I would welcome reissue of the unlettered high-boiler 4-6-0 with DCC & Sound, or even better, dressed up as a Western Maryland class G-7 4-6-0, with the Decapod type tender, not the USRA medium coal.  The G-7 cannot be too dissimilar from the Spectrum Baldwin, as they were built by Burnham Williams in 1906-7 and had 64" drivers.

TIA,
Bill.

I have a PFM brass Maryland & Pennsylvania Baldwin 2-8-0 #26 and I was looking at it over Christmas dreaming of DCC and sound, when it occurred to me that it would be an ideal addition to the Spectrum range.  Reasons are:

The old Bachmann 2-8-0 was the first Spectrum model, but you have judged it no longer meets the Spectrum standard, so you have demoted it.  In any case, it is a large engine for a small layout because of its long tender, and it would look wrong with a smaller tender.

The Ma & Pa bought four small 2-8-0s from Baldwin between 1902–1912, two of which (#23 + #26) lasted until 1947.  They make small models, 8 inches over engine and tender, they have an incredible amount of detail, much antiquated, and went through the phases of wood and steel cabs, and so have all the atmosphere of your other Spectrum antique steam like the 4-4-0s, 4-6-0s and Decapod.  To see the prototypes, visit http://www.maparailroadhist.org/locos.htm and look at #23, #24, #25 and #26.  You might also look at Baldwin 0-6-0s #29 and #30 as future Spectrum candidates.

It would fit your Ma & Pa theme, and many other period railways and shortlines . There is a Roundhouse small antique 2-8-0, but it is way below Spectrum standards.  However, its continued production by Athearn shows its popularity.

Please give it a thought when deciding on your next Spectrum steam loco.

Merry Christmas!
Bill.

Hi, the wisdom I received when asking a similar question here is that the best way to make sure things work when swapping Bachmann tenders is to transfer all of the decoder, speaker and connections from your present 4-4-0 tender into your ex-Decapod tender, i.e. keep all the electronics, wiring and connections native to your 4-4-0 together with the loco itself.  If it fits in the 4-4-0 tender it will surely fit in the Decapod tender.  That would not solve your tender-mounted backing headlamp issue.

Bill.

Hi, in case anyone is interested, I have now had the opportunity to compare the Bachmann S4 with the Atlas S2.  The construction is radically different.  The Bachmann has the hood and walkways as a single plastic moulding, with a separate plastic cab.  The Atlas has a separate plastic hood, a separate plastic cab, and the walkways are part of the metal chassis casting.  Thus if you wanted to transpose your favourite-liveried Atlas body onto a Bachmann Sound Value chassis as a cheaper and easier way to sound, you would need to cut the Bachmann hood from the walkway, repaint the Bachmann walkway to match your Atlas livery, and add the Atlas hood and cab.

Thanks for your advice,
Bill.

Hi, I have now looked inside a Sound Value S4, and the decoder is 3.8" long x 0.7" wide.  The SoundTraxx website says that the TSU-1000 is 1.7" long x 0.67" wide.  This suggests that the body is wide enough and the difficulty in fitting a TSU-1000 into a DCC ready S2 or S4 lies in finding a fixing point for one end of the decoder.  Is this correct, or are there other problems?

On and S2 / S4 body swap, it would also be necessary to swap the bogie sideframes, but that looks to be straightforward, as they seem to be a clip-on plastic moulding quite independent of the wheels, gears, etc.

TIA,
Bill.

Hi, Tom, thanks for your reply.  I was specifically seeking the sounds appropriate to switching which the Sound Value unit does not have, especially brake squeal and coupler clank.  Maybe the TSU-750 unit is the way to go?  The Soundtraxx decoder selector points to the TSU-AT1000 for the Bachmann S4, but the MB Klein website says this is "designed specifically for recent production Bowser-Stewart HO diesels", which I am not familiar with.  But the Soundtraxx selector also recommends an oval speaker for the Bachmann S4, which clearly does not look like it would fit the round mounting location shown on the Bachmann S4 service sheet on this website, so I am sceptical of the Soundtraxx recommendations.  I had assumed that as the S2 / S4 body is designed to house a Tsunami of some kind then one or other of the 750 or 1000 might be a simple drop-in.  An alternative for a small WP silver and orange switcher would be the Bowser Baldwin VO-1000 with a Tsunami already fitted, and which is also available with two road numbers, so I could get two for Christmas!!

