# Bachmann HO Pegasus and DeWitt Clinton train sets



## sedfred2 (May 16, 2015)

I am a huge fan of early steam locomotives and these are the only options in HO scale, what is their quality? do they have metal frames? can motors? are they well engineered to last long? Are they a quality product?


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

I have 4 of these trains – the John Bull, the Lafayette, and the two that you mentioned. There was at least one more made, the Prussia. The Prussia prototype was made in the U.S. and shipped to Prussia. The model appears to be a clone of the Pegasus. I had no interest in it. All of these come with 3 passenger cars – matched to the loco.

The John Bull, the DeWitt Clinton and the Lafayette have interesting histories. The original John Bull still exists (in the Smithsonian Institution). There are also working replicas of the Dewitt Clinton (in the Henry Ford Museum), the Lafayette (in the B&O Railroad Museum), and John Bull (in the Pennsylvania RR Museum). There is not much history on the Pegasus. By the time it was made, locomotive manufacturers had settled on a standard for early locomotive construction. Also, the John Bull model does not look like the 1830’s prototype, but rather like the modified version shown at an exposition in the 1870s (read the history). The other model trains are more true to their 1830s prototypes.

These trains are not cheap, but they are very tiny and delicate. The locomotives are mostly made of metal, and nicely detailed. The passenger cars are entirely of plastic, but also pretty well detailed. These trains were produced a number of years ago, and what is selling now is either used or new old stock. This means that they may need some cleaning and lubrication.

Because these trains are so small, the pick-up wheels are so close together that they will stall on standard HO, un-powered, turnout frogs. If you don’t have powered frogs, you really need to run these trains on a layout without turnouts -- which is pretty prototypical for the 1830s. These trains are also very sensitive to dirty or uneven track.

The John Bull and the DeWitt Clinton have the motor in the tender, which pushes the unpowered loco and pulls the passenger cars. Actually, the tender is almost entirely motor – with just enough plastic to camouflage it. My John Bull runs pretty well, but my DeWitt Clinton sputters some at times, and acts like it may need a new motor some day.

The Lafayette and the Pegasus have the motor in the loco, which picks up power from the front truck. My Lafayette has a balance problem. The center of gravity is over the drive wheels, which means there is little weight on the front trucks, which often lose contact with the track causing stalls. If I add a small amount of weight to the front of the loco, it runs much better. But I have not figured out how to hide the weight, yet. My Lafayette is also the only loco that can’t pull all 3 of its cars. It will run well with 2, but spins its wheels a lot with 3.

My Pegasus is my best runner. It’s design is very similar to the Lafayette, but they fixed the weight and balance problem, so the front truck stays in contact with the track, and pulls all three cars easily.

These trains are really more like collectors' items. I bought them because of their interesting histories, and because they represent the earliest railroads in this country. Most of my family and friends are not railroad people (model or otherwise). But when they visit my layout, they are always fascinated by the small trains and their histories. They end up learning something. And my wife thinks they are cute.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

Here is an older thread started by another member who has some of these Bachmann 1830s trains -- including pictures and videos,

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=86353


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