I would love to see a Willamette locomotive sometime down the road.  I know only 30 were made, and that they look a lot like shay engines.  The thing is Willamettes and Shays were completely different.  All Willamettes were super heated, even the 2-truckers, the shays were mostly not until the Pacific Coasts came out.  All Willamettes used Walscherts Valve gears.  Shays use Stevensons.  Only 1 Willamette was a coal burn, the rest of the 29 were all oil fired but Bachmann can still offer coal or oil fired models.     All Willamettes had their cylinders facing in the same direction and pointed outside, where as a shay only had 2 facing the same direction while the number 3 cylinder faced the opposite of the number 1 and 2 cylinders.   Also no Willamette locomotive had a cylinder enter inside of the cab where as shay had the number 3 cylinder in the cab.   

I sure a Willamette is made sometime down the road because I have never seen one in a Large scale model, and it would be really neat to see one.  I would also love to add a Willamette geared steam locomotive to my collection.

No problem, any time.   

Sure, I will definitely look into it.

If you want sound in the 4-4-0, the best sound for it is Phoenix, and the best sounds for it are 4-4-0, 2-6-0, and Virginia & Truckee, they will go very well with your 4-4-0.   So right a letter to them, and in the letter tell them the sound name with the sound code that you would like to have in your engine.   Also since one of your wires broke, put in a request that they install the chuffer sensor on one of the tender axles, and remove the sound of the dynamo (all their sounds have dynamos, and they don't fit right on a turn of the century engine).   Then place the letter with your engine's box, place your engine's box in a nice large box to ship, and then send the engine off to Phoenix.    It is expensive to do it, but it's worth every penny.

You don't need those wires for the engine to work, so if they break, it's not the end of the loco.   A lot of my 2-6-0s and 4-4-0s have snagged their wires, and they broke off, and run just fine.   If you are to install a sound unit, that's still okay because the sound will power up from the tender by itself and you can have the chuffer installed on one of the tender axles.

So, don't worry about those wires breaking.   However, if fixing the wires makes you feel better, you can contact the parts department.  To open the locomotive, turn the engine on her side, and there are screws, 2 under each bearing block, so unscrew those, then the cover plate should come out, and you should be able to access the wires.  If that means taking out the gear box, and motor, then put a small crescent wrench on the crank pins, and turn them left to unscrew, the side rods should then come right off.  Then, gently uses a small flat head screw driver, and pry of the hub cabs on the driving wheels.    Inside the hub caps, there is a screw holding the wheels on to the axle.   Unscrew the screw, then gently slide off the wheels.   Once the wheels are off, but sure to mark the bearing blocks because each one goes in a certain spot.  After you marked or labeled the bearing blocks, gently slide them out with the motor, gear box and axles.   The valve excentrics will slide off the front axle, and will easily slide back on.

You should then have full access to the wires.

Honestly, it's not worth doing that, so I would not worry about it.

yes, and also update some of the old models that are still in production by giving them metal gears, lengthening the lead truck bolster bar that holds the truck onto the cylinder saddle on the 4-4-0s, die-cast tender frames, die-cast tender trucks, die cast cylinder saddles, and die-cast front pony trucks to withstand harsh conditions.   The tender trucks break too easily after a few years of usage, the tender draw bar will break right off if used in the salt air, the pony trucks pop off the rails on grades going downhill, and the cylinder saddle can fall apart from smoke oil leaking out of the unit.

So they can use mechanical updates as well as appearence updates, also add DCC and sound into them, as well as giving it just DCC and having it sound ready.

I will order 7 of those gears since I have 3 moguls and 4 4-4-0s, so I should make the change.

Will the bells and whistles be able to activate by running over a track magnetic, or will I have to buy a DCC transformer for it.

Also are there extrenal volume switches for the sound or will I need a DCC transformer for that too?

I just ordered a new Climax with sound, and would like to know.

I am honestly not really up for buying a DCC transformer because I am quite happy with my current MRC 6200 transformer, and most of my engines are either Phoenix or LGB sound where they have external volume switches, and have their bells and whistles activate over magnets making a DCC transformer not necessary.   

I think the Tsunami sound is amazing and sounds just as good as a Phoenix which is why i bought one, but I am wondering if I should change my order to one without sound and install a Phoenix in it where I know the bell and whistle will activate over a magnet, and that it will have an external volume switch, if requiring a DCC transformer is the case.

