Video

Are you planning to post a short video on the new beast ? It looks very nice.

Congratulations on your new engine.

Bachmann 2-6-6-2 video

Not the best but the only one's until Ican spend some time at the club by myself.....just hate all the talking when I'm trying to film my trains for folks lol

Now when your talking jus' plain brute power check out my BLI Y6B N&W 2191 in the 3rd thru 5th links,finally wound up with 100 cars tied to her tender that day. 

Someday when I'm rich it will

Someday when I'm rich it will be on the list!!! :D

They jsut had to make one SP...

Not really SP benny,I bought

Not really SP benny,I bought it undecorated and lettered it myself to fit more with our Arizona Model Railroad Society layout.

This engine was really only sold to the C&O and WLE but being a USRA design i figured what the heck SP could'a bought a couple .....  

It looks right...they did

It looks right...they did have 2-6-6-2s too[bet it was a different make though, they just turned them around and make them cab-forwards!!

Arizona??  Right up my alley - I'm going back to Tucson once my AF tech school is complete. 

Thanks

It was great seeing the videos. She is a sweet pulling machine. She will bring you a lot of revenue.

USRA

Fellows ,

Thanks for posting this thread . I like the USRA locomotives . I bought the book " Uncle sam's locomotives " and read it right through . Very interesting insight into the USRA era . It spoke of some of the issues in a different light than I had heard before.

The earlier model versions of this locomotive had troubles. I wanted one but wondered why they seemed rather unpopular. An internet search finally revealed the problem. Is this version a new run ?  That is what I gather . If so , how much do they  cost . Does the sound offer the effect of two engines working out of synch at any time ?.

Thanks

Charley yes this is a new

Charley

yes this is a new version of the C&O 2-6-6-2, note the detail differences above,purchased mine from Micro-Mark , check their site for prices.

Cannot say for sure about out of sych sound altho the tsunami sound should have that feature....will have to check the cvs for that.  

Model Reviews

Fellows..

I found that Model railroader has a review of this model . They want me to subscribe to their magazine {print} to read the review on line.I am not going to complain , In fact I will probably buy the issue , one.

Where does MRH stand in regard to the manufacturers sending  a model for review. Did Model railroader buy a locomotive or did Bachmann supply one ?.

GN ?..have you put a gauge on the wheelsets of this newer run of the 2-6-6-2 ?. You sound impressed with the model. I will probably go to a hobby shop and have them run the model . Then I feel that I should support the bricks and mortar.

I really want to have one of these but do not feel like buying another lemon. I have enough locomotives . I hold the opinion that a locomotive costing $200  and up should run OK.

Where does MRH stand in

We've done both - a couple of my first look articles have been on products sent to us, a others from things I've purchased and thought they'd make a good article.

No model reviews...

MRH does NOT do reviews of any commercial product in the magazine. Since we are 100% advertiser funded, this avoids any appearance of a conflict of interest. Face it, the temptation to candy-coat a crummy product from a big advertiser could be rather strong.

MRH does do First-Looks at products. These are not meant to be a judgement on the quality, conformance, or worthiness of a product. Instead these are intended to notify our readers of the existence of a product and provide a list of features (and some photos).

However, while MRH doesn't official review products, the forum is available for reader reviews of products - even if the user review is negative of an advertiser's product IF the review is objective and not inflammatory.  For example:

"Three of eight wheelsets of the loco I bought had a bit narrow gauge when checked with the NMRA standard gauge. I was able to regauge the wheels by removing them from the trucks and gently twisting the wheels while pulling on them.  I also found a few contact wipers were bent."

But saying

"This loco was a piece of cr*p. The wheel gauge sucked and they apparently don't bother with QA on the contact wipers"

would be considered inflammatory.

FWIW

Charlie

I like it!

I like the way MRH handles product reviews...by NOT reviewing them and instead, introducing new products to readers and letting the end user provide the product reviews.

