This was my first HO loco, same paint scheme and all. Got it in a trainset along with a few cars and a dcc controller. Its what got me into model railroading. My one thing was the loose tender draw bar. After my clumsy 8-year old hands picked it up (and dropped it) enough times the wires snapped. Still keep it around, though a little broken, all together a great beginner's model! Really captures the spirit of steam engines
yea wire plugs tend to all be very fragile and a weak point in most ho locos. theyre kinda meant to be plugged and unplugged only a handful of times. Glad you were able to enjoy your loco tho! Its a great model to start out with.
This was one of the first locomotives I bought new. Absolutely loved it to pieces. As time progressed, it would grow tired from its years of strenuous work and damn near a hundred hours in a younger me’s hands. It would also become my first ever kitbashed project, with me adding a whistle, new headlight (though not lit) among other things. Earlier this year, I decided to re build the locomotive and ordered a new sound value chassis and tender. I spent several hours adding a new tender coal bunker, a new headlight (that was lit this time), as well as a few little brass details. For anyone who is willing to sacrifice pulling power for freedom of customization, I would whole heartedly recommend this locomotive! Love mine to pieces and am happy to have a childhood locomotive back in action!
YES, I love it! This is what its all about! Bachmann's small steamers are fantastic bases for kitbashing and getting into loco modifications. Im so glad to hear stories of other's customizing their models. Keep it up man, and share pics/vid if you ever get the chance :)
One thing: Regarding the proportionality of the headlight in relation to the smokebox number plate, it is the number plate that is too big not that the headlight being too small. Notice that the numberplate edge are very close to the smoke box door lugs on the model while in the prototype pictures the plate edge are quite far from the lugs.
I see your point, however the smokebox door is also undersized, resulting in the door lugs being closer to the numberplate. Railroad numberplates and headlights were pretty standard in size by the 1920s since they were usually made by select manufacturers (ex Pyle headlights). Bachmann's numberplate might be slightly large but it is within variation when compared with a dozen other steam models of the same era. Meanwhile the headlight is unusually small compared to other HO steam models.
Don’t think you mentioned but they also did this model in N scale and honestly I think they did even better on that (maybe minus the pulling power). Almost same level of detail and simplicity all at a good price point too.
It's basically an underrated version of Bachman's USRA 0-6-0 which this loco is Amazing I have 2 of these, It's cheap and affordable And it's a medium size locomotive
Athearn/roundhouse makes a mogul (as well as a 4-4-0 and 2-8-0 with the same boiler) that is pretty nice. Maybe a little more sparce on the detail and sound needs to be installed, but it is diecast.
Yes, the 3 steam models you mentioned is all originally ~1970s MDC roundhouse diecast tooling (back when basically all model trains were diecast/brass). Hence why the engines look rather crude and undetailed. over 50 years later, Athearn is STILL using the same tooling and charging pretty big prices for them.
@@ApartmentRR I believe he’s talking about the new ones that are available for pre order with go for $350 (give or take) for just recycled tooling from the 70’s with a newer decoder. Athearn’s first release and all of the older releases leading back to the original MDC releases are rather hard to find on EBay for a good price. I’ve owned one of Roundhouse’s ready to run 2-8-0s and, while I did like them, I did find them rather dated in terms of detail and overall scaling
Small steam is super underrated in today's market. I don't need the next version of Big Boy, I want a 4-4-0 to pull some small trains on my future layout.
I had the chance to find one at that price last Monday, and I ended up grabbing a Broadway limited NW2 SWITCHER for the same price. Guy was selling his stepfather's collection and after telling him it was worth 200 usd he asked for 80$ cad. You just need to find the rare seller that wants to get rid of stuff.
I paid $59 for mine, with DCC sound. Found it on ebay. I remember not long ago, these sold fairly regularly for normally around $40-80 DCC ready on ebay
@@trainman440 I picked up my GB&W for 50 something on ebay in 2019. Since it the GB&Ws don't have sound or decoders it was a PITA to find a decoder that would fit under the tender shell.
This was my first HO loco, same paint scheme and all. Got it in a trainset along with a few cars and a dcc controller. Its what got me into model railroading. My one thing was the loose tender draw bar. After my clumsy 8-year old hands picked it up (and dropped it) enough times the wires snapped. Still keep it around, though a little broken, all together a great beginner's model! Really captures the spirit of steam engines
yea wire plugs tend to all be very fragile and a weak point in most ho locos. theyre kinda meant to be plugged and unplugged only a handful of times. Glad you were able to enjoy your loco tho! Its a great model to start out with.
This was one of the first locomotives I bought new. Absolutely loved it to pieces. As time progressed, it would grow tired from its years of strenuous work and damn near a hundred hours in a younger me’s hands. It would also become my first ever kitbashed project, with me adding a whistle, new headlight (though not lit) among other things. Earlier this year, I decided to re build the locomotive and ordered a new sound value chassis and tender. I spent several hours adding a new tender coal bunker, a new headlight (that was lit this time), as well as a few little brass details. For anyone who is willing to sacrifice pulling power for freedom of customization, I would whole heartedly recommend this locomotive! Love mine to pieces and am happy to have a childhood locomotive back in action!
