A big thanks for the Ten Wheeler! Smaller tender please!!!!

[skipgear]

Thank you for listening to many, many, many customer requests for the Ten Wheeler. It looks like it will be a nice loco. Our shop already has orders for 4 of them since they were announced on Friday.

One comment that seems to keep coming up is the size of the tender. For me it doesn't really matter because the loco matches nothing B&O so I will be in full kitbash mode to put one of these to use. If the standard USRA tender is going to be the tender used on the loco, many will be disapointed. From most of the pictures I have looked at over the weekend, a straight sided body designed to fit the slope back tender chassis would be the best answer. If keeping cost down and using existing tooling is a factor, at least swaping to the short USRA tender could be considered.

[the Bach-man]

Dear Skip,
The tender is needed to fit the decoder.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Will_Annand]

The new series decoders from NCE, Digitrax and Lenz are really small.

Size: 0.34" x 0.56" x 0.125" or less.

They will fit in your slopeback tenders.

[David Leonard]

Is the decoder that's used in the 44T small enough? Bachmann uses their own decoders, as I understand it, and other brands are not options. However, I agree with calls for a smaller tender. Here's the shell of a Model Power 2-6-0 tender on the Bachmann Spectrum slopeback chassis.  Bachmann could use the same chassis and would just have to tool a new shell.

[dtpowell]

For a 4-6-0 I would have preferred a larger more modern loco the tender being used. Then I remembered my Athearn 60 ft open platform coaches need a decent loco. Thinking the USRA tender in the prototype was only a temporary for the show. I started to get excited. But if this is the actual configuration. I fear Bachmann may have lost me as a buyer of this loco. As it stands. This loco looks odd. I'll need to see a prototype first.

BTW...The PRR K4's tender would have plenty of room for a decoder! 

[Williamson]

I agree that the USRA medium tender looks out of place with the 4-6-0. While it is possible that some of these late in life received a "bumped" USRA tender, for most of their lives they would have been mated to someting smaller.

Even this (DCC ready) tender from Bachmann would be much better:



Come on Bach-man!

Mark

[Rutland1952]

Let me add my congratulations as well. I model the Rutland and hope that a subsequent version is more modern and has a high boiler with a headlight mounted in the center of the door to the boiler. The last 4-6-0 with a high headlight left service ibn the early 1930's, so there's no fit.

[skipgear]

I went down to the workbench and checked out my Short USRA. There is an issue using the existing lightboard. The lightboard as designed, eats up a ton of space, there is barely room for a micro decoder. Removing or cutting down the lightboard, leaves room to spare for the standard decoder.

If the loco is going to be DCC/DC, there is no reason for the lightboard. A decoder could have been made to mount in place of the USRA Short lightboard very easily. It seems it would be easier to make one part than to have to solder two existing parts together then, install them in the tender. I would rather this loco take a little longer than to take shortcuts and stick the oversize tender on the back of it. Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.

Either way, I am still buying one but I will have to buy a short tender to go with it now. I think we still have a slope back or Short USRA on the shelf at the shop. Anybody want to buy a Standard USRA tender when these come in? I am over-flowing with them.

Here is one more reason not to let the Spectrum Tenders run out of stock. I forsee a bunch of shorties being sold once these arrive.

[skipgear]

More comments on the shorty....

The short USRA does have the connection for the cable, just not the room for the stock decoder along with the cable connection...



Many of the people that want a smaller tender could care less if it had DCC or not. Those that are serious about DCC will swap out the decoder anyhow for one with more features. For those that want the smaller tender, stick this one on in 5 minutes and be happy. Heck, Bachmann could sell it with this tender and advertise it as DCC ready and more people would be happy with this combination.

The only tender that won't connect directly to the new locos with the cable is the slope back, which would be terribly wrong for this loco anyhow.

[Will_Annand]

Either way, I am still buying one but I will have to buy a short tender to go with it now. I think we still have a slope back or Short USRA on the shelf at the shop. Anybody want to buy a Standard USRA tender when these come in? I am over-flowing with them.

Here is one more reason not to let the Spectrum Tenders run out of stock. I forsee a bunch of shorties being sold once these arrive.

Now there is an idea right from the marketing room's conference table.

Supply the loco with a tender that is not correct and the customers will buy the correct one separately.

Sure hope Bachmann does not think like that.

[Williamson]

Either way, I am still buying one but I will have to buy a short tender to go with it now. I think we still have a slope back or Short USRA on the shelf at the shop. Anybody want to buy a Standard USRA tender when these come in? I am over-flowing with them.

Here is one more reason not to let the Spectrum Tenders run out of stock. I forsee a bunch of shorties being sold once these arrive.

Now there is an idea right from the marketing room's conference table.

Supply the loco with a tender that is not correct and the customers will buy the correct one separately.

Sure hope Bachmann does not think like that.

Haha!

I hope not too. In my case it translates into NO SALE.

I skipped buying the Heavy USRA 4-8-2 Mountain (even though N&W was one of the two roads that received these under the USRA) for the same reason - Bachmann put the wrong tender on it.

My pockets are simply not deep enough to support this kind of thing (the 4-8-2's MSRP was $250, and now you want me to buy another tender on top of this?)

Mark

[the Bach-man]

Dear All,
As I stated previously, the tender is the smallest that will accept out decoder.
We do have a smaller DCC ready tender available, but you'll have to get a smaller decoder than we make.
Incidentally. the tenders were discontinued because sales did not support them. Obviously, if sales were good, they would not have been discontinued.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Williamson]

Incidentally. the tenders were discontinued because sales did not support them. Obviously, if sales were good, they would not have been discontinued.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

That's crap news about the tenders. I bought some for some projects - lucky I did. Most are sold out at MB Kleins. I guess some stores have tons of them?

Mark

[dtpowell]

I regret to say Bachmann I think the Ten wheeler may go the same way as the small tender. The older 4-6-0 connected to a larger more modern tender just to have DCC doesn't work for me. I'm only one person with a big mouth, but I don't think I'm alone. The loco is too odd for my liking. I can only hope Bachmann is working on something that WILL be popular like the K-4, a NYC J1, 3a Hudson, or maybe a 2-6-6-6 Allegheny. Best of luck with the 4-6-0.

[skipgear]

Dear All,
Incidentally. the tenders were discontinued because sales did not support them. Obviously, if sales were good, they would not have been discontinued.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

We sold through the large vanderbilt and shorter tenders pretty quick because they were unique. The standard USRA and long USRA stagnated because most loco's already come with one of those tenders behind them. Please don't base slow sales on the tenders that really didn't have a market to begin with. I'm reordering short tenders again this week for our shop, hopefully to have them in stock and ready for the 4-6-0's to arrive. I still would like to see the VC12 tender from the H4 available seperately. I did some horse trading to get one for myself off of a loco that was getting kitbashed and needed the long USRA tender. I was happy to trade a long USRA to get the VC12.

Maybe the slow sales of the standard USRA is one of the reasons to use it on the 4-6-0, plenty of extra stock to use up.

There have been quite a few articles written and forum posts about swaping tenders. I've written a few myself for the Ntrak magazines. I'm trying to help sales to keep them alive. Hanging one of the new tenders on the back of the 0-6-0 radically improves it's performance.