Congratulations Bachman,
Yeah, the new stuff is nice. Really nice. But when the heck is Bachman going to listen to what WE want.
A HEISLER !!!
Come on. It is the most consistantly ask for loco for years !!!
(or is it because they are having problems with the gear trains of the other 2 geared lokeys that they won't chance their arm with releasing it.) ??? ??? ???
Lindsay T
http://heisler.webs.com/
Ah, I see you have brought up the dead horse again, I'm waiting for a Heisler too. I hope they made one like the West Side Heislers.
As this has been requested so many times, I'm sure they will have one somewhere in the production line. :)
Probably will be done the same year they do the "EBT" caboose.
Again well done Bachmann
the locos look great, but alas they anrt me but many will be pleased! And many say you dont listern, but you did produce a new Caboose , which will complete the SR+RL freights but not much good to anybody else ;D ( no sour grapes!)
I look forward to next years New Productions
Again well done
Geoff
I guess that I'll be the first to say "well done Bachmann" (with no reservation) on the new releases. As my railroad is freelance, I can use anything Bachmann produces in ON-30 and letter it for my road. BIG SMILEY FACE!
I agree with you Jester!
Nothing I would care to own. No sale here.
that caboose isnt offered anywhere else because it is a freelance lookalike, and nothing like a SRRL caboose. too short, too wide, wrong cupola, wrong window arrangement.
what a shame
I don't think the Heisler is a dead horse. It's a sadly missed opportunity.
It has been requested here and elsewhere. Politely lobbied for directly to Bachmann's booth representatives. Begged for. Pleaded for. All this over a lengthy span of years by a lot of people. I have no doubt that they've heard the request. I know also that their product releases take 2-3 years (or more) from green light to delivery. Even so, the Heisler continues to be a no-show on announcement after announcement.
I have a concern that Bachmann may be developing the attitude that we'll just take whatever they offer up so long as the quality is there. I hope I'm wrong. But there isn't any other big manufacturer in the On30 game. They are the 600 lb gorilla. Who's gonna produce a Heisler if they don't?
Perhaps, the present negative undercurrent to their new announcements will cause the green light for A Heisler (maybe not Your Heisler). Perhaps if it is on the schedule, Bachmann will take the bold (and risky) step to tell us well see a Heisler within 3 years.
Our community is large, diverse and growing. No matter what Bachmann's plans are for the Heisler (or any of our other 'pet' locomotive requests), they will never get 100% satisfaction.
In the case of the Heisler though, I think Bachmann needs to resolve the request one way or the other - soon.
-John
In view of all the mechanical issues (right out of the box or with only a few minutes of running time) Bachmann has had with the other geared locomotives, I suspect that they are not in a hurry to field yet another headache for their service department. Notice that all the releases since those two geared locos have been rod locos which in comparison have few if any problems. I think the handwriting is on the wall.
Thanks Bachmann. There will be good stuff for Christmas this year. Nice to see new releases with sound. Hopefully the two 4-4-0's will be released with sound also.
Interesting how some people are disappointed they didn't get the exact loco they wanted. Yes, it should be all about you. There doesn't seem to be any more of a "negative undercurrent" than a "positive undercurrent" regarding the new announcements.
I think the Heisler issue has been resolved one way or the other -- the other!
Thanks again.
-JRT
Hi James,
It isn't all about 'me'. Far from it. The Heisler was an important industrial loco and I, should I say 'we', would like one to reflect that. Over the years we have had rod loco after loco so a nice change would be the inclusion of a Heisler to round off the 'big 3' of these geared locos. That's why we 'flog the ( dead ? ) horse.
I know for myself, I'd sell my Climax and a couple of rod locos to help pay for 2 Heislers as the Heisler fits in with my type of lay out.
Ciao for now
Lindsay
http://heisler.webs.com/
We really don't know if Bachmann has ruled out a Heisler -- Just that there hasn't been one announced yet.
