I have a friend of mine that wants to get into G Scale ask me about the quality of a Buddy L train set today. I have never heared of them before so I told him I would ask around. So I have come to you guys on this one! Good or Bad Brand? Baker
Get a Bachmann set, about the same price or cheaper if you look around, way better quality.
Have this set, cars are OK but engine is aenimic at best, needs extra weight and additional power pick up points. Track is the same POS track Bachmann makes, so either way you’ll need brass track to go outdoors. indoors the Bachmann stuff is OK. My Buddy L powerpack never worked out of the box, I use an LGB basic powerpack. Its OK as a third or fourth loco and/or to use as a basher for projects, its a nice looking engine but is limited out of the box.
So would you say that a Bachmann set is equal to or better then the Buddy L Set? Thanks Baker
Bachmann is BETTER!!!
My suggestion would be the set they are selling at Sams Club, its a 5th generation engine, the best yet, with metal siderods, comes with two passenger cars and a trolley for $165something dollars. That is a steal! The engine and cars can easily be repainted out of the holiday paintscheme if he chooses to do so.
If not thats set, the Silverton Flyer set (or any Big Hauler sets) can be found for between $100ish and $150ish at various mail order places and has the same engine as the Sams Club set, only with plastic siderods, its a little bit of a step down but still way way better than the Buddy L set.
PS the Sams Club set can be purchased via their website if their is no store near you.
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=347672
Truth: (just my 1/2 cents) Buddy L not a wise choice in G Scale.
William
I certainly agree that the best way to break into G guage on a budget is to go with Bachmann, not Buddy L. I don’t like the Buddy L locos, they are OK for when you have kids over and you know the railroad will be trashed, but they are not so good for everyday use. Get a Big Hauler or one of the very nice Shays from B’mann for a good start. Check out Heartland locos also, made in USA and extremely well built and run great for a competative price.
OTOH, I love the Buddy L cars, they have passable detail, are nice and durable, and very, very inexpensive. I think from Ridge Road I paid $40 for a set of 4 cars, a box, a gondola, a caboose and a flat. At that price you can bash, paint and detail the cars at will. I would never consider repainting my Dogfish Brewery limited edition box car (horrors upon horrors!), but repainting a $10 Buddy L box into the Dixie D SL colors and logos?, dude I’m there! Put on a set of Kadees and you are rolling with the best of them. Luckily the Buddy L’s are the same scale as the Bachmann Big Hauler locos, so off you go!
Buy Bachmann. The locomotives are waaaaaay better than Buddy L. If you want to go outdoors, then you must replace the Bach track with a better quality track such as brass, aluminum, steel, stainless steel, or nickel silver.
Thanks guys I will point him towards the Bachmann’s. I was not sure the quality because I have honestly never heared of them before. Thanks Again for the Information. Baker
My recommendations:
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Forget Buddy L
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Consider Aristo-Craft before you invest in a Bachmann set. You’ll get Aristo’s track with their sets, which is vastly superior to Bachmann’s track and which can be used outdoors or indoors, and subsequently expanded with a wide variety of switches, curves, and so forth. Personally, I find the Aristo set trains to be more durable than the Bachmann stuff (at the lower end), but that’s just my opinion.
Ok, true Aristo track is better than Bachmann. But, you will have to replace EVERY railjoiner as they will rust and then you will have to replace them anyway. Save time and money, buy LGB track, they last much longer.
Aristo is ok for just running trains, but try to take a Aristo C-16 up a 25 yard 2% grade with 15-20 cars, it can’t, I repeat CANNOT, do it. A Bach 2-8-0 will, I repeat WILL, do it. Now, I am speaking from personal experience as it was my own 2-8-0 pulling up a hill.
If you want a good layout to last. Buy a Bach or LGB locomotive and LGB track. I would stay away from starters sets as they are a little ify. Some are great, and other just are just plain crap.
James,
Stay away from Buddy L. The cars are ok and that it. You might want to check into your local SAM’s club and see if they have any of the Chritmas sets left. Very good price on a Bachmann starter set. You would need to buy Atristo, USA or LGB track for outdoors.
You should also try and think ahead a bit. I built my layout with 6 feet diameter curves and now wish I had gone to 8. At the time I was only interested in running the smaller engines, but my interst changed and found out I was now limited by my curves.
Good luck and have fun. Get something down as soon as you can. That is the hardest part.
Regards,
Mark
Snoq pass,
I’ve had Aristo track down for 5 years, how much longer before my rail joiners rust away? I just checked them a few minutes ago and they are black, but show no evidence of rust.
Ok, I am sorry for being a little flip about the Aristo track. The guys in my model train club all told me about how much they disliked Aristo track because the railjoiners will rust. Now true, this may only happen in certion areas. I live in the Pacific Northwest and no one, that I know of, uses Aristo track, heck even the hobby store doesn’t have them in their personal stock. I was told that LGB was a better option than Aristo.
Again, I am sorry for being flip about the quality of the Aristo track.
Aristocraft track is just fine, and cheaper than LGB. Railclamps are a better choice than joiners anyway, IMHO.
No problem, Snoqpass, just being flip myself [:P]
I live in Virginia Beach with sun, salt and rain, very similar to the PNW only warmer. I’ve yet to see any problems with Aristo track. BUT with that being said, every area has it’s own unique conditions and what works in one area may or may not work somewhere else. It’s always best to see what the local railroaders are doing before making a big purchase.
The one advantage with Aristo/USA track is that even though they are a royal pain in the a-frame to use, those little set screws do a dam good job holding the track together, better than those plastic tie connectors LGB uses, but a lot less expensive than rail clamps.
I was also wondering about the comment on the Aristo rail joiners rusting away. I do not see any rust on the joiners or the rails. I’m in Northern Ohio, so not subject to the salt associated with living on the coast, so guess I’ll have many years of reliable opperations.
Having fun in Ohio.
Mark
I’m located on the east side of the Sierras and we had our annual several days downpour of rain last month. After reading this thread, I went out and checked my Aristo joiners. Hmmmm…they look bright and shiny as ever. Has anyone on this forum experienced rust? I think I’ll start a separate thread and see if anybody has.
I think the rusting rail joiners may be an issue only on older Aristo/REA track. I had a loop set up on our patio for a few months, of mixed track, and the only rail joiners that rusted were on some old track I got from ebay.
Snoq pass, based on the responses so far on the thread requesting rust reports, it looks like the fears of your club members are baseless. I wonder how they came to the conclusion that the connectors rust.