Hello David,
According to Bachmanns wbsite, the RS3 will have flywheels.

Rob

  I don't understand why your company chose not to include flywheels on your latest diesels, (except for the 44 tonner which is too small and I understand that) the GP 7, RS 3 and any steamers you make should all have flywheels.  They are a necessity in N scale due to the lightness of the locomotives.  It allows the locomotive to coast over slight/minor electrical interuptions, (which are bound to happen even with the best pickup available) we are not talking huge flywheels, and are not looking for coasting effects, we are looking at smoothing out the motor pulses when the motor doesn't get consistant electrical pickup.   Please tell you engineers that including them is a requirement.   I myself will not ever purchase locomotives that are not equipped with them.

For an information point of view and a prototype speed afictionado one of the best (if not the best) locomotives in N scale ever made was made by your company.

Thats right, and that model was ER's Sharknose, it had quite a good gear reduction, large flywheels, and was (is) the smoothest models I own bar none.  Puts all the other models to shame in regards to scale speeds, switching speeds, and smooth gradual acceleration.

You would be well rewarded with sales if you would just mimic the design of this particular locomotive.  I have 12 of them.   With a dcc decoder the speed range is so right, so correct, I don't even have to mess with the speed tables *Unless the decoder is out to lunch)

Some folks think they are noisy, they are on pulse, they quiet down on smooth dc or dcc.   What that tells me is you would need to tighten the tolerances down somewhat, because whats making the noise is slight rattling of the drive train because the tolerances are a bit too loose.

At the production numbers you guys put out, flywheels shouldn't be excluded, and if you want to keep selling me locomotives and guys like me whom enjoy the best operation with a minimum of fuss. 

  Flywheels:  please tell your engineers that they need to include them in all locomotives, not just the spectrum.   

Rob 40 years in model railroading most of which was in N scale.

Will the new RS 3 come with flywheels?, also
Did the GP7 have flywheels?

This is important for me!

Rob

question for the bachmann:

Does the new 2 10 2 come flywheel equipped?

Rob

 
Hello Bachmann,
  I have to say, you guys are doing some very nice work lately.  I do like the trolley, the 70 tonner, and the GP7.  The 4 6 0 is certainly nice to have. 


  I do think however, (*and this is a constructive criticism) that you could of made a different choice on the 4 6 0.

  Given that you were intent on using available tenders I would of changed the the prototype to a later more modern 4 6 0.   New York Central had some 4 6 0's that had
modern appliances, a high boiler that would of fitted the tender you currently used much better.
On top of that you would of had more room for motor and flywheel.   

The resultant change would have represented a much more common prototype and balance well with the tender you have chosen to use. 
  Since most of sales of these were (probably) intended for adults, the locomotive and tender (with its more homogenized appearance) would have made a more attractive combination than the current prototype you chose to use.
  I submit the above based on what I believe is most modeled steam era today, and that is the transitition era (late 40's to late 50's) when steam was still around.

Granted the prototype you used might have been around up until then, the I believe the more modernized 4 6 0 would of been more appropriate, and matched the tender you chose to use.

Hats off to the crews for doing reasonably great on all the new issues.   If I had any other concerns, its the lack of using the latest electrical pickup methodologies vice the wipers as used on the GP's and trolley, and the 44 tonner.   Experience shows cone axle electrical pickup is more reliable,  less sensitive to dirt and friction free.

Rob Anchorage, Ak

    You guys are making finely detailed steam, and diesels.  Everything else in the bachmann line looks like toys in  comparison.   Is anyone looking at upgrading the rest? 

  The plasticville line looks like something we had back in the 70's.
  Freight cars? between model power and bachmann I dont know which is on the bottom of the barrel details wise.

Rob

Hey hobo1,

Kato's tooling is how many years old?  Yes its the benchmark, how much did the mountain cost you?  todays tooling costs? and who in the Hll is protoline?

Athearns cost how much? don't count the 260 and 280 because they are too simplified.  Model power, when they come out with all wheel friction free tender pickup, they will  be a contender in the reliability dept, not in the detailing department.  I have two. they need tenders with all wheel pickup.

rob
PS I'm not nuts, I just have enough locomotives to choke a tyrannasaur.

 You guys keep this up in N scale and you'll be the leader in this scale.  ((you are already in the steam department)

  My only issue with the tenders is for the price you could of had magnetic couplers, instead.   I haven't had them out of the box yet, but there is a few model power steamers slated to get them. maybe one of the old riviarossis or concor units too if I can turn the wheels down.

Rob

Favorite Steam?

