Well, the slate wagon's have arrived, and I can't express enough how incredible these have been, so I as usual here is a nice in-depth review on them from yours truly.
Right off the bat, even by just looking at the packaging, we can tell that Bachmann put a lot more effort into these van the Peco re-colors, (as if it wasn't obvious enough), as they are in the narrow gauge packaging as opposed to the Peco boxes, with no obvious Peco logo at the bottom of each wagon too.
The wagons are supplied with metal wheels, which allowed better performance than plastic wheels. I have found these to be a lot better when running as they have not come off the tracks when going at a minimal speed over switches at at the club setup.
I was also impressed with the slate load. I was hoping that the loads would be made of metal, but it turns out that they are made of plastic. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as they are two separate individual loads in each wagon that you can fit on however you would like. They still add a decent amount of weight to each of the wagons, which also allowed for decent performance.
Yes, these wagons are small. Very small. Again, not a bad thing as these resemble the Talyllyn slate wagons rather than the ones on the show. I honestly prefer this, as it not only looks a lot more realistic, or even has better proportions, but it also shows how seriously Bachmann is taking this range, unlike some of the decisions we have seen them make for the HO and large scale ranges. They know who the target consumers are, even as noted in the TCA video, they decided to go the extra mile with the new rolling stock. Clearly it's starting to pay off!
These look great behind Skarloey and they will look equally great behind Rheneas, Rusty, or any other engine that Bachmann would announce for this range in the future. It's a shame that no new rolling stock additions got announced this year for narrow gauge as I would love to see more additions come out in the same quality. Read this post below if you wish to hear more in depth thoughts about my thoughts on future engine/rolling stock suggestions for this range:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,33422.msg247379.html#msg247379
All in all, Bachmann has really got me sold on the slate wagons. I also plan on buying more in the future whenever I get started on my own personal 009 layout. They have outdone themselves with Skarloey and Rheneas and they clearly have done so once again with the slate wagons. Hope we can see more additions like this in the future, a brake van in particular would make this train feel a lot more complete. Aside from a nitpick or two, I think these are worth the investment and if you haven't ordered these already, they are highly recommended by me. Well done Bachmann!
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