The pictures from The Bachman booth at Trainfest showed them to be less than stellar. Here's the DRGW one: The fan molding is 20 years out of date, the radiator grills are too small, the whole body sits too tall (or it's too short). It's missing the nose headlight, the side doors are too far above the walkway, it looks like it's missing the numberboards, and what is with the screwball cut lever? Thanks for putting one on there, but what is that?!? Where is the plow? They are cheap for a sound engine (I saw someone had them for $129.00). I hope they sound better than they look.
Yeah, it's cheap for a sound-equipped engine. I'll remove most of the molded on details and make my own for Santa Fe.
For $129 for DCC W/ Sound; not bad. Plenty of Budget room for Details. Add Details where you can to take attention away from where you can't and it will look fine. Let's just hope it runs fine. Something harder to correct
True, but Bachmann has come a long way since the old days. I have one of their DCC equipped diesel engines (GP7), and it runs great!
You are lucky, I ran three of the Bachmann GPs and they were junk. Two went back to Bachmann for repair and came back just as bad as before. I did like how they molded the shells on those, but if they don't run, I'm not wasting my time on them.
Two stopped running and the third ran like a tyco. Out of the box they were loud, but I don't mind a growler (as long as it pulls). They pulled half as much as an Atlas on the same track. One wouldn't mu and then quit, the other randomly quit. The SD45s seem to be selling quick, I'm sure we will have some hands on reviews soon.
Thanks gatrhumpy, I appreciate the video and it would appear that the Bachmann Loco would be a nice investment. Nice review
Two things: 1. The thing that I like about this version is that you can see completely through the windows. This allows me to add two figures in the cab. 2. I noticed a paint detail discrepancy when comparing to prototype photos. The front 'wings' of the front Santa Fe decal don't go all the way around the short hood to the doors like they do on the prototype. As easy fix if you have decals.