YES, I love it! This is what its all about! Bachmann's small steamers are fantastic bases for kitbashing and getting into loco modifications. Im so glad to hear stories of other's customizing their models. Keep it up man, and share pics/vid if you ever get the chance :)
@@trainman440 I’ll be taking it to my club this weekend. I’ll probably have the video posted next weekend
One thing:
Regarding the proportionality of the headlight in relation to the smokebox number plate, it is the number plate that is too big not that the headlight being too small. Notice that the numberplate edge are very close to the smoke box door lugs on the model while in the prototype pictures the plate edge are quite far from the lugs.
I see your point, however the smokebox door is also undersized, resulting in the door lugs being closer to the numberplate. Railroad numberplates and headlights were pretty standard in size by the 1920s since they were usually made by select manufacturers (ex Pyle headlights). Bachmann's numberplate might be slightly large but it is within variation when compared with a dozen other steam models of the same era. Meanwhile the headlight is unusually small compared to other HO steam models.
@@trainman440 I agree. I’ve owned several Bachmann 2-6-0 shells and I agree, the headlight is way too small.
Don’t think you mentioned but they also did this model in N scale and honestly I think they did even better on that (maybe minus the pulling power). Almost same level of detail and simplicity all at a good price point too.
Youre right they did! I dont model N scale and my target audience is HO so i didnt mention it. They also look good!
It's basically an underrated version of Bachman's USRA 0-6-0 which this loco is Amazing I have 2 of these, It's cheap and affordable And it's a medium size locomotive
Yes!
I have several, great value and I'm in the UK!
Glad to see fellow modelers across the pond are also enjoying them :)
Athearn/roundhouse makes a mogul (as well as a 4-4-0 and 2-8-0 with the same boiler) that is pretty nice. Maybe a little more sparce on the detail and sound needs to be installed, but it is diecast.
Yes, the 3 steam models you mentioned is all originally ~1970s MDC roundhouse diecast tooling (back when basically all model trains were diecast/brass). Hence why the engines look rather crude and undetailed. over 50 years later, Athearn is STILL using the same tooling and charging pretty big prices for them.
@@trainman440 I didn’t pay much for mine on eBay and it runs great. They put can motors in them. They also have boiler bands which is nice ;)
@@ApartmentRR I believe he’s talking about the new ones that are available for pre order with go for $350 (give or take) for just recycled tooling from the 70’s with a newer decoder. Athearn’s first release and all of the older releases leading back to the original MDC releases are rather hard to find on EBay for a good price. I’ve owned one of Roundhouse’s ready to run 2-8-0s and, while I did like them, I did find them rather dated in terms of detail and overall scaling
These things perform great, and if you find one cheap enough, they make for great value models.
agreed!
I've a Mogul but it's from the eighties by Mainline and British Rail!
Small steam is super underrated in today's market. I don't need the next version of Big Boy, I want a 4-4-0 to pull some small trains on my future layout.
agreed! We need more small steam!
I literally took mine to the train club a day ago and they were all talking about it.
Small locomotives in general are scarce or really expensive
Yea, I agree, its rather sad to see most current model manufacs make only the cliche big steam models. Small steam deserves some love :,)
where are you finding this for 80$? i cant find it anywhere under 230$
I had the chance to find one at that price last Monday, and I ended up grabbing a Broadway limited NW2 SWITCHER for the same price. Guy was selling his stepfather's collection and after telling him it was worth 200 usd he asked for 80$ cad. You just need to find the rare seller that wants to get rid of stuff.
I paid $59 for mine, with DCC sound. Found it on ebay. I remember not long ago, these sold fairly regularly for normally around $40-80 DCC ready on ebay
@@trainman440 I picked up my GB&W for 50 something on ebay in 2019. Since it the GB&Ws don't have sound or decoders it was a PITA to find a decoder that would fit under the tender shell.
Ah, yes. The locomotive that's as underrated as it is underpowered, at least when it comes to the grades on the C&A
To clarify, my model could pull 3 or 4 cars up the grade below Coalton at most.
as they say, YMMV. If your track has steep grades and you use clipper oil as a track cleaning solution, then yes you will get less performance.
one of the best models i have. Bachmann should really make a second backdated version.
Also, Athearn is making a 2-6-0.
I’d be all for Bachmann re-releasing the DCC ready ready version. The current sound version is just too expensive…
That would be pretty cool lol
the reason why the locomotive is missing boiler bands is because the prototype doesn't have boiler bands. Some did but they're not really visible.
Im not sure what you mean. The prototype did have boiler bands. Any photo of a GB&W up close the boiler bands are visible.
@@trainman440 I couldn’t see em sorry
@@mr.oliver_11 please fact check before correcting someone else
They are not the king of affordibility. What a joke! They are junk and overpriced. You can buy other models with superior quality and cheaper.