Note that Bachmann K4s are in stock some places

Well it doesn't pivot with the pony truck. The pony truck can be a bear to get on the rails. I have to use a re-railer to do it but then I have a loss of sensitivity in both hands so others may not have any problems.

 

Mark "Spookshow" Peterson reported on his Facebook page that he'll have his copy in hand shortly. I'm eagerly awaiting his review.

 

I just got my Bmann K4s today.

It is nearly identical in outward appearance to their HO K4s, which is both good and iffy. Good because it's leaps and bounds ahead of the Minitrix K4s in terms of detail (better than the Precision Scale brass K4s, too). Iffy because they carried over the incorrect black paint with yellow lettering. Otherwise I have no complaints. It looks to be correctly proportioned (or very, very close to it), which is another major point over the old Minitrixes.

The guts of the model are interesting. The rear two sets of drivers are geared, while the forward set is turned via the side rods from the second set- the rods are not connected to the third set of drivers at all. This makes for a mechanism that is very resistant to binding, but you might have a bit of trouble getting all the drivers lined up correctly when reassembling the locomotive. There is a belly pan covering the driver gears and bearings; the rear screw on mine (which also serves as the trailing truck pivot) was slightly loose when it arrived, which caused the gears to slip in one direction but not the other. The screw wasn't very loose- only slightly. If your K4s won't run in one direction or the other, try tightening that screw a quarter or a half turn- that was all it took for me. Pictures of the mechanism are up on spookshow's page even though his review isn't done (and I have no doubt he's going to give it high marks). It's not even worth comparing either of the older K4s models with this one for performance- they're not even in the same area code, and you'd never be able to get them there no matter what you did to them.

The starting voltage is relatively high (dunno exactly, unless "a third of the way up the dial on my DC power pack" is a scientific measurement now), but with the whole electronics package that's pretty much a given. I've only been able to test mine with wire leads so far, but once I tightened that one screw performance was smooth. Sound was crisp, but a little tinny... that would probably go away once the sound has to bounce off of ballast and turf to reach your ears, though. Surprisingly, the volume was factory preset at a reasonable level. The sound is not synchronized to driver rotation, but matches up well enough that you'd have to be pretty obsessive to notice (I only noticed when I first tested it and discovered the gear slipping issue- the drivers weren't moving, but the speaker was happily chuffing away). The locomotive is decently heavy and has two traction tires (the middle set of drivers), hence the impressive pulling power in the videos folks have been posting. The mechanism is very quiet- completely inaudible with the speaker in the tender doing its thing.

Overall it's a very nice model. I won't bother repainting it even though the paint is technically incorrect- I'd never get it looking half as good by hand. It strikes me as a little odd that Bachmann did a reasonably accurate impression of DGLE and gold-ish lettering on the one prewar model, but not on the late prewar or postwar versions that had less elaborate paintjobs... but still, I'm happy. I'd be ordering three more if I had the cash in hand. This is a great model, easily the best Pacific anyone's ever made in N scale, and probably one of the best steamers in general too. I was debating whether to just buy one of these and keep the K4s I already own, but... well, the only ones I can think of a reason to keep now are my streamlined K4s and my #1188 with the skyline casing. The others are going to the scrapper and I'm going to buy a few more Bmanns.

 

Got mine today , very happy with it so far .

 

Spookshow's review of the K4 is now available.


http://www.spookshow.net/loco/bachk4.html

 

Really nice review for this engine, glad to have an impartial view of operation and appearance. Hopefully this will lay to rest a lot of the speculation surrounding this new addition to our steam world. Can't wait for mine to show up, WANTED this a looong time.

 

"...lay to rest a lot of the speculation surrounding this new addition to our steam world"

"All come equipped with factory-installed DCC sound."

"A Soundtraxx DCC-Sound decoder comes plugged into a 9-pin connector on the tender PC board. Unfortunately, Bachmann did not provide any sort of dummy plug or jumpers that would allow one to remove the decoder and run the engine in straight DC mode. They also didn't provide any guidance as far as which of the nine pins to bridge for DC operations, so I guess you're on your own as far as figuring out how to do that."

Soooooooooo....

If you run a DC layout...good luck figuring out how to do that...you are beyond disappointed !!!

If you run strictly DCC...You get to pay for a sound decoder that is useless to you...and you are beyond disappointed !!!

If you run DCC and like sound...I guess you are a happy camper.

Sums it up pretty well. Yes...the speculation is about over.

 

THe retailer in Maryland had them in stock for exactly the price I thought they would sell it for. Good thing I waited.

 

I was a DC guy for a long time before I saw a wireless DCC set on Ebay and took the plunge. I didn't know why I did because I am severely electronically challenged. However, the DCC system I got was an MRC wireless and I must admit was pretty easy to set up and learn. I will shortly be selling all of my older non DCC friendly stuff.

