Bachmann Diesel locomotives

[Santa Fe buff]

Or... www.modeltrainstuff.com

I love my GP40, it's a shame that Bachmann's plastic is too soft to strip the paint by using brake fluid.


Oh well.

Joshua

[jward]

you can often find the dcc equipped gp40s for around that price.
it would be cheaper to buy one with dcc already than to try to convert a non dcc one. figure on probably $15-20 for a basic decoder.

btw, santa fe only had one gp40.

[mf5117]

well I kinda ordered the gp40 set powered and nonpowered units non dcc . but thats ok . if i need to put a decoder in the dc gp40 I will . I did see the dcc gp 40 sante fa on a couple of site's cheep .
problems with wants and want it now . I can use them .

I do have one more question . I also bought a dcc ft-b unit "sante fa war bonnet" I have the  FT-A unit  .will they run ok together in consist A/B unit  together . on the dcc ez command controller. If not I will wait until i upgrade . I was looking at the dynamis controller from bachmann ...not sure about that one would like to here some feedback on it .

[mf5117]

still had some to post . I bought a new laptop for the train room still getting used to it . The tech is pretty good at our LCH . I will pick up a decoder , for the powered DC  gp40 As I need some experience in this area .

Why do the bachmann decoders have a hard time with being compatible .in use with other dcc controllers . as all my engines are Bachmann dcc on board

[Jim Banner]

Is it possible to add a dcc decoder to the powered locomotive in the set  .the ho set is on sale for 39.95 .

It is possible to add a decoder to virtually all locomotives H0 scale and larger and to many locomotives smaller than H0 scale.  How easy or how hard it may be and whether it is worth it depends on the particular model and who manufactured it.

Why do the bachmann decoders have a hard time with being compatible .in use with other dcc controllers . as all my engines are Bachmann dcc on board

The only compatibility problem I am aware of is the difficult often experienced when trying to program one with a Digitrax Zephyr.  The fix for that is easy.  Just connect a 1000 ohm across the track when programming.  The often quoted advice of just laying the resistor across the rails may frustrate you more than not using one at all.  If the resistor wires and the rails make poor contact, the resistor trick may work one time and not the next.  You are better off to get two alligator clips when you buy your resistor.  Attach one to each wire and clip them to the rails.  Alligator clips come in both solder on and screw on styles.

There may be other compatibility problems that I am not aware of.  If so, I would like to learn about them.

Jim

[Santa Fe buff]

jrward,
Mine technically isn't Santa Fe. I used White-Out on the "Santa Fe" lettering on the side, and I took off the numbering on the cab. I was going to make it ex-Santa Fe, but then I found out that it look stupid, and it runs good nevertheless.

Joshua

[jward]

i am probably going to do the same thing with some conrail engines. the story is my railroad bought some old engines off conrail dirt cheap. the white out was a good idea, but white out wasn't what you wanted. it is better to buy decal striping, and cover the number and lettering with that. look at photos of conrail in the late 1970s and you will see many instances of locomotives with their former identity patched out. the same goes with the milwaukee road after it was taken over by soo line in 1985.

csx and norfolk southern left the locomotive's paint scheme intact, but patched out the number.

[mf5117]

I finally got my gp40 set from historicrail.com .the blue and yellow santa fe's . I love them ,they are so fricken cool . I didn't know it but they are bachmann products . Says on the box , Great Plans Dist .  HO emd gp40 powered and nonpowered plus caboose . I'm going to put dcc in the powered loco this weekend ....... Yeahhhhhh   now I'm waiting for a FT-B unit sante fa war bonnet and 3 more 40ft pulpwood flats with load . I got 4 sante fa 50 ft flats with 45ft trailer and 2 40ft flats with beech bananza airplanes , last weekend . Almost done buying rolling stock . But I know i'll see something else ,so maybe I'm not done.

[Dr EMD]

Historic Rail is not the only source. Shop around to $$$ save.

[mf5117]

I know there is other place's to save money . Historicrail was the only place out of about 10 that had what i wanted . the rolling stock i got from wholesale trains .  just like the pulpwood cars I've been looking for 6 months for those . the load and flat car combo . In the walthers flyer , they sell the load but no flat car . "bulkhead" . Or you go to shops and they have one or no sets . Or unavailable unavailable . Then if you have no patience and buy online, you pay for more shipping , so what are you saving . But anyway i got what i wanted . I know the tech,  so just the cost of the decoder . He will help me install it . And i have my 3 gp40's for consist . Cool 

[Loco722]

Hello there!

I received my Bachmann GP40 today !

It is a GP40 with Union Pacific livery.

I ran it to make sure it worked fine and it did ! Runs smooth-I was expecting it to be jerky since it had no fly wheel-and has really nice low speed performance!

Thanks to all who gave me info !

There seems to be one problem, when the throttle is at 1/4 to between 1/2 to 3/4, it emits a small groaning noise. I ran it for an hour or so and the noise now seemed to have reduced.

Did anyone else experience this with their new Bachmann GP40s ?

Thanks in advance!

Loco 722.

[abu0724]

I bought a digital commander set with a GP40 inside. it makes the same groaning noise at low speed. tried to take off the shell and do some inspections but no luck.

[Loco722]

Hello,

Thanks abu0724.

Despite the groaning noise it runs well ! So I assume I need not worry about it!

Loco 722.

[PhilipCal]

I've had generally good results with Bachmann locomotives. In my mind at least,  we need to keep in mind that Bachmann builds locomotives at two quality levels. First the standard Bachmann engine. Generally, pretty good looking, fair pullers, not bad little engines. Enter Bachmann "Spectrum" locomotives. Steam,diesel, electric, these are great locomotives. I have two steamers.(Excursion service) and four Spectrum diesels. Great performers. They pull well, I can MU them with other engines, even those of other manufacturers. In short, great engines.