# Is bachmann getting better?



## mathi97267 (10 mo ago)

i have an old Tyco Mantua 4-6-2 pacific, and im looking for a new steamer. i have some old bachmann diesels, and they run horribly. can some one please tell me if bachmann's new steam engines are still low quality? or have they improved?


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Bachmann has improved their quality greatly. Today's Bachmann is nothing like the old ones. They're still not top of the line, but they are good reliable locos. That's my experience with them.


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## mathi97267 (10 mo ago)

Fire21 said:


> Bachmann has improved their quality greatly. Today's Bachmann is nothing like the old ones. They're still not top of the line, but they are good reliable locos. That's my experience with them.


thank you! do you know any cheaper ones that are still reliable?


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Personally I'd not try to get anything cheaper. If you plan to run your trains much, then spend a few extra bucks on some quality motive power. Look into some other brands, research their reviews and decide from there. Good luck!


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I agree, “you get what you pay for” is quite applicable to model railroading….


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I agree with the previous responses: for the last 15 years or so, Bachmann has made good, mid-range locos. I personally wouldn't hesitiate to buy another one (I have 2) if they were offering something I was interested in.

And cheap is just that, cheap. There are ways to save money in this hobby, but things that affect operation (locos, track, etc.) and tools are not places to do so. You will only get frustrated.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

I can't understand why so many people what to cheap out in this and so many other hobbies.

There's not much enjoyment of the hobby when cheap junk breaks down and trains don't run.

THIS IS AN EXPENSIVE HOBBY. You may as well get used to it. There's no free lunch when it concerns locomotives.


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## prrfan (Dec 19, 2014)

Edit: duplicate post


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## prrfan (Dec 19, 2014)

The new Bachmann can’t be compared to the old stuff. I don’t have any steamers but the 5 new type Bachmann diesels I have are great runners.
If you search the forum you will find several discussions on this topic with dissenting opinions. Some folks would not run a Bachmann, new or old, if you gave it to them.
Many of us will give good reviews. Give one a try. Tell us what you think.


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## prrfan (Dec 19, 2014)

.


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Prior to about 2010, give or take two, the top of the line class of Bachmann was the Spectrum class. They were generally very good, well detailed, and reliable. However, their non-steam models still caused some anxiety among the owners at the time. I recall their apparently nice E-44 electric with pantograph was a bit of a problem, and some diesels were not considered to be good offerings. I don't know why because I had none and was not interested. I was a solid BLI, Rivarossi, and Trix user.

By about 2012-ish, Bachmann began to roll their Spectrum stuff into their main class....just plain old Bachmann. And that's how it looks to this day. I can't say they've actually improved any of their most recent offerings because what they rolled into Bachmann was pretty darned good...if you ask me and many other satisfied users. IOW, they didn't really need to re-engineer anything, to retool, and to re-issue bunches of items; they already had a decent thing going. And still do.

Nothing about the hobby is perfect. It's still dirt cheap, considering everything that the many importers have been working on to keep their market share over the past umpteen years. If we wanted amazing engineering, materials, and reliability, our various locomotives would be in the $1K range by now. BLI's marvelous hybrid brass models are still running $650 on the street. The only high quality non-brass offered are the Trix models, now currently a Mike and a Big Boy. If you wonder what I could possible be on about, consider that you cannot push any non-Trix model under $700 down the rails and watch the valve gear and rods churn with the rotating drivers. Trix do that. That's engineering.

Many complain about the high prices in the hobby. Some have done that since 1920. Nobody promised anybody first class items for Crackerjack prices.


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## 5kidsdad (Nov 28, 2021)

In my experience, my Bachmann diesels run ok. My Atlas diesels are smooth running. One of my Atlas's was purchased used, not working. With a remotor, it slowly pulls the walls down. My Kato is a Rolls Royce on the rails.


