Purchased item #95370. It came with a different roof than pictured in catalog.

[emjayw]

I just bought a 1:20.3  20' Oxide Red Boxcar from The Favorite Spot, and when it arrived it had the BLACK overhanging eave roof from item #95355, not the RED roof pictured in The Bachmann catalogs and on their website.  What gives?  I really wanted a small 1:20.3 boxcar with that old-styled roof pictured on item #95370 or item#95327  Mike in TX

[Wade Colyer]

Hi Mike:

I got mine when they were first listed some years ago. It has the black roof. They make prototypes for the catalog and sometimes things get changed in production runs. The picture on their web site is from the Bachmann catalog and they use the same pictures every year.

Last year I bought 2 East Broad Top boxcars from the same people as the picture on EBAY showed them in bright caboose red. When they came they were boxcar red like the others I have. No problem, I never have enough E.B.T. rolling stock. When they listed more sometime later, I asked if they were in fact caboose red. They answered promptly that no, they were not but were still using the same picture. The only way to be sure what you're getting is at the dealers or a train show. Thats how I found out that Bachmann made the 8-wheel E.B.T. in two car numbers and two colors and the E.B.T. 3 bay hobber in three different road numbers but had the same item number.

Wade

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Wade, 
Were there not also differences in the trucks on the EBT Hoppers as well.  The first run in 1991 had archbars or Brettendorfs (can't remember which) and number 849.  When they were reissued in 2002 they had the Vulcan Trucks.  Was one of the new issue numbers also 849?  Can't find my notes on the other two numbers, do you have that? or was there actually four numbers? or two with 849 and different trucks? I have never seen all four cars together to verify what was what. Gee, my head hurts!!

I am straight on the EBT cabooses

Bill

[Wade Colyer]

Hi Bill:

As far as I know, the Bachmann 3 bay hopper always had the coil spring Vulcan trucks. The 8 wheel caboose had the proper leaf spring Vulcan trucks. I refitted my E.B.T. Annie's tender with the leaf spring ones. When they reissued the hoppers they were numbered 838,842 and 849, 2 each in the standard case of 6. I found out when I stopped at a train shop near Mount Union on my way home from Altoona. This is the only time Bachmann issued cars with different car numbers but had the same item number that I know of.  Great idea by short lived. I've made the layout a little smaller by removing some that was attached to the wall so I'd have more shelf space and am now modeling the Shade Gap branch of the E.B.T. and different car numbers really help.

I hoped that Bachmann would make pulp wood racks for the flat cars in 1:22.5 like in On3 but it looks like that line is dead ended with only Christmas and circus items for the general public now. O well, I still have stuff I bought in the 1990's that I haven't opened yet. Besides, I'm running out of room.

The new 4 wheel bobber, E.B.T. 27, is close to prototype so maybe the next run will be 28. They only lasted a few years. I guess the crews didn't like the harsh ride and when they replaced them with the 8 wheel ones they used the same numbers. I think there's still some eastern narrow gauge in Bachmann's plans.

I'll be at the E.C.L.S.T.S. at York next month to see the Bach Man and get some casting for the 1:20.3 Class A Climax I'm building. I've bugged Bachmann for years to make one and now that I'm making my own, I see why they never did! There are no real plans from the Climax factory as they got rid of all that when they closed and the only one in the U.S. is in Alaska in pretty bad shape. Every Class A photo I've found is slightly different than the next so I have alot to play with and still look OK. I got a Class B on EBAY that looked like it took a high dive off a trestle but all the parts I needed were good. I think I've paid more for books and catalog reprints than I have in the engine so far.

I've got to stop drinking coffee this close to bed time!!

Wade

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Emjayw,

Sorry for stealing your topic.  Wade did hit it in the head.  In one catalog they had a beautiful Christmas theme paint job on the loco & cars in a newly announced set.  When the set finally came out it had a totally different paint job.  They corrected the catalog the next year, but I was extremely dissapointed.  There are other examples as well, and similar issues exist with other brands as well. This is one of the major faults with internet or mail order purchases.

