The J's showed up at our shop today. They look much better in person than any of the shots I have seen here yet. I just stopped in for a minute so I didn't get a chance to open them up and test run any but I will be there all day tomorrow. I will get a couple out and try them out to see how they do. As a side note, some of the Spectrum HO Steam with Tsunami sound also arrived. I'm impressed, espcially for the price. The only thing I wish was that they had a cam to synchronize the chuff. It is really only an issue when switching and most people that watched as I played with it never knew the difference.
Sorry, but cant agree with you entirely on the Consol. I can think of several others just as good and without Bmanns QC problems. The Consol seemed to have the fewest problems but the Mountain and the Articulated were abominations wrt QC in my opinion. Dave
I had a long post typed up to rebut this but let's just leave it at: My experience is much different. The only two steam loco's I would buy without testing are the Spectrum 2-8-0 and the Kato Mikado. All the 2-8-0's we have sold through our shop were put on the test track before leaving (store policy) and not one showed any running issues. I caught the displaced drawbar wiper mentioned before while looking at it after testing and before placing it in the box. It didn't affect the running on the test track. That fix took a screwdriver and 2 minutes to correct for the customer. I will test what is left of the J class' when I get to the shop in the morning and report back. I can't test them all personally because I found out that 3 of 6 we got in today sold already.
Make that Kato USA for the 20 year anniversary, established in 1986. Kato was founded in Tokyo in 1957 and introduced first Japanese N Scale in 1965. First N Scale for the US market was (I think) the 4-6-4 built for Con-Cor in about 1969. Ben
I appreciate that. I agree with you re the Kato at least! I am willing to give Bmann another chance since the J is one of my favorite engines. So I look forward to your comments on the quality and running ability. I have no good N Scale shops in my area that are not a drive so i tend to have to rely on etailers, who may or may not want to test steamers for me. And...I just wanted to mention that your B&O Big Six engine is truly nice work! Dave
Botchman the best steamer? Nah, I have to give the nod to the Roundhouse 2-8-0 (or whoever makes it now) for it's running and pulling ability. Definitely a jewel. Or if you want to consider something harder to come by, the Micro-Ace Japanese Mallet is a thing of beauty and runs like a fine Swiss watch. Botchman has come a long way, but definitely not #1
My concerns have already been voiced. So, I will leave them right there. I need to conclude with this. If the traction tire thing is the only negative mark I give this unit...and we consider all the positives. One thing is certain, a done deal, the J Class will take her coveted spot in my roster of locomtives. I have a private varnish set of N&W and N&S passenger cars for her to pull. She will stand out, just splendidly as she comes into the station. The envy of all other passenger trains... with pride! Hey, I thought I was a western railroad fan! Wat's happening here? Well, you give chase to such a gorgeous engine through the Ohio country side and something happens. Conversion time. So, can anyone tell we how she will do pulling a 2% grade? Merry Christmas ALL!!!!!
Traction Tire Issue - Cheater Boxcars Yes, making a cheater boxcar, er, “cheater reefers” (for passenger trains). can be a lot of extra work and expense but I feel it would be worth it. Since I intend 6 percent grades I guess I’ll have to make a few of those and ship them out to be DCCed when the time comes.
Test Run I got to test two of the units today. All others have already sold. Both ran flawless out of the box. They would run very slow, not quite crawling a tie at a time but break in would probably solve that. They ran without hesitation or wobble on both code 55 and code 80 track. They went through the both atlas code 55 and code 80 #6 turnouts without stalling (the frog on the code 55 turnout on our test track is not powered). The paint is great. The thing weighs a ton and with the traction tires, I figure it is good for around 50 cars on level track. That will have to be tested later. Other features I found interesting: All DCC connections are done in the tender. The tender floor has a speaker grille molded in so it looks like they are planning for a sound version. Over all, I am impressed. I'm not a N&W buff so I'm not going to try count rivets because I don't know which ones too count. It looks very good to my untrained eye.
Well, I think all of us would be glad if Bachman did start producing consistant winners. But as we've seen, some models have had no problems. Others, like myself, have had problems with them. We need more steam. If Bachman can resolve it's inconsistant quality control problems, and start producing more steamers, so much the better. If 6 months from now folks on here are still happy with their Js, then it would appear Bachmann has continued making strides in improving the quality of their engines. Kato's Mikado is still the best, IMHO, with MDC's 2-8-0 behind, and Bachmann's Connie third. If Kato re-releases another round of Mikes, I'll just repaint them into B&O. Although hopefully this time Kato will give them decent couplers and add all the railings, etc at the factory.
skipgear, i've run mine quite a bit already and it is already more at a creaping pace than when I first got it. The more it runs, the better its getting. BarstowRick, as for the question you asked me now I can give an answer. I pulled 22 Kato passenger cars easily up all my 2% grades. There was no slippage, no stalling, just pure pulling power at different speeds. I could have added more cars as i'm sure it could have handled them but why after 22 ? I do have a couple 3% grades that I only tryed a 10 car set on but then again it could have pulled a couple more easily. Ernie
I have one coming shortly and will test it on the grades of the JJJ&E. I'm not interested in it pulling 20 passenger cars. I'll be satisfied with 8-9. The wiring for a decoder in the tender suits me just fine. I'll try to install a decoder with sound and a speaker in the space provided. Stay cool and run steam....
Uploaded some pics for those that don't have it or questioning quality: http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/5348 S
Ernie, I'm stunned, amazed, thrilled and almost speechless that on a 2% grade the J Class hauled 22 Kato passenger cars. You can run trains all day long on the flat and yes that's impressive. However, put them on a grade and now you have something. The pictures shared by Sizemore are just awesome. Tony, our discussion on traction tires was well worth the time. Thanks to all! Got to get my order in!
My oh my... those pictures are amazing. It is one sweet looking locomotive. The detail is outstanding. I'm starting to become a believer.
This J is definately a treat to N scale. Will we see a Daylight GS-4 of the same quality and construction from Bman next?