The new models look amazing.  My old model I have had nothing but problems with, so I hope this new one will be just fine. 

My Eureka & Palisade did the same thing 2 years ago.  The problem with the Spectrum 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s is that their gears are plastic, and plastic on chrome silver axle shafts.   Over time those gears go under a lot of tension and stress, and if running the locomotive for a long time, the axle gets extremely hot causing the main drive gear to expand and spin off the axle shaft.   

This is fixable.  You can weld it, put red lock tight on it, or you can order a new gear box on this site in the parts department. 

Replacing the gear box is pretty easy if your used to overhauling and rebuilding engines yourself, but if you don't want to go there, then I would recomend that you send the engine to Bachmann, and they'll change the gear box for you.

If they came out with metal gears, then this problem wouldn't be occurring.  Plastic gears on metal is not really the best thing, especially if that plastic gear is going to be the main drive gear.

Since Bachmann came out with the Forney about a year ago, I thought of another engine that would be great, and that would be a Mason Bogie aka 2-6-6T.

The thing is Accucraft was one of very few that made these models in large scale, and only a limited number were made.   I can't think of any other company who made a Mason Bogie even though there are a couple out there, but very very few.   

So, I would really like to see a 2-6-6T Mason Bogie some time down the line.  They are beautiful locomotives, and were very common on narrow gauge railroad lines.  Also not many companies out there made model Mason Bogies, most of them are kitbashed, or were made in limited runs, so seeing a Mason Bogie would definately be something new for Bachmann trains, and would be nice to have running on a layout.   They are beautiful engines.

Oh okay.  I was told in the video to use light duty gear oil, and I only lubricate them on a periodic basis.  In California they need very little lubrication, but I have a garden railroad in Hawaii, and that's where the problem is.   In Hawaii there is a lot of salt air, and not enough lubrication can really damage the running gear on a 4-4-0 or 2-6-0 because of salt air corrosion, but too much oil weakens the plastic.  So your screwed if you don't oil them, and screwed if you do when in Hawaii.

  I might look into dry graphite to see how well that works.

This problem does not happen on the Big Haulers engines because there is not as much detail on the trucks so the plastic is thicker and stronger.  So plastic trucks on a Big Haulers engine is fine, but on a spectrum with the beautiful detailing, not so much.

Has anyone here ever had problems with with the plastic tender trucks on a spectrum 4-4-0s/2-6-0s falling apart after many hours of operation?

I have, and I have spent a lot of money ordering replacement trucks.   To prevent this kind of problem, why not make diecast tender trucks for the Spectrum 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s?  Sure they would be more expensive but they would last a lot longer.    The reason the shays had their trucks changed to diecast was probably because the plastic kept breaking.    Even though the lubricants are plastic compatible, over time the oil slowly weakens the plastic, and pretty soon, the tender trucks start coming apart.   

So, I think new metal tender truck should be made for the Spectrum 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s so there wouldn't be  much a need to replace the tender trucks anymore.   

For future Spectrum 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s that might come down the road, this could be a good solution, and if the tenders are given diecast frames as well to withstand the weight, that would be another plus.    But for now, there should be a way to solve the problem on stopping the Spectrum 4-4-0 and 2-6-0 tender trucks from falling apart after a lot of operation.

I sure hope this comes to play some day.

Chris.

I am so glad the Climax is being revamped.  It was probably the most problematic engine along with the first shay.

Thank you very much.  I will be sure to get the new generation engine.

What are the stack options?  Lima diamond, classic tapered, and is the last an onion or large balloon?

Hello, I saw that Climaxes are coming back, and I am thinking of buying one.  But before I purchase one, I would like to know a few things.   I have a first generation Climax, and I had a lot of problems with it, the gears driving the fly wheel and pistons would always slip, and grind.   So will the new Climaxes receive the same improvement as the shays,  such as new die-cast trucks with new gearing inside?   I would like to know because I hope this will be a better run than the first generation like the shay.   

Thank you, I just joined so I'm new, but I have been collecting Bachmann Trains for years.  The Spectrum 4-4-0s, and 2-6-0s are by far my favorite, and run like tops.