Like it or not DCC and sound are here to stay. The MRC/Model Power 2-8-2 looks, runs and sounds great. Ditto the Bachmann K4. New engines from Kato or Atlas will probably be sound equipped. The Kato 2-8-2, once acclaimed as the "gold standard" is now a dinosaur. It's called progress and while one may not like it, it is here to stay.

 

The Kato 2-8-2 can be changed to dcc; I had decoders installed in my fleet. None with sound.

 

All engines can be changed to DCC. Some are easier than others. The Kato 2-8-2, from what I heard is not the easiest. There was a guy on Ebay who advertised installing DCC in the Kato for about $54 plus shipping both ways. That's about $68.00 plus the engine and no sound. The MP 2-8-2 with DCC and sound although it is a light 2-8-2, can be had for about $180 or so. This one of those cases where one has to decide which way one wants to go. As for me, I got a lot of locomotives that I can part with and use the proceeds to finance sound equipped DCC locomotives. I don't plan on having as many as I do now. So I thin the herd and finance new equipment at the same time.

 

Once again....my point is lost amoungst every word I type. Let me try this again in less words.

1) I am NOT against sound locomotives.



2)I am against manufactures who make DCC/sound ONLY locomotives...like the K4

 

I had already purchased 5 Kato 2-8-2 over a period of a few years long before I ever considered adding a dcc option to my layout. During this past year without a layout, I had dcc installed in all of them. I am pleased with the results. I just pulled one from storage yesterday and put it on the test loop with 2 cabooses and 24 MTL boxcars; it handles them very nicely. I suspect that dcc and sound could be installed; this is based on the fact I had TSU-750 dcc and sound installed in 2 B'mann 2-8-0s.

 

While not ever having any intention of buying one because I have no use for one I have been following this with interest. I have seen a lot of talk that seems to suggest that this locomotive is DCC only. It has been the Bmann's practice for some time now to use dual mode decoders that allow operation in both modes and I have a number of their locos that operate that way. So the big question is did they depart from their normal mode and produce a DCC only loco, and ignore a still sizable group that operates only DC and limit the market for this loco?

I did a small amount of searching for an answer on the vast internet wasteland and came up with one article where at least one person was operating their loco on DC. I did not read thoroughly enough or far enough into the subject, but I suspect that it can be operated on DC, just one loses their control over the sound functions that one has with DCC, probably similar to the recent Athearn Challenger. However before someone sets their expensive loco on a DC track and hits the power on I would suggest a conversation with the Bmann over on their web site to see if this loco has a dual mode decoder like all their recent stuff.

 

It is not so much that it can be operated on DC, most DCC-equipped locos can, but that they are only offering a DCC sound version, meaning that the people who want to operate it on DC or aren't interested in sound (like me) end up paying a fairly large premium for features that they don't want/need. This is especially annoying when the GG-1 that they have announced at the same time is coming in sound and non-sound versions. Note that this hasn't stopped me from ordering a K4, but that is only because it can be obtained at a substantial discount from the MSRP. Without that level of discounting I would have passed on it and persevered with my Minitrix K4s.

The K4 has a Soundtraxx decoder.

Adrian

 

Bachmann has been producing locomotives with the dual mode DC/DCC decoders. They just now added sound. If my memory serves me correctly this same argument came up on the old Atlas forum about six years ago when Atlas used a similar dual DC/DCC decoder. MRC/Model Power is also releasing their locomotives with sound. You can bet that Atlas and Kato will follow suit. It's the future of model railroading.

 

How do you like the TSU-750 decoders and what speaker did you use? Thinking of converting my B'mann 2-8-0's to DCC and sound.

 

I dont think Kato will ever go to "DCC Sound ONLY" Locomotives. Their consumer base is Japan...and I have doubts all those model railroaders over there want sound. Atlas would be smart to wait and see how the K4 does. K4 sales will be skewed just by the fact there are consumers who have been begging for a K4 for so mnay years...they will take anything...even if they run strictly DC. Then again...maybe a lot of people just wont buy one because of the 'DCC Sound ONLY' fiasco.

In that vain...I find conflicting information:

One reads.....
The tender is set up exactly like the Berk (sound decoder plugged into a parallel 9-pin connector on top of the tender PC board). As for what sort of "dummy/jumper" plug you'd use to run without a decoder (or if such a thing even exists), I have no idea . There isn't anything in the instructions about running without a decoder.

Another reads...
The wiring diagram that came with the engine indicates which wires I need to run to power the motor and lights once the decoder is removed.

Is the sound decoder dual mode ?
Can the sound decoder be removed and the system be set up for straight DC ?
Can the sound decoder be removed and a straight DCC decoder be wired in ?
Will people really pay a premium price for a sound decoder that will most likely be thrown away...even by those who want better sound?

I guess the speculation will continue until there is definative proof on numerous questions

Time will tell...............................

 

Unlikely, since it is a 9-pin header (not a JST connector) and the outer (#1,#9) pins appear to be marked as speaker connections (based on the photo in Spookshow's review)