FT A&B uints?

[Rashputin]

   I really like my Bachmann steamers and haven't had problems with any of them as of yet.  I haven 't tried any of the Bachmann diesel units which are not Spectrum and come DCC equipped.  If anyone here can comment on how well they run or what quirks they may have, the FT units in particular, please let me know if you consider them competitive with other brands after running them a while.

Thanks

[ABC]

They are middle of the road, no quirks to speak of, except the a unit may uncouple from the b and run away from the rest of the train, but I've only heard one person say this.

[Larry]

I own one and have had no problems with it. Can't beat the price for dcc!!!

[jward]

locomotives uncoupling from each other is more a sign of bad trackwork, or too much vertia\cal play in the couplers than it is a quirl attributable to a particular locomotive. i would love to run some fts but cannot justify them on a 1980 era layout when they were all retired in the 1960s.

that said, soem bachmann locomotives lack flywheels (gp40, "gp50") and some have them (h16-44, gp35, gp30).....i am not sure which cAategory the ft falls into, but even the units without flywheels have decent motors in them. i for one am impressed with the drastic improvements bachmann has made in their locomotives in the past 20 years or so. now can we PLEASE get an upgraded u36b?

[ABC]

that said, some bachmann locomotives lack flywheels (gp40, "gp50") and some have them (h16-44, gp35, gp30).....i am not sure which caategory the ft falls into, but even the units without flywheels have decent motors in them.

The FTs do not have any flywheels, but are DCC equipped (an even exchange).

[jbsmith]

no serious quirks.
I have the DC version.   
I had a problem with the two becomeing uncoupled. Part of the problem
is that one is slightly faster than the other.
There was a problem with the couplers too,,they had weak springs or something, it took almost no effort to uncouple them simply by just pulling them apart.

Long story made short,,,I eventually just swapped out the couplers with Kadee #5 couplers and all has been well since then.

[Rickenbacker 325]

Just my A unit can pull 50 cars up a 3% grade

[tford]

I have the Bachmann DCC set that came with the FTA and have had no problems that I didn't cause my self. I am new at this so I have had a few self inflicted derailments and while running 3 trains at the same time, a few crashes.

[Rashputin]

   Thanks for all the replies.  It sounds like they're well worth the money all things considered.  I went ahead and orderd an A & B set of them and they'll be running around the tree this year as well as eventually running on the layout.


   Regards folks, and if I'm not back around before then Merry Christmas to all !!

[wjstix]

The decoders they come with are OK but kinda "bare bones" without some CVs you'd normally use to control speed (like in speed matching the two engines).

BTW as designed the real FT's used drawbars between the A and B units. There wasn't even a door between the A and B unit, only a walkway. You could buy them in A-B sets or A-A sets only. Many railroads ran two sets together A-B+B-A. GM did come out with the FTSB (FT Short Booster) B unit which allowed a second A unit to be connected for an A-B-A set.

The Santa Fe did convince GM to gerry-rig couplers between the A and B units, but most sets ran their whole lives with the drawbars.

[RAM]

All that the santa fe did was tell GM or EMD that they would not buy them unless they had couplers between the A & B unit.

[Atlantic Central]

More details of FT coupler/drawbar history.

Yes, most FT's were built as drawbar connected A-B sets, a few were A-A sets.

A-B-A sets were built drawbar connected with the FTSB short B unit.

From day one the EMD catalog listed a version with couplers called an "FS" (possibly S for seperable), but the designation never caught on and was dropped.

Lot of roads OTHER than the ATSF had FT's and several others ordered them with couplers as well, or changed them to couplers later on.

ATSF, D&RGW, MP and Southern all ordered theirs with couplers.

It is easy to spot drawbar connected versions since the lack steps and grab irons at the ends were the units are joined and only have them at the "bacK' of the whole lashup.

The Bachmann locos run nice from what I have seen, but like most regular Bachmann locos, the detail is "basic" compaired to other, mostly more expensive, brands.

Sheldon

[Silverbolt]

I have a DRGW FT and was running it on my club layout today. This was a great purchase!! This is a great running locomotive for the price and DCC ready to boot. The particular one I have runs great at slow speeds, I was highly impressed and and it makes up for the non-flywheel. I plan on purchasing more of them.

Dave