Wade,

Thanks for the "word" on the EBT hoppers.  I bought two (but not EBT) when they first came out in 1991 and they did not have the Vulcan trucks. I bought 3 of the later run ( not EBT)to cut down into two bay hoppers and they all had the Vulcan trucks.  The conversions we very successful and even the coal load was easy to cut back, add the fact they had metal trucks and you got a really nice low cost unit.  I lettered them for my Missouri Western and got lots of offers to buy them.  Compared to other mfgrs two bay hoppers the cost was very low, they want $80+ for the car, $12 to $15 for the load, and another $20 for metal wheels.  I can do my kitbash for about $45 at todays prices including lettering & paint.

It is a shame Bachman is moving away from 1:22.5.  I believe that new reasonably priced 1:22.5 items would really work out and bring more G Scale Modelers into the fold.  No question the current line is very stale unless you are just getting into the hobby.  A pulpwood car, a two bay hopper, and some of the other On30 items scaled up would be great. Wouldn't a class A Climax be great!! It is my belief that the decision to go for the high dollar 1:20.3 items is driving the the 1:22.5 stuff into oblivion.  The higher profit margin selling a $90 dollar car over a $40 dollar is most likely the main factor.  Many modelers I talk to like the newer 1:20.3 items, but don't like the easily broken delicate features if they actually run their trains a lot.  I have to give Bachamnn credit for keeping the Indy and new Lyn in the Standard line with the lower cost. 

Hang in there with your climax project!!

Wish I could be in York and visit with you and JD and the Bachmann crew!

Bill

[Old John]

Wade,

There is a set of plans on file in the US Patent Office, when the Climax Class A was first patented, it includes gear trains to the axles, bearing carriers, but no much on the piston assembly other than front and side views, same for the boiler.  Western Scale Models makes a boiler kit that is a dead ringer for the Class A boiler, a Bachmann can motor for the 4-4-0, 2-6-0, 4-6-0, or 2-8-0 will all fit inside the Western Scale Model boiler and you can used Pharma slot racing car gears to replicate the drive train as shown on the Patent.  Sorry I don't know the Patent number.

[Wade Colyer]

Hi John:

Thanks for the info. Al Armitage had plans for a 22 ton wood framed A it the NG&SLG some years ago and I'm using the frame and trucks from the B as a starting point as they both used the same trucks and the wheelbase is very close. I've cut the boiler down by 3 1/2" . I used some 1/10 scale RC car gears I had left from when I raced them. I'll try to post some pictures later.

Wade

[Kevin Strong]

...The new 4 wheel bobber, E.B.T. 27, is close to prototype so maybe the next run will be 28. They only lasted a few years. I guess the crews didn't like the harsh ride and when they replaced them with the 8 wheel ones they used the same numbers.

A newspaper article about the "first" #27 reports that the crews actually preferred the ride of the short caboose to that of caboose #26, which was a much longer 8-wheel caboose built just two years prior. Either they were jaded or #26 rode REALLY rough, because "bobbers" got that name for a distinct reason. (#26 did ride on old freight car trucks originally, being swapped out later in life for surplus passenger car trucks...) Both #27 and #28 lasted in service for nearly 15 years when they were finally replaced by the "modern" steel-framed cabooses we know and love today. There's some discussion amongst EBT scholars as to whether the "first" nos. 27 and 28 were really twins. I believe they may have been similar, but I can't find any solid proof that they were identical.

I like the repaints on the B'mann bobber. The EBT, D&RG, and Tweetsie lettering is pretty much spot on for all three railroads. I was very impressed when I saw them on the shelf. I'd love to see them continue with additional--prototypical--numbers.

As for the B'mann hoppers, if I recall correctly, the EBT hoppers always had the Vulcan trucks, but some of the other roadnames (Peabody, etc.) at one point or another came with archbar trucks. I vaguely recall wanting to buy a bunch of Peabody hoppers that were being blown out, but I think the trucks were wrong and that's what stopped me. (I had the black paint ready to go...) It's been a while so don't quote me, but I think that was the case.

Later,

K