I am in need of a front tender truck for my EM1.  The parts catalogue shows these as 'Sold Out'.  Will more be coming in and if so, when?

What you are experiencing is the ballast floating on the wet water.  Try using Scenic Express ballast.  It is real rock and tends to stay where placed.  It is also cheaper than the Woodland Scenic ballast.

My vote goes for a 2-10-0 decapod, specifically a PRR I1.   Actually doing PRR steam has economic advantages for a manufacturer.  The PRR standardized everything they could.  So freight power had the same diameter drivers as well as pilot and trailing trucks/wheels. Valve gear was standardized as well.  Same with tenders.  The Bachmann 2-8-0 would need a new boiler casting to be an H 8,9,10 and could be the basis for a L1 2-8-2 or an I1 2-10-0.

I stated in another thread I am not sure this is a good move by Bachmann.  They sold a ton of the old issue 2-8-0's which were pretty easy to convert to DCC and sound.  So Bachmann has the unenviable problem of competing against their own product.  But lets look at the DCC and sound model as that, along with the price, is what sets this offering apart.  For $400. you get a sound equipped 2-8-0.  Now that is MSRP and Bachmann has a high markup.  The K4 released last year had an MSRP of $360 and a 'street price' of about $240.  Even today you will find them for $225.  So let's assume a discount of 33% so the $400 MSRP becomes $267.  OKay so much for the pricing now let's look at the DDC and sound.  The Bachmann decoder is not a top of the line decoder nor is the speaker.   Better decoders can be gotten.  Factor in that Bachmann's QC is not good and you may be putting out a lot of money for a poor locomotive.  

Now let's look at taking an older issue model, one that we not only already have but have run.  We know how it runs so quality control is not an issue.  What would it take to turn this into DCC with sound and how much would it cost?  We would need a sound decoder such as a Lok Sound mini, a speaker like one of the 'sugar cube' types and installation.  Installation is not difficult and we can choose to install them ourselves or, if we are feint of heart, have someone to do it for us.  So how much will this cost?  A ESU Lok sound decoder will cost about $110 although I have gotten them for $80.  Good 'sugar cube' speakers go for $5-10 or so.  So for $120 we have all the components we need.  The installation is not difficult and can be done in about two hours or less.  Local clubs usually have some techno savy person who will do installations quite cheaply for say $50.00 per locomotive.  So for $170 we have a locomotive that we know is a good running locomotive versus a $267 locomotive that may or may not run as well and we will have a better decoder and speaker to boot.  

This is the competition that Bachmann faces.  Had the original 2-8-0 been designed so that installation of a decoder would be difficult then we would have a different situation but as it is I think Bachmann has taken on  a difficult problem.  It is one thing to compete with Athearn, Atlas, Kato , Model Power and the like but when you create your own competition you complicate matters more than necessary.

The thing is that this same scenario works out for any of Bachmann's recent steam offerings that did not have sound as they are all constructed to the same basic design so it would not matter which locomotive they chose.  But because of the sheer number of 2-8-0's they sold previously it is particularly applicable to the 2-8-0 model.

There is a tutorial in the DCC and Electronics forum of Trainboard that details an installation in the Bachmann 2-8-0.  Go here to review it.:

http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/esu-loksound-in-a-bachmann-2-8-0-consolidation.83915/

This tutorial is about a year old.  There have been some improvements.  Knowles speakers with sound directed out the bottom of the tender rather through the coal load was one change.

A 2-8-0 based on a PRR H10 would be nice.  The K4's did well so I would think the H series would do likewise.  Also the PRR was not the only road too have these.  After being bumped from the PRR roster many of these locomotives were sold to short line coal haulers in the East.   

Hellooooo, Is anyone home?  What good is it to "ask the Bachmann" if no one responds?

When will the tender trucks and wheelsets become available?

I got a Bachmann heavy mountain and an EM1 that I want to add sound to.  Any recommendations on a sound decoder?

Quote from: brokemoto on August 28, 2015, 10:14:19 AM
I  would have to wonder if a USRA light would fit onto the K-4 power chassis.  The K-4 was a heavy Pacific.  The K-4 had seventy-four inch drivers, the USRA light had seventy-three.  The driver size would not be that big a deal.  My experience with B-mann drivers is that they scale out a bit small, as it is.  I suspect that B-mann casues this to be done so that the things will go around sharper curves.  Thus, I would not be surprised if the drivers on this scaled out to seventy-two, or, even seventy inches.   Thie latter would allow a closer-to-accurate chassis for several roads that had lower drivered Pacifics, such as Western Maryland.

The K4 had 80 inch drivers.  Bachmann's model will either have undersized drivers or a longer driver wheel base.  The reason is that on the prototype K4 the drivers had 1 inch flanges and there was only one inch spacing between drivers flanges.  Reproducing that flange in N scale would equal .00625 inches.  That is less than 1/3 the NMRA standard.  With a flange that small keeping the locomotive on the track would be impossible.

Maybe by doing the GG1 Bachmann is sending a message to Kato to stick with western roads.

I tried 91% alcohol on a 2-10-2 tender.  It had a difficult time with the white paint but did work.  Unfortunately it did not faze any of the colors.  I would rather remove the old pain and repaint rather than painting over the existing colors.  But that is plan 'B' if no other options.  I used to use Chameleon but cannot find it anymore.

First of all, a very big 'thank you very much' for the K4 locomotive.  You made a lot of people happy. 

I saw the K4 ad in the October Model Railroader magazine and noticed that it did not mention this release was part of Bachmann's 'Spectrum' series.  Is there a reason for that?  What is the difference between this and a 'Spectrum' model? 

Thanks again for a long sought after locomotive.

I got the Pennsy K4 in HO made by Bachmann.  Its the only thing in HO that I own.  I would love to see Bachmann make one in N scale.  I know this has been requested by others in the past.  There are a lot of older passenger cars made in the sixties and seventies by Atlas, LifeLike, Lima, Model Power, Rivarossi as well as Bachmann that are painted for PRR.  I see these at flea markets and garage sales all the time.  I have bought more than my share at $1.00 or $2.00 each. People are still buying the old Minitrix K4's and it has not been made in about 25 years.  So there has to be a market for it. The B&O EM-1 was a big hit for Bachmann.  I would imagine that the K4 would be likewise.

Will Bachmann be offering DCC equipped tenders such as the short and long styles like they did with the non DCC tenders?  If not is there a way to convert the non DCC tenders to DCC?

Quote from: brokemoto on January 22, 2014, 09:34:22 AM
The newer issue (in the plastic box) have the more durable gears.  You could also buy B-mann's Peter Witt streetcar, which operates much better.

More than one person has informed me that the Peter Witt was unique to Baltimore.  If true, that would be the one drawback to it.  Other than that, it runs very nicely.

Baltimore did have them but the real Peter Witt was a Cleveland Railway commissioner so you could expect to find them in Cleveland.  Actually they were used in many cities to include Chicago, St. Louis, Toronto, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Buffalo, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Rochester Louisville and Syracuse to name a few.  In addition they were also used in Europe [Naples, Milan and Rurin] as well as in Mexico, Australia and Russia.  These cars were built by a number of builders to include Brill, St. Louis Car Co, Cincinnatti Car Co and others.  The Peter Witt cars originated in about 1915 and preceeded the PCC cars which originated in the 1930's.