Missed Christmas present

[bnoem1]

Dear Bachmann:

Hoping for next year!  Santa didn't leave me a USRA Heavy Pacific in N scale.  I was good, I asked nicely too.  Maybe you can help him out next year.  What a great mechanism you have for the PRR K4.  Maybe you can turn your elves loose and let them make a heavy and light Pacific with DCC and Sound?  One road name could be Baltimore & Ohio.  Thanks for listening/reading.

Yours Truly,
BnOEM1

[fleming22]

Are these models still produced?

[bnoem1]

the only N scale pacific produced by Bachmann is the PRR K4.  It is a great runner and sound is fantastic, but the Belpaire firebox limits it to PRR.  There is a model made by another manufacturer but it is not easy to service and the lack of free standing detail is a deal breaker to me these days. 

[dtpowell]

Model Power made/makes a USRA light Pacific. I have a couple of them they were first made without traction tires and slipped excessively. They did sell replacement tired drivers I switched out. Not a beginner project. They run well now. Over the past couple of years I've seen they produce several steam locos with the tires, micro trains couplers and DCC with sound. MB Klein did carry them . Also, check  Utube.for a video. I believe there is at least one out there that shows one in operation. We still need more steam in N scale like Bachmann' K4 and beautiful new Hudson. Thank you Bachmann for remembering us steam fans with some great locomotives.

[brokemoto]

There is yet another manufacturer that offers a nice USRA light Mikado in N scale.  The detail and runnability are nice.  They do offer a USRA light Pacific in HO, but not in N, yet.  The problem with running that one on DC only would be getting it up to track speed.  The slow speed is good for a Mikado, but you want a Pacific to run at a faster track speed.

Only one road ever had originals of the USRA heavy Pacific:  Erie.  Erie also had copies.  B&O and Southern had some Pacifics that were essentially copies of the USRA heavy, but not quite.  The USRA heavy had seventy-nine inch drivers while the K-4 had eighty, so that difference would not be noticeable in N if B-mann were to do it on the K-4 chassis.  If B-mann had it constructed with the left hand lead of the Penn, that difference might be noticeable to those who know what that looks like.

The MP/MRC initial issues of the USRA light Pacific and Mikado suffered from the same out of date construction meithods as did the original MP:  half wheels live tenders.  Once you substituted a B-mann SPECTRUM or Kato USRA Standard for the stock tender, you got  a real winner in performance.  I understand that MRC has corrected that error in later issues, FINALLY.  With an all wheels live tender, they are excellent runners, but, are sorely behind to-day's standards as far as details.  The handrailings are cast-on instead of separately applied.  Before MRC, MP did make the upgrade to its moguls and eight-wheelers.  It escapes me why MRC did not make the upgrade to separately applied details when it absorbed the MP line.

The B-mann "smart" decoder does seem to respond better to DC than most other so-called "smart decoders", although there is a lack of consistency among models.  The EM-1 will crawl very nicely on DC whereas the B-mann ALCo mogul will not.  Further, the B-mann decoder does not stand up to DC as well as the others.  I have fried numerous B-mann decoders on DC.  I did manage to fry and MRC the other day, though.,  It is simple to wire around the B-mann decoder once you do fry it.  The MRC is not that easy.  The B-manns do run nicely without a decoder, especially at slow speed.