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## shortwrench (Nov 21, 2019)

In the past 3 years I've acquired 4 Bachmann locomotives. The first was a new in box DC only GP40
for $25 at a tag sale. Added a NCE decoder. Next was a DCC GP38 from Trainworld for $39 plus 
shipping. The decoder was a piece of crap. Replaced with another NCE decoder. Both were speed 
matched and usually run as a consist. Next is a GP38 DCC & sound for $99 plus shipping from 
trainworld. Decent loco for the price. Last is a Consolidation 2-8-0 DCC & Sound from the 
local hobby shop for $165. Nicely detailed with decent sound. No complaints with Bachmann.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I do not have any of the newer diesels but I hear they mostly run good and I would not be afraid
to buy some. I do have some older Spectrum diesels but have not run them. I hear they are good.
I do have a newer Bachman steam engine and I love it. It is DCC Like I said its a very smooth
locomotive. It is belt driven. No gears. I almost did not buy it when I found out it was belt driven.
I read some reviews on the belt driven engine. They were all good reviews. So I bought it and have no regrets. It has DCC and sound and was about 99.00 on sale at trainworld. Love it.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

I have a bunch of bachmann locos. The only ones I’ve had any issues with were my doodlebug having cracked gears right out of the box (no surprise it happens to all of them) and my freedom train gs4 which had a bind in the valve gear from a drive rod hitting a piece of plastic. I have a couple of the sd40s one from like 2010 and one I just bought a couple weeks ago and both are good locos. I agree with bachmann decoders being low cost garbage but you get what you pay for. I change bachman decoders out almost immediately with digitrax and the locos run great especially after some fine tuning with cv settings in the decoder. I have an old mehano 4-6-2 that I installed a can motor in and it runs great too. I think I have $50 in that pacific and a couple hours for the motor swap and dcc install. Things can be done reasonably IF you have the know how and the patience to do the work. If you want a locomotive to be flawless out of the box plan on opening the wallet farther


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## Chaostrain (Jan 27, 2015)

MichaelE said:


> I can't understand why so many people what to cheap out in this and so many other hobbies.


Budget!


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Chaostrain said:


> Budget!


Then you save until you can afford the necessary quality to make things run correctly. That's how budgets work. Model railroading doesn't lend itself to rushing and impatience any more than it does to thriftiness. I am on a "strict" hobby budget because I have two kids in college, a car payment, and a ton of other things I also want to spend money on. If I want a new loco, I generally need to allocate several months of "budget" to that purchase before I can afford it.


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

CTValleyRR said:


> Then you save until you can afford the necessary quality to make things run correctly. That's how budgets work. Model railroading doesn't lend itself to rushing and impatience any more than it does to thriftiness. I am on a "strict" hobby budget because I have two kids in college, a car payment, and a ton of other things I also want to spend money on. If I want a new loco, I generally need to allocate several months of "budget" to that purchase before I can afford it.


I dint know about that. Athern blue box can be had at budget prices and run great with a little TLC. Newer bachmann steamers can be had under $100 and run great. Heck, we even had a lot of fun with an old bachmann pancake drive. 

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I think it depends on what you want out of the hobby…..I want great detail, smooth running, and higher end models, and am willing to pay for it….

Some may want to just see trains run, with no regard to detail, prototypical types and roadnames, etc, and that’s ok if that’s what they want….they’re the ones that have to put up with cheap equipment that breaks, or stuff that doesn’t work the way they think it should, and that’s ok by me….


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

vette-kid said:


> I dint know about that. Athern blue box can be had at budget prices and run great with a little TLC. Newer bachmann steamers can be had under $100 and run great. Heck, we even had a lot of fun with an old bachmann pancake drive.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


I did not say, nor did I imply, that there aren't good purchases to be made at lower price points. And I would certainly never suggest that anyone -- especially anyone on a budget -- avoid seeking out the best deals possible when making a purchase, or waiting for a sale, or what have you. There is also a tradeoff between time and money -- people with more time and less money might be OK with something that needs a couple of hours work to make it run; people for whom free time is a scarce commodity generally want things that work right out of the box.

But the fact remains that willy-nilly making acquisitions SIMPLY because they're cheap, or forgoing the purchase of higher quality items SIMPLY because you are on a budget isn't an approach to the hobby that's likely to yield long term success. In business, companies that start letting cost drive decision-making to the exclusion of all else either go out of business or reinvent themselves. And just consider how many active threads we have right now where people are having trouble getting "bargain" purchases to work properly.


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## Chaostrain (Jan 27, 2015)

CTValleyRR said:


> Then you save until you can afford the necessary quality to make things run correctly. That's how budgets work. Model railroading doesn't lend itself to rushing and impatience any more than it does to thriftiness. I am on a "strict" hobby budget because I have two kids in college, a car payment, and a ton of other things I also want to spend money on. If I want a new loco, I generally need to allocate several months of "budget" to that purchase before I can afford it.