   In New York Central steam:   Niagra 484, Mohawk 482, Hudson, 464 in all three major versions:  the standard J1 E, the bullet nose Century limited, the Empire state express,  Mikado: the H10 a or B.
   And if Bachmann ever gets the small motor situation solved, how about a very unique locomotive the 466T  its a passenger  steamer that ran in both directions without turning.  It looked and was very powerful.  Nice looking loco
with lot of room in the boiler and cab for motor, flywheel, and weight.
460 would be nice to have.

Rob

Hello Bachmann,

  Please send this to the chain of command for a product suggestions: Thank you.

    Now that you have a very good heavy Mountain chassis may I suggest you utilize it to creat a New York Central Mohawk, which has never been done in N scale in plastic.   All you would need to do is manufacturer the boiler, cab, tender to get there, along with the appropiate details like the lead and trailing trucks.  In looking at this again, the Mohawk had 69 inch drivers, I believe your mountain has 63"  maybe this would be the best idea.  but then again who knows?  Maybe a survey would answer that.

  Suggestion number 2:
There is a good market for New York Central hudsons (all versions)  The concor units are long in tooth, poorly running (most of them anyway) and poor representations of the prototype.  You could do the Chassies,  Make all variations of wheel types,  Cast three different boilers/cabs, the oriiginal non streamlined version, the bullet nose hudson, and the Empire state express.   Additionally you could also make the pt4 tender which was used on many of the New York Central engines as well as some other railroads.

Note:  there is a serious demand for these, as one could observe on ebay,they don't last long and command premium prices.   

Another suggestion:  The Niagra, it hasn't been done in plastic either, and since it used the PT4 tender, you would already have the tooling done (as per the NYC hudson used it also.   be aware that the Central switched tenders on various units during their lifetimes.   This would maximize you use of the tooling, and since they are great sellers yield a bigger profit than
just producing a single prototype.

Another suggestion: and although I am not a Pennsy modeler, here is an opportuniity to jump on an opportunity.    Kato is coming out with Pennsy passenger cars, for the GG1 many of which were once pulled by the Pennsy
K4 Pacifics.    If you make the Pacifics, the passenger cars will already be available to the market place.    Its nice that the GG1 is going to be made, but my concern is how many Pennsy modelers are going to buy them, because they Require the overhead wiring to attain any semblance of realism.   The K4 will fix that, in that the catenary will not be required.  Given the choice of the two, if I was a Pennsy modeler, not having to build catenary and using the K4 instead would be a viable alternative.

Your use of metal boilers with added details are what was needed in N scale,  good show keep up the good work. and please, do send the above information to the teams responsable for the decision making processes.

Robert

 
Dear Bachmann,

  Please pass this message up the chain of command for all to read especially the design team, and the CEO of Bachmann Enterprises.

  A short history on me:   I am retired Navy, I've been in Model railroading 40 years now, most of which have been in N scale.  I've owned about every model at one time or another of N scale steam and diesel.  From Kato, Atlas, Lifelike (now Walthers) Intermountain, PCM, a multitude of brass (from different companies..

  The RF16 Shark (aside from a few shortcomings, the couplers and the weight) is the best running scale N diesel on the market today.   PCM came out with some pretty nice E7's, but the Sharks actually run better than the E7's do.    Some of us modelers figured out that the gear reduction in the Sharks is about 33:1.  This ratio along with the motor flywheel combination gives the most realistic speed range of any locomotive on the market.   I use dcc,   and the model runs so well it isn't necessary to program a speed curve into the decoder, I only  add momentum to the starting and stopping CV's.

Higher gear ratios as in the Shark actually contribute to higher traction capability. Like a automobile, If you step on the gas to hard you break traction (or in our case friction)  metal wheels on metal rails don't have alot a friction unless one or two factors are there.  weight, and or smooth controlled speed. 
  Currently of all the companies making N scale diesels or steam for the US market have top speeds in their diesel of 100 plus mph.  I'm not quite sure of the gear reduction they are using, but I can tell you its not near the 33:1 the sharks have.

Top speeds on Atlas varies from 104 to 120, Lifelike about the same, Kato above 150. Intermountain similar to Atlas, and PCM about 100.  The sharks on the other hand have a maximum speed of about 80 mph (about 5 mph more than the prototype) I'm not sure on your latest Spectrum because I don't own any at present,  the operation didn't impress me at the time. Add some weight to the Sharks and they will pull better than any diesel out there, without traction tires. The gear reduction also gets the motor into its torque curve better.  This equates to smooth low speeds (somewhere around 2 to 3 mph) at start,.  This also helps with running long trains, smoothness is the key to keeping the trains on the track. Any experienced modeler or prototype railroader will tell you that.

The Shark models appearance is outstanding, with separately applied handrails, crisp body details. 