Thanks,
Bill.

Hi, my on-line hobby shop now has the DCC ready Bachmann #63307 ALCO S2 Diesel Switcher Western Pacific #562 in stock.  However, when I looked at the MB Klein website, I found two Tsunamis for the ALCo S2 / S4.  These were:

SoundTraxx Micro-Tsunami Decoder 827012 (TSU-750) for Alco 539 Turbocharged Diesel Engines

SoundTraxx Tsunami Decoder 828049 (TSU-AT1000) for Alco 539 Turbocharged Diesel Engines

Can anyone advise on which is the most appropriate for the Bachmann S2?

I assume the TSU-1000 is better than the TSU-750, but will it be a straightforward fit in the Bachmann S2?  This will be the first loco I have fitted myself.

Grateful for advice,
Bill.

The difference appears to be that whilst Bachmann released the S4 both DCC ready and with DCC and sound-value for each road name covered, just with different road numbers for the different versions, the S2 is to be supplied DCC ready for some roads and with DCC and sound-value for others.  Despite asking the B-Man, I have not had an answer on whether those roads covered DCC ready this year will be covered DCC and sound-value next year.  However, despite being very pleased with my UP S4 with sound value, I am beginning to think that as this loco spends most of its time shunting, it would be distinctly better with the brake squeal and coupler clang available with a full Tsunami, so if you plan a lot of shunting your best bet may be to get the DCC ready version and fit a full Tsunami yourself.

I have looked at the photos of the UP S2 model and the only difference between that and my S4 seems to be the trucks.

Hope that helps,
Bill.

Hi, folks, thanks for all your advice. 

My UP S-4 arrived Saturday, and I have been trying it on a yard of track attached to my Dynamis, which is not yet attached to a layout.  In fact I got last years model, Bach 63205 UP #1156 in a close-out sale. 

My first thought was - It Doesn't Work!  But investigation showed that the track connection clip supplied with the Dynamis does not touch the bottom of the rails of my Peco flexitrack, as the little spring bumps are not high enough.  So I used wires attached to crocodile clips and the square plug connector that also comes with the Dynamis and all was well. 

It is a neat little loco with excellent slow speed and impressive sound quality, but my first reflection is that as I will be doing a lot of switching, brake squeal and coupler crash would be major assets, so my next loco may be the DCC ready WP version which I can fit with a full Tsunami.

I have not yet taken the body off to see if it fits an Atlas body, but if I wanted a full Tsunami as my standard then body-swaps with sound value locos would be a less viable option.  I think the main problem with simply adding DCC and sound to the Atlas S2/S4 may be where to put the speaker, as the cabs are occupied by solid metal up to the level of the windows.  Also the rear facing headlight on the Atlas is non-operational, so there would be quite a few jobs to do.

My immediate next tasks for UP 1154 are to add a crew and fit metal Kadees.  Also, I was a bit apprehensive as the UP looked a bit toy-like in illustrations because of the bright colours.  Actually the model looks much better, but I think it would look better still with weathering.  It also needs the hand / foot rails fitted to the right side of the nose.

Thanks again for your help,
Bill.

Mr. B, thanks for the info.  If you are looking for liveries for next year, how about the New Haven orange and green balloon livery?

Hi, JWard, My present layout is an Inglenook, so pulling power is not an issue.  It is DC but was wired for easy conversion to DCC, and is designed to be any location with a change of removable backscene, hence the variety of railroads, mainly inspired by their liveries!  My main interest in going DCC is to add sound, and whilst I too love the weight and reliability of the Atlas locos there would be a lot of work in converting some of their chassis to DCC and fitting a speaker.  I may instead build a second switching layout for DCC and sound, and perhaps choose yet another RR!  It would be an excuse to use some of the classic building kits from my stockpile.  The Bachmann UP S2 and S4 look good, and with mergers there might be excuses for SP and WP units to visit.  However, I don't want all my units to sound the same, so I will need to find something bigger to complement them.