.


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## 5kidsdad (Nov 28, 2021)

Chaostrain said:


> And not everybody has the luxury of having a monthly hobby budget. When supporting a family of 4 with 3 disabled it's usually get what you can and tinker with it. Usually the "budget" only allows for what is given. New is totally out of the question.


Budget model railroading can be done. It's the only way I can afford the hobby. Research is the way to go before purchasing. I would rather save for a quality purchase over many bargain buys. Been burnt enough.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

There’s been a lot of money thrown away on “bargain” model trains…..


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## Steve Rothstein (Jan 1, 2021)

Well, I can't say how good Bachmann is now, but what I have I am very satisfied with. I have four Bachmann N scale trolleys. When I bought them, they had been sitting on a shelf for about ten years and I bought four because I thought I could then piece together at least one working one. I had hoped to get two good trolleys that way but would have been satisfied with one. I knew they were that old because when I got them last year, they were all N.I.B. and the paperwork included a coupon good for the 2011 Bachmann catalog for free.

Well, we cleaned all the old solidified oil out of the gearboxes and, to my real surprise, I have had four trolleys running for a year now. All of them worked when I got them and are still running. I had always considered Bachmann as toy quality instead of hobby, but I have been forced to reconsider that opinion. My only complaint is that Bachmann specifies downgraded DCC decoders that do not have the all of the features other brands of decoders have.


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## The Southern Railroad (May 22, 2021)

Fire21 said:


> Personally I'd not try to get anything cheaper. If you plan to run your trains much, then spend a few extra bucks on some quality motive power. Look into some other brands, research their reviews and decide from there. Good luck!


Agreed - You get what you pay for - and sometimes, not the case - factory screwups happen design flaws and bad materials / one out of 10 trains can come off the line at the factory one is no good And the rest run good and the reviews are great Point there people who get that bad train and others get the good one { Crapshoot with trains coming from China / but, hey all the top names are being made there { Most trains now / your just buying the NAME, like Lionel, - you can always upgrade problem child parts by replacing them with ones you make


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Usually, if you buy new, you can exchange or replace under warrantee, which of course you can’t do with those “bargain” used pieces (of junk, sometimes)…..

And nowadays, everything, not just trains made in China, is a crapshoot for quality, so…..


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## mathi97267 (10 mo ago)

Jscullans said:


> I have a bunch of bachmann locos. The only ones I’ve had any issues with were my doodlebug having cracked gears right out of the box (no surprise it happens to all of them) and my freedom train gs4 which had a bind in the valve gear from a drive rod hitting a piece of plastic. I have a couple of the sd40s one from like 2010 and one I just bought a couple weeks ago and both are good locos. I agree with bachmann decoders being low cost garbage but you get what you pay for. I change bachman decoders out almost immediately with digitrax and the locos run great especially after some fine tuning with cv settings in the decoder. I have an old mehano 4-6-2 that I installed a can motor in and it runs great too. I think I have $50 in that pacific and a couple hours for the motor swap and dcc install. Things can be done reasonably IF you have the know how and the patience to do the work. If you want a locomotive to be flawless out of the box plan on opening the wallet farther


I am willing to do some work, and my mantua i got for $50 "running" and i invested about a year into it, so i think i may have patience too.😁


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## mathi97267 (10 mo ago)

thank you so much, this has been a big help. my expirience with bachmann was awful with thier older models, so when i saw the price tag for a new steamer i thought that there was no way it should be that expensive, but now i understand why.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

The Southern Railroad said:


> Agreed - You get what you pay for - and sometimes, not the case - factory screwups happen design flaws and bad materials / one out of 10 trains can come off the line at the factory one is no good And the rest run good and the reviews are great Point there people who get that bad train and others get the good one { Crapshoot with trains coming from China / but, hey all the top names are being made there { Most trains now / your just buying the NAME, like Lionel, - you can always upgrade problem child parts by replacing them with ones you make


Not all the top names are made in China. Some are still made where they take pride in what they do.


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## SRV1 (Nov 14, 2010)

Old_Hobo said:


> I think it depends on what you want out of the hobby…..I want great detail, smooth running, and higher end models, and am willing to pay for it….
> 
> Some may want to just see trains run, with no regard to detail, prototypical types and roadnames, etc, and that’s ok if that’s what they want….they’re the ones that have to put up with cheap equipment that breaks, or stuff that doesn’t work the way they think it should, and that’s ok by me….