  Since Bachmann has been upgrading the steam to spectrum standards I would imagine you would do the same with your diesel line.  Well gentleman
the RF 16 Shark could of been your cornerstone model.  The basis for comparison.   Since your company made the Sharks for ER and you have the
specifications and know which factory did the work, most of the major work is done for you.(other than designing or redesigning another model)

  Your steam Locomotive line in appearance and operaton (with the new Heavy mountain) are outstanding.  Not one companys product compares with the mountain in price, appearance and operation.  The closest being Athearn's Challenger, and thats double the price.

  Your steam locomotives have separately applied details, so should your diesels.  I'm not talking every single grab iron, but the major ones on the Cab units (F units) would of been (in my opinion) deserving of the "spectrum" line.
additionally please consider dropping the old rapido couplers.  They are outdated, oversize, and hamper conversion to knuckle couplers.

  Customer base:
  I know this part is sensitive to some people, but your customer base is actually older than you think.  I used to work in Hobby shops when on shore duty, and originally right out of high school, and from observation, most long term customers (or regular model railroaders) buy locomotives in quantity,
They kitbash, modify, or just buiild large fleets.  New purchasers that come in the hobbyshop (say we have 100 newbees come in around Christmas)  don't often become long term modelers(actually less than 4 become long term modelers)  nor do they buy in quantity.   They will build a layout sometimes two, and then they end up in the closet or on ebay.  Where'as your modelers often buy locomotives, cars, scenery, buildings , control systems, signal systems.  These folks are serious in their modeling attempts. and generally always find money to purchase items, ESPECIALLY GOOD OR OUTSTANDING models.    I may venture a guess that your latest release of the heavy mountain will have brisk sales in comparision to your previous offerings.  (I'lll bet the Spectrum 2 8 0 was and is a good seller in all scales)  The major reason was the 280 was a very wanted model.

   In conclusion:

  You have (or had) in the RF16 the winning combination of whats needed in
N scale diesel locomotive detailing and more importantly operation.  Copy, mimick, reproduce the same appearance levels and operating qualities in your diesel line and take the N scale lead as the best products out there.

   I thank you all for you time and sincerly hope you consider the above suggestions. 

   To the Bachmann, please insure this gets up the chain of Command at all levels and although I'm not looking for a response if anyone at Bachmann Enterprises wishes to contact me may do so at my email: [email protected]

Thank you
Robert S. Dressel, OS1
U.S.N. (Ret)

 

Ques 1.  I understand that Bachmann was contracted to manufacture the ER models sharks is this correct?

Ques 2.  If the answer is yes, (and I hope it is) then bachmann please tell your product development team that these locomotives are the best running N scale models in the industry Period.  No one comes close, they start about 1 mph smoothly, and increase speed (like a turbine engine) all the way to their top speed of 80 mph.  (so they are what 5 mph faster than the prototype maybe?)   What makes them so great is the motor and gear reduction combination.  I wouldn't change a thing.  Anyone whom thinks they are too slow, needs to switch to slot car racing.  As for noise the choice of power pack makes all the difference.
  In effect these sharks running characteristics are how all N scale diesel models should run.

Ques 3.  If you are going to keep manufacturing the line, perhaps you can get digitrax to put out the original dcc decoder they made for it a few years ago.
 

Rob
40 year model railroader.

Hello Glen,
   The window was reasonably priced not high end steam. So I don't agree with you,  Granted the Athearn is doing well with their issues,  The Challenger isn't what I call  medium price.  Its feature rich, and unless they come out with ones that are basic locos without all the bells and whistles than we have no bases of comparison (at least as far as Athearn is concerned).  the 260 and 280 are too simplified to count in the equation.   The only other manuf that right now has med steam is Concor, and its 2-10--2  is 3 feet too long and way overpriced, agree on that?

Rob

Hello Scotty,
  Yes its wrong and I'll be the first to admit it. but I'm lazy when it comes to typing.. Since the discussion is on steam, it didn't take rocket science to figure out what I meant.   Regardless the posts main theme is Bachmanns outstanding new heavy Mountain.  I whole heartedly recommend anyone looking for med steam to consider it as your first purchase.  You cannot go wrong, (unless you have 9 inch radius curves that is)

Rob

  Noise is usually  a combination of things, and gear reduction doesn't nec  mean more, depends on the  makeup of the gears..

  Atlas's new slow speed motor generally means a top end speed of 104 to 115 mph.  the original motor put out about 200 mph,  Er models Sharks have a higher reduction and a slow speed motor, they top out at about 80 mph.  It is good to note that the type of pack you have will either make the loco quieter or noiser.

Locos that respond well to smoother dcc are the ER sharks. Packs with high v spikes, square wave, 1/2 wave dc generally make more noise.   Loose body shells will  also magnify noise, as poor lubrication. try a plastic compat grease on the  gears, and insure the motor fits snugly in its holder or frame.

Rob