Bachmann Spectrum DCC-Equipped SD-45 GREAT NORTHERN#407 NIB

[WGL]

  I got an excellent price on this locomotive in the railroad & era I wanted.  It arrived today.  It looks beautiful.  However, it pulls my 11 cars (with freight) only half as fast as the cheap Walthers F7 (4-wheel drive) that came with my train set!  The Walthers takes 16 seconds for a lap around my 38' DC track at 4/5 speed on the 7 VA power pack.  The Bachmann takes 30 seconds at full throttle!  Why is this?  Do I need a more powerful power pack?

[ajp3751]

The walthers 4wheel drive model is probably the old life like model. This was a strong puller but not prototypical in speed. How often do you see a freight train in your town travelling at 100mph. The spectrum model is a much better quality model and probably runs at a more resonable scale speed. I have never heard of a 7v power supply either, just 12v and 16v. That might be another reason why your new locomotive seems to be sluggish.

[Jhanecker2]

A   7 VA  is a seven volt -ampere power supply  or  seven watt power supply .   It is probably puting  out   7/12th of an ampere at  12 volts. Just for comparison ; I was Watching  two  CNW   ( UP )  diesels pulling a 50 car set of three level , loaded auto transporters at about  30-40 mph outside my window . Now thats pulling power !!!

[WGL]

ajp3751,
  My power supply is 7VA Maximum output, so I wonder if a 16 0r 17 VA maximum output power supply would speed up my SD-45.  I hadn't considered that it might be scaled down to "scale speed."  Does this look correct:  Bachmann Spectrum SD-45 travels 6612' HO scale feet (2 laps on my layout) a minute, times 60 = 396,720' an hour / 5280 = 75 scale mph!  It certainly doesn't seem to be travelling that fast!  It doesn't travel much faster all by itself at full throttle, while the Walters F7 would careen off the track.
  Jhanecker2,
  Last evening, I watched 2 Union Pacific locomotives moving cars, apparently to a siding, so that seems to be the railroad we have in West-Central Wisconsin.  I'm originally from northern Minnesota, so I feel nostalgic about the Great Northern.

[ajp3751]

Jhanecker2 has a point about the VA (volt-ampere) and I was talking about volts. I'm not much of an electrician so he might have a point there. Is the power supply you are using the one that came with the walthers set? Your math seems to prove my point that the locomotive is acually travelling the right speed although it looks slow. I had and still have some of the old life-like now walthers engines. It seemed those could fly if EMD put wings on the engine. The spectrum will be the more acurate model.

I also just realized something. Your new engine is has the decoder already in it. The engine will run better if on a DCC controller but will run just fine on DC.

[Santa Fe buff]

A   7 VA  is a seven volt -ampere power supply  or  seven watt power supply .   It is probably puting  out   7/12th of an ampere at  12 volts. Just for comparison ; I was Watching  two  CNW   ( UP )  diesels pulling a 50 car set of three level , loaded auto transporters at about  30-40 mph outside my window . Now thats pulling power !!!

I've seen a GP38-2 pull a 30 car train of loaded hoppers at 25 mph! And two GEs pull a 102 car train of loaded hoppers at 60 mph!!
The pulling power is undeniable!
Josh.

[WGL]

ajp3751,
  Yes, my power supply came with the Walthers train set.  After reading here about Bachmann's E-Z Command Control as Plug & Play & costing less than half the Digitraz Zephyr "entry level" DCC that the train person at the hobby shop tried to sell me, I am interested in getting DCC, instead of a more powerful DC transformer.

[mechanic]

ajp3751,
  Yes, my power supply came with the Walthers train set.  After reading here about Bachmann's E-Z Command Control as Plug & Play & costing less than half the Digitraz Zephyr "entry level" DCC that the train person at the hobby shop tried to sell me, I am interested in getting DCC, instead of a more powerful DC transformer.

Thats whats great about Bachmanns E-Z command.
Its E-Z to use
Its E-Z to understand
and its E-Z to afford.
Eric

[WGL]

Eric, I now have the E-Z Command Control & am enjoying it.  I like that my DCC locomotive remembers what speed I left it at when I switch to the DC locomotive's address to regulate its speed to avoid collisions.