I have own the older white gear Bachmann steam and all of them had bad gears. But the spectrum is great. Some I have bought used and they run good. I think if Bachmann offered a different shell on the 2-8-0 they would sell a bunch more. If somebody does not like Bachmann don't buy Bachmann,however it seems that some just want to bash them for past failures. Who else is releasing good running steam on a regular bias?
Rick: I have six or seven original run Spectrum 2-8-0's. (Circa 2001) They all have Lenz 511W decoders hardwired in them and all still run run extremely well. That Spectrum locomotive is detailed beautifully and it's a joy to run with 9 or 10 cars behind it. In the past two years, I removed four of the Lenz decoders in the locomotives and installed ESU Select micro sound decoders and Zimo cube speakers in the tenders. They run and sound superbly with the ESU Select Micro sound decoders and Zimo cube speakers. Having fun with it.... Shades
Another vote here for a new run of the Spectrum Consolidation, although some of the older runs are available on That Auction Site. I think the major e-tailer that ogre427 meant just lists the last run all marked "sold out"; I was looking for a 2-8-0 a while back and found nothing except that listing (message me if I'm wrong and there's still ones at e-tailers out there around about street price!). Further, recent releases have been mostly big steam; it's about time for something smaller again. So what prototype version would be considered worthy of a run? How about a Harriman Common Standard one? SP and subsidiary fans would be happy (dunno about the UP guys who might want the second cab window, but that might be doable). The different dome arrangement might suit still more people overall as being close enough to their wants. Any other versions you might want or are thinking about? Well, Pennsy H8-H10s -- what else?
The dcc ready Bachmann tenders that I have purchased have the "board" for the dcc harness installed. The original non-dcc Spectrum did not have that "board." The person who did the installation for me removed the weight in the tender to make room for the decoder and speaker. The decoder and speaker seem to make up for the weight that was removed. I had speakers that J. Colombo had suggested installed in my two. I think they are Knowles. I would consider ESU LokSound for a future project including their small speaker that comes with baffles.
I would think that with a proven mechanism coming up with one or more shells would be a relatively cheap way of increasing sales. The tender has already been upgraded for DCC. The Harriman and the PRR styles should sell well. Any others?
I agree this is a great mech and can run on small curves ,with a few different shells could fit just about any railroad from 1910 - end of steam and even now in excursion service. If I find a good deal on a used spectrum 2-8-0 on feebay I always throw out a bid they are great for projects. I have two now that I bought used (early release with Plastic floor tender) both run great. Also Bachmann has a great parts catalog for parts . I have even modified the boiler shell to mount on a micro Ace 2-8-0 mech to make a 0-8-0 switcher. I have kicked a round the idea of a shortened 2-6-6-2 shell on the Bachmann 2-8-0 mech. No prototype but I have a freelance line on my layout.
My B-cursed 2-8-0's, I've kicked them off my roster and don't plan on replacing them with more of the same. The other foot my friend, the other foot.
Well Rick, I am sorry for your misfortune but as you can see there are more positive posts here than negative ones. But I will try to ease your apparent pain with these engines. Just send them to me. That way they will no longer be around to invoke bad memories. Contact me off list on where to send them, Okay? And if you can, send me a picture of the locomotives also.
