plus

[Daylight4449]

how good is bachmann plus

[Pacific Northern]

For their day they were Bachmann's top of the line engines. The Plus series was introduced in 1972. - Woops make that 1992.

Later the Spectrum line was offered which of course is considered another step up over the Plus line.

When Bachmann upgraded the Standard line in 1977 the Plus series was cancelled. This was the same time that the new "Silver Series" rolling stock was introduced.

There is still a lot of "new old stock" Plus items for sale 33 years later.

[ABC]

Most of them are not that good, and modernly are no match to most companies. They have problems with parts failures and the motors are not very good either, but Bachmann will stand behind their product at least if you buy it new.

[Jim Banner]

The group I model with used a number of Bachmann Plus 2-8-0's in a publically operated display at our local museum.  We were not very nice to them - instead of accelerating and decelerating them gently, our automatic controls simply turned them on and off, giving wheel spinning starts and skidding stops.  And yet they still ran some 50,000 times each before serious maintenance was required.  The biggest problem, not surprisingly, was wearing the flanges off the wheels so that eventually they would start derailing.  Their mechanical life was about as good an the later Spectrum 2-8-0's.  Neither type has given us motor problems in spite of our mistreatment.  In fact, of all the 2-8-0's we ran, we only every had two motor problems, both where the brushes finally wore out from old age, one in a Plus, the other in a Spectrum.

By comparison, two locomotives of another well known brand wore out in less than 1000 runs each.

Even by today's standards, they are smooth runners, but some suffered from wheels that were not square on the axles.  This gave them a bit of a waddling gait, rather like an 0-8-0 switcher reaching the end of it life.  For anyone modelling the transition era, one of these "waddlers" with the front truck removed make perfect yard and transfer locomotives.  Even more so as a number of railroads used up their old Consolidations minus pony truck as 8-coupled switchers.  These locomotives accept decoders quite well and if you spend an extra couple of bucks for decoders with BEMF control and a couple of extra function outputs, you can easily have a show piece that runs with the best of them.

Going by Pacific Northern's 1972 date and ABC's comments on poor motors, I believe they are thinking of the first Bachmann 2-8-0's with their pancake motors, flat gears, and no flywheels.  These were replaced with the Bachmann Plus 2-8-0's in about 1992.  The Plus version has the same body as the earlier Consolidation but a much improved drive featuring can motor and a large, brass worm gear that also serves as a flywheel.  This machined worm was the basis of the smooth running and would probably have continued into later locomotives except for its cost.  Anyone who has bought machined gears from NorthWest Short Line is aware of what quality gears are worth.

Anyone upgrading old steamers could do worse than buying a Plus locomotive just for its motor, large brass worm, and pinion gear.

Jim

[ABC]

Going by Pacific Northern's 1972 date and ABC's comments on poor motors, I believe they are thinking of the first Bachmann 2-8-0's with their pancake motors, flat gears, and no flywheels.  These were replaced with the Bachmann Plus 2-8-0's in about 1992.  The Plus version has the same body as the earlier Consolidation but a much improved drive featuring can motor and a large, brass worm gear that also serves as a flywheel.  This machined worm was the basis of the smooth running and would probably have continued into later locomotives except for its cost.

So the pancake motors were standard Bachmann, and not the Plus for some reason I thought some of the Plus locos had pancakes. I know of someone who has had a lot of trouble with Bachmann Plus F7s though, he's gone through 3 or 4 A units and 2 B units (erie lack).

[Pacific Northern]

I have one F7 set of Bachmann Plus engines. The engine is quite a good runner, with acceptable slow speed characteristics. My only complaint on the engine was that the headlight is too bright and shines through the plastic nose.

This was easily fixed though by spray painting the inside of the shell.

Given the low street price of these engines they are a good buy.

I would not hesitate to buy a Plus steamer if I came across one.

I knew that the Plus steamers no longer used the pancake motor and that many considered the Plus to be an excellent running engine.