I want to add some N-scale Diesels with DCC & sound to my collection and I see a lot of BACHMANN Diesels on eBay that I really like the looks of, but I’m a little leery of buying due to past experiences. Now I haven’t bought a Bachmann Diesel in probably 7 or more years although I have bought a few newer Steamers with sound that I do like. I was very disappointed in the old Spectrum's, but I’m sure they must have improved some since. I’m only assuming that since they now come with factory DCC & sound. I have only bought Kato diesels since, but IMO the Bachmann’s look far better although I’m not an expert on details or color and I don’t really care to be honest as long as it doesn’t look like a plastic toy. I want the DCC & Sound factory installed because its just to frustrating for me to install that stuff myself unless its a drop in like Kato has.
The biggest problem that the Bmann had was with the older stuff and split gears, and in that the older F-7 comes to mind. So far the examples I have of the newer split frame with dual mode decoders have been excellent but my experience has been limited to the 44 and 70 tonners and one set of F-7 A and B units. A check of their web site only shows one diesel with factory sound and that is the DD40X. And they did address the split gear issue (finally) with the newer black plastic gears that seem to be holding up.
I purchased a Bachmann GP7 off of eBay and unfortunately had a bad experience with it. Lots of gear noise, took a lot of voltage to get it moving, etc. I've been told it's a hit and miss scenario when buying engines off of eBay and now I believe it. My Atlas FM H16-44 is a great diesel and I bought it off eBay as well.
With Bachmann it's always approach red over yellow. In other words stop, check out the critiques both here and on other websites. Approach cautiously. One of my criticism's of their locomotives/steamers they literally pulled themselves apart while operating on my layouts. You can purchase one and see how it does for you. Use your own deductive reasoning as to future purchases. A lot has changed over the years and some for the better...:startled:..or not!
I have bought several Bachmann diesels with DCC, never had the chance to test any before because they were all bought by mail order (from Germany). And all of them work well on DC, that's why I bought more of them. Maybe I am lucky? Sound is only "pure mechanical", e.g. by the gears, but not bad IMHO. hboy: So far I did not test them on DCC but should do this soon as I bought a beginner's DCC set by Roco/Fleischmann.
:uhoh:OH! Sorry about this, I didn’t know anybody replied to this or at least I never got a notice. So I’m still searching for information on N diesel locomotives with factory sound and this thread came up. I had given up on asking again. I do have one Athearn F45 with Tsunami sound and would like more, but all I see available is F59PHI. Anyway I’m interested more in something like the EMD DDA40X that Bachmann has, although I wish I could find a good quality GEVO GE ES44AC or something in the same modern time frame either in UP or BNSF. Actualy I have too many UP locos and want to start collecting BNSF
I model the steam era, thus can only speak to Bachmann's new steam locomotives. I have been very pleased with the Spectrum 2-8-0s which was dc only; I am pleased with all of the Bachmann dc/dcc steam locomotives I have purchased. I have two of the recent 2-8-4s with sound. I had already elected to have sound installed in four locomotives [the Bachmann 2-8-0s and Kato GS-4s] and selected the Soundtraxx TSU-750. Bachmann uses an OEM version of this decoder. I have a 40" x 70" test track and have run both of the 2-8-4s on that track. I am delighted with their performance.
Thanks I'll keep my eye open for that. I have some Bachmann steamers, 2-8-0 Consolidation with factory DCC and a 4-8-4 Class J that I put in the decoder myself. I also have a 4-8-4 Northern that I paid someone else to put in a decoder, but I think I got ripped off because it runs, only not very well. I’m considering buying the new Bachmann Berkshire that just came out, but still undecided. As far as sound goes I have the 4-6-6-4 Challenger with Tsunami sound and I have an Intermountain Baldwin AC-12 4-8-8-2 that I want to add sound to.
You are going to hear a lot of bad from the bashers but for the money Bachmann is closing the gap between Atlas and Kato.
This topic seems to include sound in n-scale diesels. I model B&O and my first purchase of dcc with sound was B&O E-units from BLI; I found I really enjoy having the sound especially whistles or horns and bells. That prompted me to have sound installed in the four locomotives I mentioned. The Bachmann 2-8-4 is the first steam locomotive with sound I have purchased. I enjoy them. I am encouraging Bachmann to consider doing their 2-8-0 with sound.