Bachpersonn has these numbered for an E-27, which was the largest and longest lasting group of Consolidateds on the Baltimore and Ohio. They do not look too much like them. I would expect that more than one E-27 ran in the part of Illinois to which you refer. They look more like an E-60, which was a Buffalo and Susquehanna locomotive. If you are modelling anything 1940s, or later , some E-60s did migrate to other parts of the B&O--this despite B&O's scrapping the Buffalo and Susquehanna Atlantics during the Second World War (!). As the Consolidateds and Atlantics were pretty much the only road locomotives that Buffalo and Susquehanna had, the Consolidateds took over the passenger work, for as long is it lasted there. A 1943 washout did isolate the Buffalo and Susquehanna; the B&O never rebuilt the track, instead accessing it over New York Central (?) trackage rights. I do not know if E-60s ever ran in that part of Illinois that you model. I suppose that some old photographs m ight provide some evidence that they did, but lack of a photograph of one there would not necessarily prove that E-60s did not run there. There were E-60s that ran in the Washington-Baltimore area, but almost everything that the B&O ever had, be it steam or diesel showed up there at some point. The EL classes and EM class probably showed up in the Washington-Baltimore area only rarely, as the terrain did not demand that type of power, although the track, bridges and clearances certainly would have allowed those things to operate there. I do not know if the track and bridges on the B&O between Baltimore and Philadelphia would have taken anything that large. It may have taken a Big Six, it might not have. It would take the Q-4s and the various heavy Pacifics. I have considered purchasing a few of the B&O versions and simply changing the numbers to E-60 numbers, but, as you have warned us that the latest issues with the DCC ain't quite like the earlier issues, I must wonder. Mine are all from the "try before you buy" era of these things: the first and second runs. I have operated them for years without too many problems; nothing major, strictly minor, mind you. Considering how much road specific steam that Bachamann has done lately, and how well it has sold, I am surprised that it has not done an upgraded version of the Reading Company I-9 or I-10 (I forget which one it is, now). The dies must be somewhere, still. All that B-mann really need do is upgrade some of the added on details and put it onto an up-to-date mechanism. I would guess that an upgraded re-issue would make more than one modeller of hard coal roads happy, as I am sure that it could be bashed into at least a "looks-a-lot-like a_________________". The anthracite roads seemed to like the 2-8-0 wheel arrrangement, so the possibilities are there. I have done a test fit of the old shell to the SPECTRUM chassis. It looks like it will go, with some surgery. I have not gone much beyond that, though. I wonder if anyone actually has fit the old Reading shell to the SPECTRUM chassis.
Me too I picked up lot of N scale for $20 off of feebay and it include the original release spectrum 2-8-0 ( the seller had terrible photos it was hard to tell it was a spectrum ) this is one of my smoothest and quietest running steam. So I will take more spectrum 2-8-0s
E-60s saw freight and passenger service here in western PA, I have an issue of Classic Trains about them running The Stumps from Butler to Mt. Jewett. Pretty sure but would have to check my library, they were originally Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh engines. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
According to Sagle and Stauffer, the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Consolidateds were B&O classes E-51 through E-58. The Buffalo and Susquenhanna were E-60. There were thirty something of the things on the Buffalo and Susquehanna when the B&O acquired it. After the washout, six of them were isolated on that railroad. When the Wellsville, Addisonville and Galeton began operations in late 1955, it did so with the six on the Buffalo and Susquehanna. The B&O retained the others.
Thanks brokemoto, I'm having trouble finding my Pietrak book on the BP&R. Still in a box from the move and not with my hobby stuff. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
I am referring to the Springfield, IL Division which ran from Beardstown via Flora to Shawneetown, IL. I thought I had read it had a very limited number of 2-8-0 locomotives. I source is the article by Duane Carrell about that branch line published in The Sentinel the quarterly magazine of the B&O RR Historical Society. I looked at the article today and one photos has a caption of "one of many 2-8-0s the B&O employed on the Springfield Division." Another source is Central Illinois Rails vol. 1 by Dick Wallin and J. David Ingles which has a photo of one of the 2-8-0s. There certainly were 2-8-0s elsewhere in Illinois in the 1940s and 1950s; I have no information about the other parts of B&O in Illinois.
That's ok guys. You just keep running what makes you happy and I will do the same. Acutally, I will be keeping them and hoping Kato makes a chassis I can use to get them back on the roster.
Rick: Micro-Ace made a 2-8-0 that you can use for a chassis. With some adjustments the shell of the Spectrum 2-8-0 will fit on top of that chassis. Have fun with it. Shades
Just for the record, Bachmann still has all the gears, motor, and drivers for the Spectrum version available on their website very inexpensively. And pretending there is no difference between the old white-box Bachmann stuff and their current, or even their early 2000's Spectrum stuff, does nobody any good. There are too many tens of thousands (yes, the production run on the 2-8-0 was that high) running around to think they are as bad as the "old Bachmann". And this, coming from a guy who is very critical of Bachmann. I often don't like their designs, nor do I very often buy their engines. But the 2-8-0 was a pretty darn good one. It has some minor quirks: wheels that were too narrow in gauge, crankpins that would get caught on the valve gear, and some pickup issues. But it could be tuned and made into a really great running engine if, that is, you didn't get a good one out of the box.
This thread reminded me that they also produced a 2-8-2 out of that mechanism also by simply adding a trailing truck. Other than the gear cracking issue in the the locos they were not that bad having good detail for the time. Still the new version is a night and day difference.
That we will. Somehow this just doesn't ring true. The Kato Mikado chassis is about as close as one can get. In fact I think the drivers are the same size. Some modification will probably be necessary but the chassis is already there waiting for you.
