Bachmann EM-1's now hitting the shelves....

[spookshow]

I'm kind of blown away by the fact that these were announced and then delivered within a couple of months. Don't see that too often.

Cheers,
-Mark

[Chris333]

Yeah usually the "spy" shots we see are raw plastic and bare metal, but they showed us these fully decorated with the jewel case. They can probably get stuff done quicker now that they have the whole factory 

[sizemore]

This thing is another great release for Bachmann. I would put this in the same "wow" factor as the 2-8-0 when it hit the market. It runs exceptionally well even with the "low end" decoder. It appears to be geared pretty low and runs at "scale" speeds at the top end. Im sure that after the motor gets a few hours of break in time it will most likely "loosen" up and exhibit some higher speed operation. It does have some momentum in its operation, most likely the combination of the flywheels and decoder. The weight is pretty substantial and it has 1 set of traction tires per drive set. The detail is great for most out of the box. The rivet counters might want to clean, or adjust some of the barely noticeable items.

And as promised some photos with my phone, based on its size I focused more on detailed shots.

They still used the typical cut level that sits about a scale foot off the plate.


I was impressed by the side rods and valve gear, this is definitely a step up from other releases. The only detractor is the huge rivets. Would love to see Bachmann step it up with etched rods and plastic valve gear like Kato. Still, for what appears to be stamped, its still impressive.


The drawbar is what we've come to expect, it looks a bit clunky. I'd sleeve it to make it look a little more robust.


Overall the tender is very sharp. I was worried from web photos it would sit like a 4*4, but it doesn't. The pickups need some black paint to hide them a bit better. I was impressed by the step down at the rear, the brake gear on the truck frames, and the lines running down the sides.


In this photo you can see my point about part fitment (smoke stacks, domes), typical Bachmann, but could be corrected by experienced modelers. The only other item are the wheel treads, they are "wide soles".


Pretty decent shot showing the tail end of the cab. The windows are great I like how they left them open, the wind deflectors I'll probably replace with BLMA etched deflectors.


Another shot of the tender, it has a speaker opening on the bottom it's only a matter of time before Bachmann starts adding sound to their more specialized pieces (like the N&W Class J).




One cool item in this photo is the drive rod pin, its actually hex, instead of just a round head. I don't know if this suggests its a screw like brass, just a nice touch overall.


Enjoy!
The S.

[Philip H]

Sheesh - I'd almost switch to steam for that one.

[jdcolombo]

VERY nice - EXCEPT, God that coupler on the pilot looks awful.

I wonder how hard putting an MT Z-scale coupler on the front pilot will be.  I'm assuming that swapping that monstrosity at the rear of the tender won't require too much re-engineering.

John C.

[u18b]

Hey Chessiefan.  You can bring yours over to my house to run it when it comes in!
 

[SkipGear]

Mine is setting at the shop right now. The boxes came today and we were so busy I didn't even realize what was in them till I got home. I checked tracking from the distributor and I should have opened those boxes today...

Oh, well. I will have all weekend to play with a couple.

[reinhardtjh]

They are now showing as in stock at BLW also.

[sizemore]

If you aren't paying attention it's not noticeable. However in doing some homework...the EM-1 according to Wikipedia should have a 64" driver (.40 inches). I mic'd the driver at .365" which translates to a 58.5" driver. The drivers should be slightly smaller than the Athearn Big Boy drivers (68"/.43").

The S.

[SkipGear]

If you aren't paying attention it's not noticeable. However in doing some homework...the EM-1 according to Wikipedia should have a 64" driver (.40 inches). I mic'd the driver at .365" which translates to a 58.5" driver. The drivers should be slightly smaller than the Athearn Big Boy drivers (68"/.43").

The S.

Measure them at the flange. I bet they are close to 64 at the flange. The over all wheel base is what they were shooting for. If you use scale wheels with N scale flanges, the wheelbase would be a foot or two longer than the real loco when you make room for flange clearance. When we look at a loco, the flange adds weight to the wheel diameter, most steam locos are undersized at the tread.

There is a report on another forum of an EM-1 pulling 25 cars (all the owner had) up a 3% curving grade with out a struggle.

[sizemore]

Measure them at the flange. I bet they are close to 64 at the flange. The over all wheel base is what they were shooting for. If you use scale wheels with N scale flanges, the wheelbase would be a foot or two longer than the real loco when you make room for flange clearance. When we look at a loco, the flange adds weight to the wheel diameter, most steam locos are undersized at the tread.

There is a report on another forum of an EM-1 pulling 25 cars (all the owner had) up a 3% curving grade with out a struggle.

Over the flange or at the flange (where the flange meets the tread)? I measured at the latter.

The S.

[SkipGear]

The OD of the flange. In a full size loco, the flanges are just an inch or so apart (between drivers) and the flange is less than an inch anyhow. We are talking a few thousandths in N scale terms. Our trains would never stay on the rails with scale wheel diameter and flange depth.

[Chris333]

I keep seeing dual headlight, but all photo show one headlight?

So how popped open this sucker? How many poles 

Whos gonna model this:
http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?july06/07-20-06/B+O7625onFairportBranchOHc1957HHHarwoodScanColl.jpg&redirect=1

[brokemoto]

One of the things that I have noticed about Bachpersonn is that it does put slightly undersized drivers on its steam power.  I first noticed this on the USRA light 4-8-2.  I posted a comment/question on Bachmann's forum.  I advanced the edge-uh-mah-kaytidd guess that such might have been deliberate in order to allow the locomotive to pass through the sharper curves of many model railroads.  The Bach-Man posted a generic reply that did not answer my question.  I was careful to note that I did not intend for my comment/question to be a brickbat, I simply wanted to know the answer.

I was not aware that the prototype had sixty four inch drivers.  I would have expected fifty whatever inch drivers  as B&O wound up with these things instead of the FTs that it wanted for pusher service.  Perhaps this is why the railroad did get away with pressing these things into service for its mail and express trains toward the end of steam.  I can recall seeing a Wm. Price movie that showed an EM-1 as it pulled #30.  The commentator stated that the railroad did press one of these into such service from time to time when there was nothing else available. 

It is interesting to note that the Q-4s also had sixty four inch drivers.  While B&O did buy the Q-4 mostly for freight, the railroad had them designed so that they could be pressed into passenger service when no pacific was available.  They showed up from the builder with steam lines and eventually acquired signalling devices.   I have also seen photographs of S-1's pulling passenger trains.  They had sixty four inch drivers, as well.  I do not know if any of them ever had steam lines or signalling devices.  I have never seen a photograph of an S as it pulled a passenger train, but they did have fifty eight inch drivers.

Does anyone know why the B&O liked that extra inch?  Did the railroad ever rebuild any of the Q-3s and add sixty four inch drivers (or extra-thick tyres-something more than one road did to render a larger driver)?

[sizemore]

The OD of the flange. In a full size loco, the flanges are just an inch or so apart (between drivers) and the flange is less than an inch anyhow. We are talking a few thousandths in N scale terms. Our trains would never stay on the rails with scale wheel diameter and flange depth.

OD came out at .41" so it's a scale 64" but the face just looks small, I wonder if the flanges were lower and tread depth lower it wouldn't be so noticeable... Something to consider.

The S.