Hello Bach Man,
    I've sent my new (purchased in late June 2008) Spectrum 4-8-2 Heavy Mountain to your repair department for warranty repair of defects due to poor (or incomplete) design and inferior materials.  The tiny and fragile  wires from the tender to the locomotive have broken and the "wipers" (electrical pick-ups) on the drive wheels are bent and broken. 
     Perhaps you could suggest to the engrineering and mfg. depts. that they resolve the following issues:

     1.  Use tougher wires and connectors and/or provide strain relief between the locomotive and tender.  When the loco and tender separate (during a derail) the tender is dragged by the wires which puts stress on them and causes them to break at the connectors.  Some sort of "safety chain" or perhaps a "c" clip on the tender draw bar post to prevent it from coming off the draw bar would resolve the issue.

     2.  Use thicker and less brittle "wipers" to carry voltage from the drive wheels to the motor, etc.

I'm 61 yrs.  old and the only person who has operated this locomotive.  It has not been abused ...just operated.  When it is serviceable, it is the smoothest and strongest single locomoitve in my line-up.  Only a Proto 2000 A&B unit (both powered) can match it for pulling power.  It is a beautiful example of the prototype however, the above listed defects need to be addressed before I can recommend it to anyone else. 
I'm very dissappointed in the short life span of these parts and it does not bode well for future sales of your Spectrum line.  I expected to get far longer service from this locomotive before it needed repair.  Please bring these issues to your company management.

Sincerely,
Garry

Just took delivery of a beautiful Spectrum 4-8-2 Heavy Mountain steam locomotive and it runs on DC very nicely.  However, since it's "DCC ready" I have a nice decoder to install.  Can someone please tell me where the decoder socket is located? 
I connected two plugs from the tender to the locomotive before putting it on the track and this leads me to believe that the NMRA socket might be in the tender .... or is it in the loco?
Sure would appreciate a little help as the parts breakdown blueprint does not indicate wiring.  I'd rather not disassemble both the tender and loco to find the socket.

If this locomotive is typical of the Spectrum line I'll be buying more of them.
However, I'm a little disappointed that the instructions/drawings don't have a wiring diagram/schematic.

Thanks,
Garry

Bach Man,
     What size were the driver wheels on the original 4-8-4 War Baby? 

Thanks,
Garry

I recently purchased but, have not taken delivery of,  a GS4 4-8-4 War Baby with Bachman part no. 11322.  Can you please tell me if this locomotive is "DCC ready" ... i.e. does it have an NMRA socket for decoder plug in or must it be hard-wired? 
I haven't been able to find this stock/part number on the Bachman web site.  Any further information you can provide will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Garry Rife
Arlington, TX