrilled by the synchronised smoking of the GS-4, which definetly looks very realistic…

6

Hello:

My two Bachmann 2-10-2s were wobbly and surged down the track. I sent them both to Bachmann and received two brand new replacements that did the exact same thing. In frustration I dismantled them to investigate the cause, and found that the drivers were mounted slightly off-center and off-square on the axles, leading to wobbling, bobbing motion. IMO, very poor manufacturing and QA/QC on these engines.

Both have been retired and replaced with Proto 2000 heavy 2-10-2s that run like a dream.

Needless to say I would not recommend the Bachmann 2-10-2s.

Regards,

Mike

7

This is where “realistic” becomes a qualitative, personal statement. To me, is a smoking HO steamer “realistic”? NO. There are many other places where steam comes out from the steam locomotive, not just the stack…let alone a steady stream of ‘wisps’ of smoke comming from the stack.

If you want smoke and such comming from a model, I would consider going up in scale. Take a look at O scale. O scale has enough weight to get through the dirty track.

In terms of your 4% grade, very few steamers in HO will haul 30 cars up that grade EXPECIALLY WITH OIL SOAKED RAILS. I would look at Bowser products.

Also, OIL has the nasty habit of eating traction tires. If you want a steamer to pull 30 (assumine NMRA standards for weight) cars up a 4 % grade, you will need traction tires. If you want smoke in your units, you can forget about traction tires. If you want to pull 30 cars up a 4% grade, you can forget about smoke. You will have to make a choice as you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

David B

8

I also had a Bachmann 2-10-2 that wobbled and just didn’t seem to run very smoothly even after an “extended” break in period of time. It has since been “retired” and I recently purchased the Proto 2000 2-10-2 with QSI sound and DCC. Much much nicer engine in terms of detail and a fantastic runner. I also perfer the QSI over the Tsunami sound. I purchased my Proto 2000 2-10-2 for $219 which was about 60% less than Walthers wants for it. For that price, how could I go wrong?

Mike

9

Why?

I think your knowledge about model railroading

10

I have 3 MTH HO engines with smoke and the smoke is very realistic and does not leave a sticky film on anything. The smoke is a nice touch which I miss when I operate my other steam engines. The MTH smoke is unlike the Seuthe smoke generators. The smoke is thicker and lasts longer (20 minutes to half hour of operation, per 12 drops, with my MTH engines) and puffs in synchronization with the chuffing.- 4 puffs per driver revolution.

11

Thanks to all that replied. Based on the response, I decided not to go the cheap route and purchase these locomotives. Instead, I purchased the new BLI UPRR TTT-6 2-10-2 locos. I purchased three which will be lettered in my home road. I have already got the first one running, it is a beautiful running model. I had to shim up the tender, and remove the tender truck springs as the trucks hit the truck frames, and bound up the truck when I had shimmed it up.

Regards,

Jerry Zeman