Do these locos come fully assembled? Also, what kind of curve do they have to have?
Neall.z,
The locomotive is fully assembled, although that term is relative. You will have to connect the tender and wiring plugs. Some minor adjustment may be necessary on the drawbar, so it won't lift the tender on curves. There are some optional/interchangeable parts included, depending on how you want your EM-1 to be represented.
Read all the instructions before running. There are some useful tips. I had a couple loose parts when delivered (shipping issues). Easy to reattach.
If you add the sound module, you will need to remove the tender shell for installation... not hard, but the 4 screws are bit tight by all reports so far.
I run mine on 24" radius curves, and #6 turnouts, with no trackage issues. They are suppose to be able to run on 22"R curves, but I wouldn't recommend it (opinion). The cab overhang is quite wide on curves. I had to file out of couple of my tunnel portals to compensate (not a big deal).
Search You Tube for "Bachmann EM-1". You will get an idea of the running characteristics and how it looks on wide and narrow curves. Great Stuff.
Regards,
Jonathan
Ran mine on my 22R no problem but I bought it as part of my Articulated collection not as a daily runner on my layout
Collection is here
http://bandb3536.com/artics/artics.htm (http://bandb3536.com/artics/artics.htm)
Here is a pic I previously posted
It shows the 2884 on a 22R curve
(http://bandb3536.com/hotrains/2884s.jpg)
MEA CULPA
My bad
That was a 24R NOT 22R
I was thinking of my old code 100 which was 22 and 18
My code 83 is 24 and 22