Thanks,
Bill.

For info, Hattons (of Liverpool) do not take Paypal, but Rails (of Sheffield) do.  But whilst Hattons on-line catalogue is reliable in showing numbers actually in stock, Rails on-line catalogue does not link to their stock control system, so you are best to check by email that they have an item in stock before you buy.  Both have good reputations.

Hope this helps,
Bill.

Hi, Mr B, no offence meant!  I was not suggesting that you copy other manufacturer's products.  But rather that your parent company, Kadar, produces tooling and models for other manufacturers.  For example, several of the Bachmann range of British prototypes were originally produced by Kadar for Mainline (Palitoy), or Replica Railways, before being absorbed into the Bachmann range when Bachmann decided to launch its own British range.  I have several examples of the same model in a Mainline box and a Bachmann box (Class J72 0-6-0T, Class 57xx 0-6-0PT, Class 43xx 2-6-0, Class 2251 0-6-0 Collett Goods, Jubilee Class 5XP 4-6-0, Rebuilt Patriot Class 4-6-0, Rebuilt Scot Class 4-6-0, Parallel Boiler Scot Class 4-6-0, Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0, and the ex-Replica Class B1 4-6-0.)

"In 1925 a man called Ting Hsiung-chao bought a battery manufacturing company in Shanghai for $500. ..... imprisoned for political reasons .... forced to flee to Hong Kong .... established what became a thriving business in North Point, Hong Kong.  His Company, Kadar, was founded in 1948 and went on to become the largest manufacturer of toys in the Far East.  In the mid 1950s his company started manufacturing for Bachmann and by 1987 Kadar had bought Bachmann outright.  One British company it manufactured for was Palitoy (Mainline).  By the late 1980s Kadar were looking at the European market ... formed Bachmann Industries Europe ... acquired a number of famous European names including Liliput ...  (info courtesy www.kader.com.hk/our_company/history.html).

My hope was that if Kadar had made the original bodies for the Atlas-Roco S-2 or the Atlas-Kato RS-3 the dimensions and fixing points might be the same for it to fit over your new chassis. 

However, those old bodies do have moulded-on detail, so if you would like to produce a GM&O S-2 and RS-1, a Central of Georgia RS-3 and GP-7, a BAR GP-7, a MEC S-4, GP-7 and RS-11, and a New Haven RS-1, RS-2, and RS-3, all with sound and to todays standards, I will be just as happy!

BTW, will the DCC ready S-2 liveries appear with sound in due course if I wait long enough, or if I wanted a Western Pacific S-2 with sound should I buy the DCC ready version and upgrade it?  Grateful for advice, Bill.

The new Sound Value S2, S4 and RS3 locos look very good value and sound good judging by you-tube clips.  I am wondering if their chassis are the easiest way to upgrade my old Atlas Classic locos, several of which which are not even DCC ready and all of which require serious modification to fit sound, and which have liveries Bachmann may never reach.  Has anyone done similar body swaps, and if so are there any tips?

I did hear that the Bachmann S4 body was an upgrade of the old Atlas tooling, in the way that many of the Chinese products for different brands come from the same factory, though my Atlas S2 originated from Roco in Austria, but tools travel around.

Grateful for any advice,
Bill.

I have asked this before, but not got an answer, except for a chearful "if you wreck the boiler you can buy a replacement"!  Surely you can tell us, Mr B, or why do you put an alternative set of domes in with the Baldwin?

TIA,
Bill.

"Will it stop people from buying Bachmann products if this information takes some time to research when another companies information is readily available in one location, maybe (That is called good marketing)."

I think your suggestion is helpful.  I also think that the product info on competitor websites is much more comprehensive, e.g. Atlas, especially their past products lists, and often has bigger product photos e.g. Athearn.  I would have thought Bachmann would naturally want their website to outshine their competitors.

Bachmann do, of course, have this forum, in which they do lead their competitors.

Bill.