Comments on 2011 NMRA New Product Announcements

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Bachmann,

1.  You guys have been busy.  Very impressive new products in all scales.   

2.  Please, please, please, may I be the first to ask?:

Will the Schnabel car run on 15" radius curves?



Thanks.

Joe Satnik

[jonathan]

Good one, Joe.

If you don't mind Mr. Bach-Man, I would like to ask a question about your new plug in sound units.

Will the new 16-bit Tsunami units be dual mode?

In other words, when I plug in the sound unit to my EM-1, will I be able to squeeze out a few sounds on my DC layout?

Either way, I will want the sound unit. It may mean I'm constrained to run this beast on the club layout, or on a modular display.  Although, I don't know how I'll feel about moving this locomotive from place-to-place.

Guess I'll have to get two, just in case.  Hope you make lots and lots as I can probably only afford to buy one per year.  These babies will really eat into my train budget.

Thanks again for the great new HO offerings!  I don't need 15" radius... 18" will be fine.

Regards,

Jonathan

[ACY]

Will the Schnabel car run on 15" radius curves?

Actually, Joe, it might run on 15" radius, but the overhang would be incredibly ridiculous, I know the Bachmann China version makes 18" radius, but there is entirely too much overhang. For realistic model railroading you would probably want to run this on 40" or broader radius curves to limit the overhang to a more realistic amount.

[richg]

Good one, Joe.

If you don't mind Mr. Bach-Man, I would like to ask a question about your new plug in sound units.

Will the new 16-bit Tsunami units be dual mode?

In other words, when I plug in the sound unit to my EM-1, will I be able to squeeze out a few sounds on my DC layout?

Either way, I will want the sound unit. It may mean I'm constrained to run this beast on the club layout, or on a modular display.  Although, I don't know how I'll feel about moving this locomotive from place-to-place.

Guess I'll have to get two, just in case.  Hope you make lots and lots as I can probably only afford to buy one per year.  These babies will really eat into my train budget.

Thanks again for the great new HO offerings!  I don't need 15" radius... 18" will be fine.

Regards,

Jonathan

Bachmann would not have it any other way. They want lower cost sound for steamers and diesels. They are trying for this market. I have not seen a document for the diesel version but all the Bachmann Steamers with SoundTraxx are dual mode and have some sounds that are automatic.
Athearn has the SoundTraxx in their diesels and are dual mode. Since SoundTraxx is all ready making a dual mode diesel decoder, I suspect Bachmann will have an arraignment to supply about the same style decoder. Bachmann may have an advantage as Athearn has already paved the way with SoundTraxx. Software will probably be the biggest difference. Ok, lighting might be also depending on the particular diesel.

Rich

[jward]

my thoughts are:
finally, sound equipped diesels that are affordable. these would sell for about the same price as say an atlas diesel without sound or dcc. and given the quality of the recent bachmann diesels, i am excitedly awaiting them.

some food for thought.....

the alco fa2 and the rs3 both used the same engine block, the alco 244. can we expect a sound equipped rs3 sometime in the near future?

on to the freight cars:

some have suggested that the HO freight cars look alot like some discontinued lifelike offerings. is this the case, or are they completely new tooling? if they are the old tooling, i have no problem with that. i assume they have been upgraded to
current standards and as such would run as well as any other silver series car.

all in all, i think bachmann is trying to bankrupt me by releasing so many goodies every year.

[Doneldon]

Joe-

I agree with ACY that a Schnabel would look ridiculous on such tight curves. But there's an operational consideration, too: Clearance. If you have any curves at tunnels, beneath bridges, on top of bridges with sides, in narrow cuts or along parallel tracks, you are likely to have major clearance problems with both the ends and, especially, the middles of the Schnabels. Twelve-inches-to-the-foot railroads encounter clearance problems with oversize loads, too, and they must make special arrangements to handle them. Often this involves sending such loads via a circuitous route which avoids the obstacles at the cost of many extra miles and possibly the use of other railroads' trackage. Few model railroads have this option but I suppose you could leave the overly long car on an interchange track with the Five-Fingers Railroad and then bring it back on your line after the clearance conflict, at a second interchange with the FFR or another correspondent line. Sending your Schnabel on a flying FFR might not seem prototypical but it's no worse than taking a saw to tunnel portals or rebuilding all of your bridges.

While all of this sounds a little silly, it's really no sillier than your original question. It's a great example of dry humor. Thank you for it.
                                                                                                                                                                                                          -- D

[jward]

one of the interesting things about the real scnabels is that at least some of them have the ability to shift the load from side to side about 3 feet. this allows the load to creep past lineside structures like station platforms. but the load is normally centered when operating in a train.

the high and wide trains in which these cars operate usually consist of the schanbel, an idler car or two at each end, and a caboose on the rear where the "expiditers" ride. these are people whose job it is to ensure the load incurs no damage enroute, and to make sure the train isn't stashed in a siding and forgotten about.

in operation, the high and wide trains make painfully slow progress down the line. they incur hours waiting in sidings or at designated "wide spots" for other trains to get around them, and make a mad dash for the next location when traffic clears.

the model schnabel will make a nice "throw a wrench in the works" train on a model railroad.

[RAM]

When I saw the picture,  I just wondered how long before this question would come up. Will the Schnabel car run on 15" radius curves? It didn't take long.

[the Bach-man]

Dear All,
When I had the test model for painting, I tried it on 18" radius.
No problem, unless you're a lineside phone pole...
The sound locos are dual mode.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Matlac]

Great announcements so far, they made my day. Always looking for good little steam engines.

However, my question is about the FA-2 and FB-2. Is it too early to know what paint scheme will be used for the Canadian National version (the gold and green) or the early zebra (red, black and white stripes) from 1961. Any of them would be nice, both I would be even more pleased with a set of zebra engines.

Thank you.

Matt