 Man, you really nailed it. Everyone mostly sees the hobby from their own perspective, not realizing that ten people have ten different expectations out of what gives them enjoyment from a hobby. 

I don't have a nice layout yet. I fiddle with a 3x5 wired diorama on a table that can run trains and a large loop I can run them on but don't have the nice layout I've always wanted. I take breaks, sometimes for years at a time, and then I come back and I focus on the locos and rolling stock. Making the locos and rolling stock work better, sound better and look prototypical to the real thing does it for me. 

I have a couple Bachmans and I think they're pretty decent. I'm by no means an expert but they run and sound good to me. The details leave quite a bit to be desired. The steamers are certainly not rivet counters. I usually end up removing half of the details and redoing or adding my own parts to make them more prototypical. Some people don't care. I tend to take interest in models I get, particularly locos and like to see what the real thing looked like to compare how good the model is. It usually takes me down a rabbit hole of dremeling, buying parts and decals and adding stuff. $200 for a loco gets you something that works but is generically the same as all other road names. If you get it and are happy, sometimes ignorance is bliss. They make what I would call "an attempt" at detailing at the factory. It's nothing more.


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)

image of Tommy imitating ackackack from good fellas - Yahoo Image Search Results


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## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

Several years ago I decided to try HOn30. Bachmann was the only manufacturer of HOn3 locomotives, and I bought a couple of Shays and Climaxes. One by one they failed due to split gears (I mean failed as in quit running). Checking several bulletin boards I found out their delrin gears were defective, and I needed to purchase NSWL gear sets and a tool for installing the new metal gears on the shafts. Instead, I found a club to donate the rolling stock to and put the loco's on a shelf to admire. I'd be hard pressed to recommend Bachmann steamers to anyone I considered a friend.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Bit as you said, that was several years ago…..they are better now….


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## BikerDS (May 1, 2012)

Old_Hobo said:


> Bit as you said, that was several years ago…..they are better now….


Have they changed to metal gears?


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## Chops (Dec 6, 2018)




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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

BikerDS said:


> Have they changed to metal gears?


Don’t know about the HOn3 stuff, but their H.O. is better now…..


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## mathi97267 (10 mo ago)

BikerDS said:


> Several years ago I decided to try HOn30. Bachmann was the only manufacturer of HOn3 locomotives, and I bought a couple of Shays and Climaxes. One by one they failed due to split gears (I mean failed as in quit running). Checking several bulletin boards I found out their delrin gears were defective, and I needed to purchase NSWL gear sets and a tool for installing the new metal gears on the shafts. Instead, I found a club to donate the rolling stock to and put the loco's on a shelf to admire. I'd be hard pressed to recommend Bachmann steamers to anyone I considered a friend.


my diesels have plastic gears, and ive found that if you limit train length to about 5-8 cars and remove the traction tyres, the gears dont crack.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

mathi97267 said:


> my diesels have plastic gears, and ive found that if you limit train length to about 5-8 cars and remove the traction tyres, the gears dont crack.


In other words, limit your mode of operation to accommodate the limitations of an inferior product.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> In other words, limit your mode of operation to accommodate the limitations of an inferior product.


I have several locos, including Bachmanns, with plastic gears. The only cracked gears I've ever had were with old LifeLikes -- and that was a global problem.


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## scott7891 (10 mo ago)

I would say they are. At least they are adaptable to new promising technologies like Bluetooth and actually upgrade their decoders (TCS) when new leaps in technology come about unlike say Broadway Limited who still thinks their 2000's-era, proprietary, questionable quality decoders are fine for what they charge either too proud or too cheap to admit they are crap but people keep buying from them because they are the few only ones who go outside the same Gen 3/modern diesel paradigm the other manufacturers (Atlas, Kato, Walthers, Bowser, Intermountain, etc.) refuse to deviate from. Like Broadway, Bachmann at least serves a niche in the market for steam the vast majority of companies refuse to service so I am stuck with the Bachmann/Broadway Limited paradigm or take my chances with old, questionable brass (don't even get me started with new brass for what they cost I could buy a top of the line Lionel Vision or Legacy Line with way more features with long-term durability to boot).


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