I'd rather spend the money on trains and have happiness and enjoyment of them!  Always money well spent!

(and if you're reading, Bachmann folks, I live outside Philly and can gladly test any prototypes of the North Pole Explorer or Chessie Special train sets!)

It's bad enough that you're my favorite brand, but looking through the 2018 catalog, there are more things coming out that I want!

I really want that North Pole Explorer passenger set and Chessie Special set, among other things!

Great job!  Looking forward to seeing these sets soon!

Thank you for your help!

I'll put in an order tomorrow for the couplers!

Although they look a bit similar, they aren't like the old Mantua couplers.  Almost the same principle, but the hook extends out over the loop, and doesn't have the flip up covering like the old Mantua couplers had.

Not too long ago, I was able to find the Bachmann Irish Railways set for a really good price!

Everything looks to be there, but the coupler is missing from the tender. 

Does anyone know a good equivalent for the UK style coupler?  I want to keep it as stock as possible, so I'm not going to change everything over to knuckle couplers.

It looks like it needs the coupler and the part that would hold it in place on the tender.  The main post that's molded in the chassis of the tender is there.  Just whatever held the coupler in place and the coupler itself.

Any help would be appreciated!

I'm not sure how much work you'd want to put in it, but some time ago, the store Restoration Hardware did a tin Dreyfuss Hudson, which was pretty much HO size.

They can still be found on ebay, and for not a lot of money.  They could be made to have the boiler and tender bodies fitted to compatible chassis to run on HO track.

I'm going with the consensus here that the wiring inside is virtually the same as a US locomotive (I have some vintage British equipment from the early to mid 1950's, and those are the same for cleaning and maintaining the engines as I would for my 1950's HO American stuff).

Also, I hate seeing these posts, as it only shows me more shops online to order from and spend more money!

I saw online that Boscov's will have an exclusive Bachmann set this year, which look to have a Reading 0-6-0, hopper car, Reading caboose and Boscov's boxcar.

I've always been a sucker for special department store train sets, and I may get this one, budget depending.

Has anyone seen it on shelves yet?  It wasn't on my local Boscov's (Plymouth Meeting, PA).

Balrog,

That is fantastic!  I like how things are set up before the track is laid, but you can still easily visualize it all there!

That layout would work well with either modern freights or some luxury passenger trains making those wide, sweeping curves.

Quote from: GG1onFordsDTandI on October 03, 2013, 08:31:56 PM
He has posted one a bit ago. http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,13645.msg110932.html#msg110932
Hopefully we wont be waiting 3 more years for the next batch of posts .

You know, I was thinking that I had posted pics of the Susquehanna Mikado on my little HO layout.  Thank you for that link!

I did do a video not long ago, showing my Bachmann/Jouef Orient Express set, ending with it running on that layout!

Hopefully this will suffice until I get some shots of the N one up and running with some buildings, but before my Graham Farish equipment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PFDrM3Adus

Chessie1971-

Fantastic layout!  I thought I was the only one around who still used one of those layouts!  Mine is the one Bachmann put out in the 1980's, with the single oval and made out of the vacuform type of plastic.

I'm right now in the process of converting it to an English countryside style layout, using European styled buildings (church, cottage, small station) and I'm also getting some Graham Farish equipment to run on it.

Once I get the buildings ready, I'll post some pics with something running on it!

Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on October 02, 2013, 01:33:49 PM

Quote from: raveoned on October 01, 2013, 02:25:35 PM
I remember our store having the G.I. Joe set, but no one wanted the A-Team one.

  I'm sorry to hear that. I was a big fan of the A-team. 

I thought it was a cool set, but the store's customers were mainly purists, and even the G.I. Joe and the other theme ones were pushing the envelope where we were! 

I also remember my Dad telling some of the regular customers who didn't like Tyco's GG-1 to think of it as a Pennsy P5a Modified!

Quote from: Johnson Bar Jeff on October 01, 2013, 01:37:38 PM

Quote from: raveoned on September 30, 2013, 11:00:24 AM
Our family had a hobby shop from the early 70's into the mid-80's, and the Tyco sets were incredibly popular.  I think the one thing they had going for them at the time was the marketing and the packaging.  The sets always looked cool: Comin' Round The Mountain, Silver Streak, Golden Eagle, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Clementine, Durango, tons of them! 

I was reminded of this post by something I noticed on eBay this morning. If I had been a kid back in the 1980s, I would have really wanted the A-Team train set. 

I remember our store having the G.I. Joe set, but no one wanted the A-Team one.  We never ordered any of those or the Transformers ones.  The G.I. Joe one sold well because the loco and cars could be bashed into other things pretty easily, but folks couldn't get past the A-Team one enough to buy them and use it for other things.

I think the two we sold most were Chattanooga (both the original steam and the diesel one) and Comin' Round The Mountain, because that one had a diesel not many other makers had for a low price (an SD-45 high hood, I think?)

One I always liked was the Royal Blue freight set.  It was the Chattanooga style 2-8-0 in the blue with the silver stripe down the center of the tender and matching caboose. 

Our family had a hobby shop from the early 70's into the mid-80's, and the Tyco sets were incredibly popular.  I think the one thing they had going for them at the time was the marketing and the packaging.  The sets always looked cool: Comin' Round The Mountain, Silver Streak, Golden Eagle, Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Clementine, Durango, tons of them! 

We did recommend Bachmann over Tyco if someone was just starting out, because the locomotives were built a lot better and seemed a good amount more durable overall.  We had a lot of returns on the Tyco locos, because the motors were cheaply assembled, and frequently would start hesitating and squeaking while running, no matter if the gears were lubed or not.

But, Tyco had the marketing and packaging.  I even remember getting the Tyco GG-1s in, and we kept selling out of them, despite them having incorrect wheelsets! 

My first train, the one I could call mine, was the Tyco Spirit of '76 diesel freight set.  My parents set it up under the tree the Christmas after it first came out.  Then we had the 1860's style steam set with the same bicentennial colors.  I guess it led me to my current desire to collect some of the bicentennial trains!

Back to point, when we had customers that liked what they bought in the Tyco set, we'd then upgrade them to Bachmann and then to Athearn.  This was before Spectrum and all.  We were still selling to customers for mail order for a short time after the store itself closed, and the Spectrum became our best selling products, especially because of the K-4.

It was just a thought, since Bachmann's UK site has these kinds of links, if you read the context of my post before a short and not very kind answer.  I know programmers aren't cheap, but they have programmers anyway updating the site all the time, correct?

I did say that Bachmann's UK site (which, I would assume, is about Bachmann's UK products, since it's their site) had these links, didn't I?

I posted this here since I didn't realize there should be another spot to post it.  Since you're the authority on the forums, maybe it would have been better to direct me to a better spot to have a conversation on the subject?  I believe the tag on the forum index for "General Discussion" says to talk about anything train related.  I think talking about real trains (you know, the things they base the models off) is train related, correct?

In looking at the UK site for the amazing Branch-Line and Graham Farish lines of trains, I noticed a nice page with links to a few of the UK Heritage Railways.

What do people think of something like that on the US Bachmann site, listing such railroads as Strasburg, New Hope and Ivyland and East Broad Top among other railroads and museums?

Could that be done on the Bachmann US site?