Personally, I think that the Bach-person is doing a really good job at finding the "price-detail" level that alot of us mediocre modlers want. I am not a rivet counter, but want some decent realism to as well. I think that the hopper is a great start, the GP9 is a great starter, sure the details aren't perfect but its a great starter engine for some one wanting to get into the hobby. Personally, the hobby is getting as expensive as my other passion, boats. Theres a hobby that is good at "sinking" money (pun intended right there ). Anyways, cheers to Bachmann, keep doing engines like the 44 tonner, and they will be a great contender.
I think Bachmann's real turn round started with the Acela. I'll be damned if its not the best looking passenger train in N scale. When used on the 19" or larger curves reccomended by the manufacturer, it is silky smooth, well lit and teh detail and paint are out of this world. BTW, it was the first set to be fully DCC equiped.
One thing turns me off..The missing grabs on the ends of the hoods is inexcusable with today's higher standards-their HO Geep is missing these grabs so,that goes beyond a pre production sample....DCC can't make up for such a omittance.. With one good hand and limited use of my once dominant hand adding these basic details is out.. So,I'll stick with the Atlas Geeps even tho' those Bachman Geeps looks nice.
I think [and I hope] Bachmann is getting serious in model railroading and especially in N gauge. The HO field is crowded and competition is tough. N gauge is less competitive and although not as popular as HO in the USA, that is not the case in other parts of the world. And that brings me to the question of if Bachmann were getting serious about N gauge what could Bachmann do that would be the signature piece to show off its transformation from locomotive junk to locomotive gems? What model would be popular enough to have a significant chorus of applause for the rest of the model railroading community to sit up and take notice. It would have to be one that was popular. Several locomotives come to mind like the BigBoy or the Challenger or the GG1 or the FEF's. A Hiawatha or Hudson, A Y6b or maybe some others. All of the above have been done already so what locomotive has not already been done that could be the signature piece of this transformation from junk to gems. My choice, and here I admit that I am prejudiced, is a PRR K4. First, no one has done it except for that prehistoric MiniTrix. Second, there has been a lot of clamoring about it. Third, there's a lot of PRR passenger rolling stock out there. Fourth, Bachmann already has done it in HO. A GOOD Spectrum class K4 would make Bachmann instantaneously a player like Kato and Atlas in the field of locomotives and especially steam locomotives as it appears neither Atlas or Kato wish to pursue their manufacture.
