Bachmann Northern Review Issues

I have had a subscription to your magazine for the past 3 years and for the most part am very pleased with the publication. This pleasure has somewhat cooled after reading your review of the Bachmann Northerns in your September issue. The title states they are now DCC equipped with new drive mechanisms. As for describing the DCC works you have hit the nail right on the head. I congratulate you on your knowledge of DCC and being able to explain it in laymen’s terms.

However, I must say that your description of the new drive mechanism leaves much to be desired. In your entire article you devoted one, and only one, sentence to the new drive. Too much of your review was devoted to the prototypes of the reviewed locomotives. We as hobbyists are not purchasing the prototype although prototype, information is always appreciated. I for one would like to see a few pictures of the guts of the model locomotive. What good is it to have a great sounding engine if the motor and gearing are substandard? In your other reviews you almost always show what’s under the hood of diesels, why don’t you do it for the real models, the steam locomotives? Let’s have a little more down and dirty information (and under the boiler pictures) and a little less fluff.

Gregory Cain
Fort Wright, KY

Thanks for your perspective, Gregory. First, we cannot evaluate the quality of the modeling without understanding the prototype and the era in which we found it. Thus our prototype section is never fluff; it is the essence of accurate model evaluation. Meanwhile, getting the shell off a diesel is no big trick; just remove the couplers and off it comes. Putting it back on is just as easy. I’ve had steam locomotives that I’ve disassembled that I never could put back together. I’m just not that level of craftsman, I’m afraid. Add to that the fact I had about two weeks to put together the review and I didn’t have access to samples of their several previous stages of production. I have one prior sample, a very poor bit of work. This new one was obviously very different, so when Bachmann said they had constructed a new one, given that the people I know at their company have always been honest and forthright with me, I can trust them to tell me the truth. It really is a new mechanism. How good is it? I think the answer is to be found in our By-The Numbers testing results. All four locomotives performed far better than might have been expected of their predecessors and are comparable with contemporary offerings. — John

Bachmann Northern Derailment Problems

Your article on Bachmann Northerns holds true to other Bachmann trains. The sound is awesome and the people at Bachmann are very understanding. I have a mountain 4-8-2 and a USRA Light 2-10-2 and both derail on 24-inch radius. In the past I had the same problem only with several Bachmann trains.

I have tried everything. I ran them with the front truck off and then the back truck off. What I found out is the train runs okay and does not derail if you disconnect the draw bar and pull the tender and the cars with just the wiring harness. I’m going to try and enlarge the holes in part #MTB10 draw bar allowing it to have some lateral movement. The engine and the tender hooked together are too stiff causing the leading truck to lift up off the track. Bachmann needs to re-engineer the leading truck and install a spring to prevent it from rising up and off the track, this along with a longer, looser draw bar and the engines would match their awesome sound. Super magazine. I was also taught that it was (and still is) E equals I times R.

Don Earnest
Tipp City, OH

Revisiting the Coupler Question

After reading about Empire Builder coupler woes in your September 2007 issue, I decided to put my two cents worth in about couplers. Why don’t the manufacturers of all these quality cars and locomotives put quality couplers on their products? Why should I, after paying a $100.00 and up for a locomotive and $20.00 and up for rolling stock, have to replace the couplers with something that works. Why don’t Athearn and Atlas, just to name a couple, get with the program?

The only manufacturer, to my knowledge, that uses Kadee couplers is Intermountain. I work in a hobby shop and you wouldn’t believe the number of times that this coupler question comes up. I have been in this hobby a little over 35 years and have always had questions about this coupler situation.

Love your publication; keep up the good work.

Bill Foust
Peoria Heights, IL

Okay Bill, here’s the answer. I’ve asked several manufacturers this same question, including the fine folks at Kadee Quality Products, located about five miles from my house. Very simply, most of the products are built and packaged in China and other Asian nations. Kadee does ship couplers to China and Korea for installation on the products of specific manufacturers. Other makers specify other couplers and feel these are satisfactory for their products and see no reason to change coupler suppliers.