Perhaps Bachmann is holding off on releasing a Heisler until they can develop a model that runs really well. Or maybe they are trying to figure out which Heisler to replicate. All of the threads I've seen show a variety of suggestions for a prototype, and they may think that whatever Heisler they choose, half of the Heisler guys aren't going to like it. I could be wrong, and it would make an interesting topic for a new thread.
The On30 community is diverse in their interests, and it's a challenge to balance a product line to appeal to the widest possible cross-section.
Here's my approach when Bachmann doesn't build what I want: Find a way to build your own version, in the On30 tradition. Seems like I saw an On30 body that would fit over an HO Rivarossi Heisler mechanism, which is in development. Then, once you've gone to great lengths to bash your own version, Bachmann will announce the loco you were looking for all along, usually for less dollars and with higher quality than your bash.
Manager
Heisler, yeahh...
I´ve been one of the bums who...
But definitely agree with the C.S.R.R. Manager - the point is: Which one..??
More modern? More recent?
To me-a more modern Heisler, just like the Fn3 model, would be fine.
BUT there are masses of friends outside, I´m sure, who would rather
like to have a older lokie, I´m sure...
Cheers, Tom
If a Heisler is made I hope they dont use plastic gears and drive line parts as they did on the Climax & Shay .
Funny, not so... I purchased a Climax it made a days worth of running and it went ka-put never ran again. Unlike my" bullet proof" Shay that still keeps humping those log bunks up and down the mountain. I can understand why they would be gun shy about MFG a Heisler being the Climax had some reliability issues.
I don't think the Heisler is being delayed by the Climax issues. My belief is that Bachmann did a run of Climax's with good drive-line components, then got a batch of bad ones. The bad batch went undetected and ended up in the distribution channels.
There are a half dozen Climax's in my group - all with hours of run time and no out-of-box issues. However, all were received before the drive-line issues surfaced. We view the Climax as our work horse.
My On30 fun isn't dependent on a Heisler. I do like the loco though and would likely buy one no matter which variant gets produced. For now, I'll carry on with what I have.
-John
As to the type of Heisler. There is the lighter 'I' Beam framed lokey or the heavier 'diamond' framed lokey. If we are looking at the same weights of the prototype as the Shay and Climax then we have the 'I' beam as a front contender. After all, 30" gauge track and operations wouldn't have had any thing much over 40 ton lokies anyway.
As to the Rivarossi conversions. Well, I sorry, but they just don't look right to my mind. The running gear, wheels. motor all look strange and too small. BUT they do run beautifully. I have 2 I converted into Sn3.5 and they are just the bees knees.
So it is possible to get a reliable mech. to run and run well. Mine are relentless and would run for hours, if I let them.
The only thing stopping me making my own Heisler in On30 is getting the trucks to work. I've tried but it is beyound me at the moment. So I put the model on hold for a while.
-Lindsay
http://heisler.webs.com/
Lindsay
Just as a note the Braden Copper Company ran 3truck 60 & 80 Ton SHAY's
FCAB operated 85 ton Kitson-Meyers a 2-6-0+0-6-2T and a 2-6-0+0-6-4T
RFRIT Mitsubishi 2-10-2s are light weights at 48 Tons
VRlys Beyer-Garratts 2-6-0+0-6-2T are 69Tons
PN Baldwins OF 2-8-2 50Tons
Henschel IF 2-8-2 47 Tons
SLGRly Beyer-Garratts 4-8-2+2-8-4T 66 Tons
What they have in common is they are all 2ft 6in gauge.
Ken Clark
GWN
True, but not many companies ran Heislers on 30" lines either. So that maybe a reason why Bachman isn't playing ball as well.
My Climax issues are in the circuit board. I have the knowledge to fix them as for the parts as well. I guess the sudden malfunction kind of caused a loss of interest. Some day I'll get it down and replace the bad components.