Sending engines in to Bachmann question.

[Kemptown Branch]

Hello everyone. I have a question about sending my Thomas and James engines into Bachmann. I am wondering, do I need to contact them beforehand. Also, would it be possible to try to get a snowplow for thomas if I send in extra money along with the question for one? Will they fix locomotives if they have been damaged by the owner (by accident of course)?

[Jacob Wilson]

What sort of damage has been done to your Thomas and James Locomotives, if you do not mind me asking?

EDIT: Is this to do with the HO or Large Scale range, if so:

HO Scale: A Snowplow for HO Scale Thomas has been produced as part of the discontinued Thomas' Holiday Special Train Set and the 00721 Thomas' Christmas Delivery Train Set, do I doubt Bachmann would tie on off to fit to a standard Thomas Locomtive.

Large Scale: A Snowplough is fitted to Thomas in the 90087 Thomas' Christmas Delivery Train Set, but it is also sold separately in 92101 Thomas' Snowplow. I cannot see why Bachmann would not fit this to a Large Scale Locomotive for you, but of course you would have to buy the product and probably pay extra for the fitting of it.

[Titanic5972]

I'd say there will be a small fee, as well as postage there and back. Contact them first and they will advise you what to do.

[Kemptown Branch]

What sort of damage has been done to your Thomas and James Locomotives, if you do not mind me asking?

Well, this is my second Thomas because my old one stopped working. This one also did the same thing, but over a longer period of time. James got one of his pick- ups (the things that touh the wheels) damaged after an accident of putting in the spring to his little wheel on the front. The pick-up, which I thought had been put in correctly, got scrunched up in the plate that holds the wheels in. When I noticed and pulled the plate off, the pick-up was in terrible shape. When I tried to straighten it out, it came out.

[Jacob Wilson]

What sort of damage has been done to your Thomas and James Locomotives, if you do not mind me asking?

Well, this is my second Thomas because my old one stopped working. This one also did the same thing, but over a longer period of time. James got one of his pick- ups (the things that touh the wheels) damaged after an accident of putting in the spring to his little wheel on the front. The pick-up, which I thought had been put in correctly, got scrunched up in the plate that holds the wheels in. When I noticed and pulled the plate off, the pick-up was in terrible shape. When I tried to straighten it out, it came out.

Sorry for the late reply, I have only just found that Reply to me.

There seems to be a lot of problems with the Locomotives motors in the Bachmann Thomas & Friends range. I certainly hope I don't have to keep replacing my Mavis, Salty, Donald and Douglas in the future!

[AJW98Productions]

What sort of damage has been done to your Thomas and James Locomotives, if you do not mind me asking?

Well, this is my second Thomas because my old one stopped working. This one also did the same thing, but over a longer period of time. James got one of his pick- ups (the things that touh the wheels) damaged after an accident of putting in the spring to his little wheel on the front. The pick-up, which I thought had been put in correctly, got scrunched up in the plate that holds the wheels in. When I noticed and pulled the plate off, the pick-up was in terrible shape. When I tried to straighten it out, it came out.

There seems to be a lot of problems with the Locomotives motors in the Bachmann Thomas & Friends range. I certainly hope I don't have to keep replacing my Mavis, Salty, Donald and Douglas in the future!

I'd say no more than any other range, but as this forum as very active, disproportionate to our size in the larger model railway community and is run straight from BACHMANN's easy to navigate main website, it is likely that a lot of people come here with model problems, as opposed to say...other Thomas forums, as this one is officially BACHMANN's and the moderators are active and usually very helpful, also a lot of fans have limited experience sending models back to BACHMANN, so they often need advice the first time around, other ranges tend to have more mature audiences who are more experienced in the field of sending things back.

So whilst it may seem like a disproportionate amount of people have issues with motors, I just think it is an illusion of disproportionately large traffic for said issues, as most of them are likely discussed here, and when things go wrong this really is the #1 place to come after all.