As I’ve said before, we’ve all bought top-of-the-line cars in the old days that came without couplers or were delivered with horn-hooks or something else. Really, it’s to our advantage to install our own Kadees and use their height gauge and do it right, to the standards each operator sets for his own model railroad. As a hobby shop worker, help the hobbyist see the positive benefits of doing it this way rather than encouraging the endless grousing that does nothing for the hobby. — John

More Coupler Issues

Hal Greenlee’s letter regarding “Empire Builder Coupler Woes” and your sidebar regarding the couplers in your review of the Empire Builder cars were right on. However, the problem is not limited to the Rivarossi-Walthers passenger car couplers. Several months ago I was getting my layout ready for our local model railroad club meeting and, for the first time, set up both a passenger train and a freight train on my layout. The freight train consisted of 40-foot and the new 50-foot Athearn ATSF refrigerator cars, both equipped with McHenry couplers. I had no sooner attempted to run the train than many of the cars came uncoupled. An examination revealed that the tiny plastic spring that holds the coupler knuckle closed had, in many cases, lost its springiness, thus allowing the cars to uncouple.

Therefore, I am now replacing all couplers on my Athearn cars and locomotives with Kadee couplers. This same problem exists with the Rivarossi-Walthers passenger cars. However, the problem of the couplers hanging too low is not caused by the plastic coupler shanks being too flexible but because the draft gear boxes are too deep, allowing the couplers excessive vertical play. This can be corrected by placing a shim in the draft gear box between the coupler and the draft gear cover plate (which, however, tends to bind the swinging draft gear box). Also, the Kadee No. 5 bronze centering spring has a very tight fit in the Rivarossi-Walthers draft gear box, sometimes interfering with its centering capability. This can be obviated by using the Kadee No. 148 “Whisker” coupler, a more expensive alternative.

I also have the same complaint about having to install the grab irons on Walthers passenger cars and cabooses. Walthers has gotten around the problem, at least with its caboose models, by offering them in both a “Gold Line” (grab irons not installed) and a “Platinum Line,” (grab irons installed, but at a higher price). And because Walthers placed the package of grabirons (and horn hook couplers) in the underside of the box, the package would fall out and be lost or thrown out (because I didn’t see those tiny grab irons in the package and surely didn’t want the horn hook couplers).

Nuff said. Incidentally, I am really pleased with the new size of MRN.

Jim Case
Cedar City, UT

Howdy Jim! You’ve seen my response to the letter above and that pretty much applies to some of this. On the list price for one set, the difference between a #5 and a #148 is 35 cents, worth the difference in my mind. If you go to the bulk pack, it’s less. I not only like installing Kadees on all my cars, I like re-installing them from time to time.

Let me explain. I have my “heavy train” that I use when we test heavy locos. I’ve got fifty or so forty-footers with Kadee couplers on them. It would be nice to put the coupler on and forget about them, but I can’t. The Athearn snap-clips and the coupler mounting screws for other companies can work loose. Dust and dirt can gum up a coupler pocket and make a coupler stiff. Trucks and wheels need inspection, too. This is at least an annual thing.

Just as I can’t work on my own steam lokies, I also can’t install my own Walthers’ hand grabs. I’ve tried. Instead, my young and talented friend R. Dave Carr does the honors very well, thank you, Dave! He’s a diesel guy, so I don’t tempt him with steamers, however. — John

Steam Locomotive Appearances

I hope in your locomotive reviews you are critical of HO model locomotives that are coming from China with the two following serious flaws:

1. On many locos the mechanism fills up the space between the roller and frame over two or even three driving wheels (no light under boiler)

2. The fixed DC plug is located under the loco cab where it takes up so much space the rear of loco frame and cab support cannot be modeled. Nor the fittings or ‘light’ under the cab.

The plumbing is sometimes just modeled on relief on side of plastic box containing the plug! There is lots of room under the tender for the fixed plug (Athearn’s USRA 2-8-2).

Locos like this can hardly be called scale models (I do not buy them unless they are on sale 1/2 price!)

I notice that most manufacturers are including the loco-tender fall plate. Good! But what about the stoker tube, hose connections, and the massive drawbar? This last might be made hollow with a snap on top so that it could carry and conceal the rainbow DCC wires.

Finally a representation of the ash hopper, no matter how narrow, would eliminate the unwanted ‘light’ under the firebox.

Doing these few things would result in the perfect locomotive!

Incidentally, the new Bachmann USRA light 2-10-2 conceals the mechanism completely except for the small gear tower (unavoidable of course).

David Hartman
London, ON Canada

Thanks for writing, David. A picture is still worth a thousand words and some are worth a good deal more than that! In most of our steam locomotive reviews, we shoot one photo straight on from the side so that you can judge all this for yourself. This is an old issue around here, and some people think we should blast the manufacturer with words when the photo speaks very eloquently, and the words can address what the photos can’t show. Frankly, some potential buyers are not bothered while it’s “fingernails on the blackboard” for others. I don’t think it’s our job to tell someone what to think, so much as to show them what they’ll get. — John

MRC N-Scale Sound Decoder Review Issues

Phil Scandura’s review in the September issue of the MRC N-scale sound decoder for the Kato P42 and E8/9 is misleading and contains a very significant omission.

MRC’s advertising and decoder instruction sheet state “this one piece sound decoder/speaker combination replaces Kato’s factory installed printed circuit board, by simply removing the loco body, unclipping the factory unit, and dropping in the decoder. A miracle of N-Scale decoder engineering, there’s no connectors, no wiring, no machining, no dremeling; the easiest decoder installation possible”.

This is not true. Phil mentions the need to “do a bit of plastic trimming,” an understatement. The MRC instruction sheet says you must “trim some plastic bumps,” and then shows a diagram which indicates 14 bumps to be removed. Once these bumps are removed you can no longer go back and re-install the original copper contact strips, light board, or another drop-in decoder. Replacement parts containing the “bumps” are no longer available from Kato except as a complete mechanism at $60. This is definitely not drop-in or even DCC ready.

The major omission relates to the prime mover sounds provided in the decoder. There are two, but neither one of them is a P42 or an E8, as you might expect when the decoder is advertised as being for the Kato P42 and E8. The prime mover sounds in the decoder are an EMD SD45 and an MP15.

For programming this decoder with a Digitrax system I have had success using Direct Mode rather than Paged Mode. Ops Mode also works.

John Wallis
Apex, NC

Hi, John. While the MRC sound decoder is not quite “drop in” one cannot deny that it is a far easier way to install N-scale sound than previous offerings that required milling of the frame, or even the use of a dummy B unit as a place to house the sound. While N-scale sound isn’t quite in its infancy, it is still barely a toddler and will need some handholding while finding its way. I have no doubt that things will get better.

I’ll admit to not being an expert on locomotive sounds. I’ve had little occasion to stand next to one while it idles — most trains that come through Flagstaff fly through without stopping. I will say that I liked one of the prime mover sounds better than the other, but that’s personal preference only. I’ll also suggest that changing the sounds in a future release of the MRC decoder wouldn’t be that difficult, if MRC chose to do so. — Phil

Whistler Mountaineer Offering



After reading your article in the latest issue (September 2007 Editorial), we thought you might be interested in a picture of a pair of HO-scale Atlas GP40s that we custom painted for a customer in Germany. It was an interesting challenge to do this paint scheme, but we thought they came out well. We also wanted to let you know we like the new size of the magazine, keep up the good work.

Trains Emporium
Sparks, NV
800-228-7163
www.trainsemporium.com

Nice looking work. It is very common for folks who go take a ride on a train to then want a model of that locomotive or train for their layout at home, so those who have ridden the Whistler Mountaineer should be pleased to have a place to locate such a souvenir. – John

While this was a great review on the new MTH Premier SD70ACe, you missed the boat in a big way, along with one error. The one error is that MTH does not make a scale wheel dummy. Your big omission however, is how MTH 3/2 technology can revolutionize the much larger 3-rail segment of O Gauge trains, which is odd since you reviewed the 3-Rail Engine and not the scale wheeled version. You state correctly that you can purchase scale wheels for the 3-rail model, install them quickly, flip the 3/2 switch and now you have 2-rail engine.

Why a two-railer would want a model with a floating pilot, the big gap it causes, half-length handrails, and a tinplate coupler is odd. You have the real benefit reversed. Your 3-Railer can buy the scale wheel version, purchase a set of high rail wheels, and now he has a 3-Rail engine with a fixed pilot, full-length handrails, and a scale coupler.

By purchasing the scale wheeled model, you now have a proper 2-rail model that can also run on 3-rail track, not the other way around as you have described the in review. The 2-rail model with Hi Rail wheels can run flawlessly on 072 coupler back to back. And, what a sight! No more hideous big gap between pilot and frame! No Floating pilot! Full Length handrails! No giant couplers!

All a three-railer needs to do is make a transition car, put one Kadee coupler on one end of a freight car to mate with the rest of his fleet. The title of your article should have been “New MTH Model Changes Perspective on Today’s 3-Rail Modeling.” But, you are not alone. I believe MTH advertises the benefits of this is the wrong fashion as you did. MTH would easily create more of a demand if they advertised the great options for the 3-railer with 3/2. As I have stated, what 2-railer is going to want to convert an engine to huge flanges, floating pilot, big gap, half length handrails, and have to do something about the huge tinplate couplers? Make a tinplate transition car for his 2-rail layout? MTH should think a bit, and change their advertising campaign.

Pete Kruimer
Harrington Park, NJ

I’m 70 years old and have been in and out of trains most of those years. [I] cannot say enough about how wonderful your new magazine size and format is. [I] have absolutely no faults with it. In my life I’ve noticed that companies are like people: they’re afraid of change.

Look at Ford, they couldn’t see a need to change but Lee Iacocca did, so we got the Mini-van, and I’ve had one ever since. [Ed. Note – Mr. Iacocca was a Ford Motor Co. executive before moving to Chrysler Corp. where he developed both the K-car and the Mini-van that was based on it.]

The way I see it, you have come out on top with this one and every one has gained, even the Postal service. Your advertisers are very good as well, even if I’m not interested at the time, I still read their ads and get interested. I usually e-mail them first to get a thermometer on how to do business with them. My overall response has been a 7 of 10 experience. Some companies just do not know how to correspond to people.

On warranty items the companies have bent over backwards to take care of my problems; one even replaced the circuit board after the warranty ran out at no charge.

MRN is so informative, too. I just read about putting magnets under the track to uncouple and to add to that, you can uncouple cars on a TURN.

You make my day.

C. B. Ranney
Calais, ME

I like it for two reasons: It fits in my bookcase, and it is easier to turn pages than the old format because there is no fold in the center. I liked the size of the original because it was unique but must admit it was hard to store and flip the pages.

It’s still the most informative model railroad publication out there. I would like to see more O-scale coverage of structures and vehicles and non-motive power products, as I model in On30.

Thank you,

Peter Herron
Clifton Park, NY

I have just received my latest issue of Model Railroad News. I am still impressed with your publication in the new format. The articles are still great, which is why I subscribe to your publication. Content, not format make for a great publication.

After reading your review of the new Bachmann HO Steam Locomotives, I am probably going to buy one, maybe two. Being retired, my monies are not the same as when working full time.

Also, a friend of mine who is not into trains, wished to read your publication, after seeing the review of the new airport fire engines. He is always trying to learn more about technical devices, no matter what. Maybe some day he will get into model trains!

David Swanson
Roscoe, IL