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Can it really pull 52 free rolling cars?
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Is the tender pre-drilled for sound?
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Is the decoder soldered or plugged into a socket?
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Is it noisy?
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Can it navigate 22’’ radius turns?
- Can it really pull 52 free rolling cars?
I have two but as to pulling I really don’t know. I found the traction on these a bit lame so I added about 1 1/2 ounces of weight to them. big improvement
- Is the tender pre-drilled for sound?
No but if you can rig your speakers to transmit the sound through the bottom of the tender you will be better off. This will require you to gut the interior of all Bachmann “crap”
- Is the decoder soldered or plugged into a socket?
Well here’s my opinion… every bachmann I have DCC’d I have had to remove all of their circuitry as it wasn’t compatible with the decoder I was installing (Tsunami) Nothing but problems so everything is “hotwired”. I’m a happier person for it.
- Is it noisy?
No They are actually quite good regarding noise
- Can it navigate 22’’ radius turns?
Yes but…[:-^] I had to file down the wheel bearing surfaces as there was a fair bit of burrs on the edges. Filing was minimum and just enough to clean the surfaces ( where wheels made contact with frame).
The bottom line with Bachmann , and this is just my opinion, is their quality control. They offer a good product for the money but they do need tweaking when they come out of the box. But then again some of the track on my layout pushes the envelope with regards to grades, radii and superelevating of curves
Hope this helps
Fergie
- Can it really pull 52 free rolling cars?
Probably not.
- Is the tender pre-drilled for sound?
No.
- Is the decoder soldered or plugged into a socket?
8 pin socket.
- Is it noisy?
No.
- Can it navigate 22’’ radius turns?
Its a 10-coupled locomotive. If you want a steamer to run on 22" curves, I suggest you look at something with a shorter wheel base. 22" will be pushing it’s limit all the time with a high possibility of a derail. Also, when you force the front 2 axles from side to side, you increase your chance of the valve gear binding with the side rods.
David B
I never had a problem with Bachmann DCC ready boards. They already have the resistors in place for tsunami hookups. (I’ve done 4 tsunami installs so far and counting.)
There is one cavaet however. EVERY Bachmann has a capacitor or two across the motor leads. These need to be snipped and removed or your motor speed control will be “difficult” in DCC. The capacitors were installed there to cut down on RF noise generated on DC layouts. This is a non-issue on DCC layouts.
Here is a link to a diagram of the 2-10-2 without sound. Scroll down and select your loco.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/references.php
Rich
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In two shows I have pushed 90 ore cars plus the 30 behind it. You have to be careful on the throttle so you don’t break her loose but she pushed and pulled. I routinely pull a mixed freight of 40+ cars at shows. Don’t expect it to be a speed queen with it on. I have also pulled a mix of hoppers, flats and gondalas for a fund raising. The hoppers ended up loaded with coins. the hoppers a mix of coins and bills, Using a fish scale the engine was pulling 16 lbs. It wasn’t the heavies that day, but out of six donation trains it was 3rd. The Big Boy+Y6a was the heaviest and the 4x GP9 was the heaviest.
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No
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Haven’t looked
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Mine was out of the box. The firebox truck was dry. After oiling it, no
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easily. It can handle down to a 16", but looks real dorky doing it. (I built a trolley (14") siding and mistakenly sent the 2-10-2 down it. The tender road up on the outside of the corner, but came right back dow after it exited the curve.) The 16" curve is from a poorly planned siding on my part and now I have no room to fix it. It can go through it, but I don’t put there unless the club yard is full.