Besides, if BACHMANN's Thomas models really were that unreliable, I imagine the range would be nowhere near as popular as it is now, I myself have owned BACHMANN models of Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, Percy, Spencer, Salty, and Diesel. I only had issues with Thomas after some overly extended running at a club's exhibition, and when attempting to open the model up there were some minor motor issues, but nothing to severe, it did eventually stop working, but it served me well, I think I still have a few of it's parts around somewhere...Edward I also had a minor problem with the motor shortly after buying, but I sent him back to BACHMANN with help from a friend at the model railway club and I only ended up paying about 20 Australian dollars for the repair, which was pretty good service I thought, they even sent back Edward with a new motor, wheels and chassis block, even though the original wheels and chassis block were in perfect condition. They also sent back the original chassis block, wheels and motor as well, which now gives me a spare chassis block and wheels in perfect working order (this was back in 2012, I think).
I'd say BACHMANN's customer service is excellent on the odd-chance things do go wrong.

I honestly think BACHMANN models may seem more unreliable than they truly are if one reads over a forum like this, the models are fantastic 99% of the time, just like most other companies. My experience with BACHMANN models has not been a negative one, and I look forward to collecting some more of their engines in future.

~Alex

[Kemptown Branch]

Thanks Alex. I think another source of Thomas not working is because he has run at my club layout twice for at least two hours each. What probably makes it worse is that I don't have any cleaning supplies for my trains. Oh yeah, Jacob Wilson, my model is HO.

[Jacob Wilson]

What sort of damage has been done to your Thomas and James Locomotives, if you do not mind me asking?

Well, this is my second Thomas because my old one stopped working. This one also did the same thing, but over a longer period of time. James got one of his pick- ups (the things that touh the wheels) damaged after an accident of putting in the spring to his little wheel on the front. The pick-up, which I thought had been put in correctly, got scrunched up in the plate that holds the wheels in. When I noticed and pulled the plate off, the pick-up was in terrible shape. When I tried to straighten it out, it came out.

There seems to be a lot of problems with the Locomotives motors in the Bachmann Thomas & Friends range. I certainly hope I don't have to keep replacing my Mavis, Salty, Donald and Douglas in the future!

I'd say no more than any other range, but as this forum as very active, disproportionate to our size in the larger model railway community and is run straight from BACHMANN's easy to navigate main website, it is likely that a lot of people come here with model problems, as opposed to say...other Thomas forums, as this one is officially BACHMANN's and the moderators are active and usually very helpful, also a lot of fans have limited experience sending models back to BACHMANN, so they often need advice the first time around, other ranges tend to have more mature audiences who are more experienced in the field of sending things back.

So whilst it may seem like a disproportionate amount of people have issues with motors, I just think it is an illusion of disproportionately large traffic for said issues, as most of them are likely discussed here, and when things go wrong this really is the #1 place to come after all.

Besides, if BACHMANN's Thomas models really were that unreliable, I imagine the range would be nowhere near as popular as it is now, I myself have owned BACHMANN models of Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, Percy, Spencer, Salty, and Diesel. I only had issues with Thomas after some overly extended running at a club's exhibition, and when attempting to open the model up there were some minor motor issues, but nothing to severe, it did eventually stop working, but it served me well, I think I still have a few of it's parts around somewhere...Edward I also had a minor problem with the motor shortly after buying, but I sent him back to BACHMANN with help from a friend at the model railway club and I only ended up paying about 20 Australian dollars for the repair, which was pretty good service I thought, they even sent back Edward with a new motor, wheels and chassis block, even though the original wheels and chassis block were in perfect condition. They also sent back the original chassis block, wheels and motor as well, which now gives me a spare chassis block and wheels in perfect working order (this was back in 2012, I think).
I'd say BACHMANN's customer service is excellent on the odd-chance things do go wrong.

I honestly think BACHMANN models may seem more unreliable than they truly are if one reads over a forum like this, the models are fantastic 99% of the time, just like most other companies. My experience with BACHMANN models has not been a negative one, and I look forward to collecting some more of their engines in future.

~Alex

I did not mean to say that Bachmann's motors are dreadful and terrible in their Thomas & Friends range. I am sorry if it sounded like that, but was not the point I was getting at. I was getting at the point, that sometimes they are unreliable as I have known several people to buy a Locomotive in the Bachmann Thomas & Friends HO/OO Gauge range to have motor problems. The Bachmann Donald I bought in January this year (2015), had a motor problem.

Thanks Alex. I think another source of Thomas not working is because he has run at my club layout twice for at least two hours each. What probably makes it worse is that I don't have any cleaning supplies for my trains. Oh yeah, Jacob Wilson, my model is HO.

I assumed that you must have been talking about the HO/OO Gauge range.