Bachmann N&W J

[Anonymous]

I was wondering if any of you guys have purchased this engine could tell me what you think about it? