Just finished repairing one of these for a local GR type and forum member.

Now, I’ve been into a lot of Bachmann 4-4-0’s, but this one…

I thought we had gotten QC better.
The “issue” was poor performance, stuttering and losing power on turnouts.
Lifting the loco off the track provided no power from the tender.

Full tear-down. The power leads in the 4-wire plug from the tender attach to the postage-stamp sized board under the firebox. One was broken off (remember: New locomotive, been this way since it came out of the box).
Fixed that, the other wire fell off.
Fixed that.

Checked the wiring in the smokebox.
The nmra/LS polarity switch circuit board hangs over the smoke switch. Generally not a problem, unless they put one of the smoke switch wires across the tip of the pin, rather than through the hole provided, and ONE of the wires to the polarity board was soldered on the wrong side.
We had an electrical connection between the two.

Okay, while fixing that, the wires to the polarity board fell off one at a time.
One literally fell out of the hole without breaking.
Rest broke at the strain point.

So, what’s with the two pairs of wires with tags around them saying “sound switch”?

Ah-ha!

They left the 2-wire plug to the tender off.
Now, in the past, 6 wires was less than we hoped for, but it was a workable situation in most cases.

Now we have 4. And, apparently, they are counting on you to put a sound decoder in the smokebox.
To heck with putting sound in the tender, with your control system and batteries, right?

They have eliminated the ability to use the locomotive the way the consumer sees fit, rather mandated you will do it their way.

With the latest “warranty” information released with the 27, which makes it quite clear that if you mess with it, the warranty is void, this is not good.

I wonder if all the new release 4-4-0’s have only a 4-wire plug?

Let’s see. The smokebox board is a natural tie-point for lights, and has been on most of their units.
Let’s say you want a backup light and sound.
You put the decoder in the smokebox as directed, but even if you use a control decoder, how are you going to get speaker and backup light to the tender and still retain track pickup from the tender for reliable operation?

Ah!
Put another decoder in the tender!

I won’t be buying one of these.
And now, I need to factor in costs of adding more wires and a plug to do what I want it to do for the consumer.

Glue joints seemed to be failing left and right.
One injector was glued in, it fell off.
The pilot coupler link clip fell out, needed re-glueing.

On a positive side, the paint and graphics are nice.
Once the wiring was sorted, it seemed to run okay, nice and quiet.

I just thought better and erased all I was typing…
'nuff said.
Most here know what I think of Backman…
jb

Make that Botchman.

But it’s so pretty!

…is this a “Pre-Stanley” era loco, or is this a very recent “New” idea of how to wire a loco, for complete customer satisfaction ?

Near as I can tell, this is part of the latest release of 4-4-0’s, well into the Stanley era.

But, not my problem.
They (Bot…err…Bachmann) are handling it all “in-house”, so it’s guaranteed to be good.

Yikes! Bachmann’s going to go the way of LGB if they don’t improve their QC.

Going?

Just wait for the articulated…it should really be the best yet…there are bets being accepted on whether the peak of “Quality Assurance” (Or lack of…) has been reached…

I expect that there will be a thread, a mile long, when it hits the market…(I actually hope that B’mann has learned just a little, and produces at least one product of this size, without major problems)…I’d like to try to think POSITIVE, for the future.

Been thinking of the new logger coming out…I think I will forgo it for now, and purchase a Connie (If funding becomes avail!) much like I did when the K was released…I bought a NOS Undec 4-4-0…seems to be in better shape than that mentioned above? Skip the trends and buy the tried and tested (or known fixable)…though I was ready to jump on the Davenport, a better deal on a LGB Porter came along and took that money!
cale

Thanks Dave! Runs like a charm. It’s hard to image this came from the factory brand new this way. But… all is well now. Thanks agian.

Thought I would share a video of this unit in action on the Redmond Creek RR

Video of actual Eureka & Palisade on YouTub
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9d2WhZ7kHo

Video of unit on Redmond Creek RR
http://timothydehan.com/redmondcreekrr/homelayouts.htm#Palisade

Enjoy!

Ray Dunakin said:
Yikes! Bachmann's going to go the way of LGB if they don't improve their QC.

Doubt it, They more than likely make a ton more from the Sams Club cheapos than anything else combined. They have a much better distrubution than LGB ever had. It kills me to think that you guys think that when they produce an engine that they are going to make it "perfect" right from the start! There aren't that many busineses that have ever done that and for the price they offer, I doubt anyone would.

Im still very new to the hobby and still learning to build and fix things. I started with a bachmann big hauler set 10 wheeler. It got me started in the hobby and was affordable. I had the engine for less than a year. At first I had problems with the front trucks jumping off the tracks. I ordered Barry front trucks, works a thousand times better. Then the gears already stripped on me because the two little screws that holds the gear box to the motor came loose. I ordered a new gear box 30 bucks. (see not a happy camper post) After putting all these new parts in, the train runs very sloppy. Im not very good yet at the wiring/electric end of trains. But I managed with lots of help from Barry (whos is very skilled at working with this engine ) to get it back together. When I look at what I spent on this engine already I would have been better off getting an LGB or something built better. I know it is a big hauler and not that best. I have an LGB engine from my value starter set that I painted and changed the look of. This one runs awsome, never had a problem and nothing broke off. My Bachmann even though it is more detailed breaks way too easy. The little LGB has two small contact shoes and runs a my brass track even when I dont clean the track for a few days. the Bachmann I have to clean it everyday and it has more pickup points. Go figure. Now my Bachmann sits because I have no idea what to look at next and it is not worth putting more money into it. Now I needed another engin3e. One is not enough and I needed something to pull my bigger rolling stock. After doing lots of research I tried to find something built stronger but yet affordable. I kept going back to Bachmann because the price is so much more do-able but the the big hauler night mare kicked in. I ended up buying the Hartland Big John. It was amazing when I did a search on hartland products all their engines got great reviews. I actually had a hard time finding anything negative about the engine and its operation. It was more money then what I wanted to spend and my wife is going to kill me but I figured it would last me a lot longer. They may not have the best detaile but it is easier to detail an engine for me then to fix one. Im not really sure where I want to go with this post but just to give everyone an idea of what a new person went through. If you are great with electronics, Bachmann is the way to go but someone like me they are fustrating and turn into a money pit. Will I ever buy a Bachmann again, probably because you cant beat the price but I am going to learn how to work on engines better. My old Bachmann will be a gret way to learn. Like I said I am very new to this hobby but for my first G scale train it lasted less then a year and the trains has bee around for how many years now. You would think the kinks would have been worked out by now. I now they have QC issues.

Just one more point. I am an avid outdoors men. I buy alot from places like Cabelas and LL Bean. Anytime I had a problem with a product even after three + years they give me no problems as far as returning it for my money back or replacing it. These are companies that stand behind their products and have confidence in their quailty. If they did not they would not have a return policy like that.

I hear yuh, Shawn.
I remember when a newby brought a brand new Hauler to run. It ran 10 feet and phzzzzzt.
Gotta nearly new Connie settin on the bench, gears stripped.
But I found a real good use for one dead Backman–It’s at the bottom of a trestle, wheels up, as in “The Wreck of Old 97”
jb