As Charlie points out, this avoids questions of a conflict of interest.  Reviews in magazines often lack credibility in my opinion, particularly if the review is of a product who's manufacturer takes out full page ads in the publication!

MRH remains credible by not having an official opinion on new products and letting end user feedback speak for itself.  Much more valuable to the consumer I think.

Good example of how to, and how not to provide end user feedback on products Charlie!

If you want reviews, get

If you want reviews, get Model Railraod News.  It's basically front to back REVIEWS!

Reviews

Fellows ,

Hopefully the MR news will have a review.  This is the only print magazine I subscribe to .I probably will know all I need to know about these locomotives by that time .

This thread points out the need to have the print guys doing reviews , OR  the manufacturers will need find another way to promote their products.

The print guys will keep trying to make a living printing magazines , the manufacturers of model railroad equipment will keep trying to make a living developing {importing } and marketing .Importing is probably a chinese business with  a thin veneer of American representation .

The sum is , Those business people  need to keep our  interest in the stuff they are producing or we do not spend monies on their product . Sad to speak this way  , but it is a business , they are in business trying to make a living selling into the hobby .

This is off topic to the discussion of the new 2-6-6-2 locomotive . I have written  previous about print vs E magazines and this is a very good illustration of the differences in business models and the use of the different medias.

I personally have enough materials to last me forever { my forever !} and am not in a  mood to spend more monies on jounque . I do not see selling junk as a long term biz model .

And very good reviews as well.

I get my MRN's secondhand - when my father-in-law is done with it, I get it. They do reviews very very well - I especially like their style of including a lot of prototype information about the model right up front.

The best part about RMN is,

The best part about RMN is, they buy their models themselves - something like that - they go out and find the "average" model and test THAT model - so there's less likelihood for them to publish a review involving a "doctored" model!

SP MM-3

SP did have a couple of 2-6-6-2's they bought second hand off the Verde Tunnel & Smelter Co. You could probably cobble one up from the original USRA engines Bachmann did. The primary visual difference is that the dual air compressors were mounted on the fireman's side of the engine. Here's a link to a pic of SP #3931: http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/steam-02/3931_sp-steam-mm03-phil_agur.jpg

Engine #3930 was given a 16,000 gal. Vanderbilt similar to those that trailed many of the 4-8-2's and the AC-4/5/6 4-8-8-2's. 

Pic of SP #4353 with 16,000 gal. tender: http://espee.railfan.net/nonindex/steam-02/4353_sp-steam-mt04-gene_deimling.jpg

Mike

Yep this is what i had in

Yep this is what i had in mind , trick is going to be finding a smokebox front that  will fit the Bachmann boiler ,the fireman side air compressors shouldn;t be to difficult.

MM-3 redux

You might try the Cal-Scale #242 Harriman smokebox front casting http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Cal_Scale_HO_242_Steam_Loco_Smoke_Box_Front_p/cs-242.htm as it's a pretty good sized one and lacks the hinges found on other castings. You'd need to measure the smokebox diamerter, but I think the Harriman would be pretty close. 

And just for grins, here's a pic of the other MM-3, #3930, with the 160C-whatever tender.  http://www.divisionpoint.com/photos/SP_MM-3s/SP_3930b.gif

Mike

Thanks Andre , I'll check it

Thanks Andre , I'll check it out and get back to you.

SP 3937 Heading to Irene Junction/Tucson

Heres a couple a bit quiter lol

Reviews,...good, bad, questionable?

Can anyone give a personal review on these later Bachmann 2-6-6-2's, or give some links to them??

I have one of these, but it has never been out of its box as I did not have a layout up till now. I think I purchased it when Peach Creek Shops was going out of the retail business (that was a shame).

I've been offered another one in a trade deal, but I'd like to know the good and bad points before such a decision.

Interesting experiences & modifications to 2-6-6-2

https://bigbluetrains.com/showthread.php?tid=8229