Sloooooow Train?

[Inder]

I recently bought a Bachmann spectrum 2-8-0 and the unit is slower compared to my Kato Amtrak or my Atlas C-28.  About a third of the speed as the Kato Amtrak and about half the speed of the C-628.
But when I turn the dial it only takes about a quarter of the turn and the Bachmann 2-8-0 begins turning at a very slow, constant and precise speed which means it has a phenomenal motor and does not require a lot of voltage to get started.  It's top speed is just not  high but it is a steam model.

However just the other day I plugged in a 9v power supply by accident and I had to turn the dial 90% just to get the locomotives to start moving.

I suspect issues with the power supply since you didn't mention anything about a jerky motion

[SteamGene]

Real Consolidations were built for tractive effort and not speed.  The model merely duplicates the original.  You will find the same thing with the Proto 2000 USRA heavy 2-10-2 - it's slow. 
Gene

[dwight.dwart]

Both of my 2-8-0s started running slow with a lot of gear and motor noise after a couple of hours running.
I had to take them apart and put a drop of oil on the motor bearings to get then to run right.

[Inder]

Yes it's slow but boy can it pull some cars.  It pulls cars like it's nobody's business

[dwight.dwart]

I have the stock decoder in one, and a MRC decoder in the other. The MRC decoder is much more responsive and faster than the stock one.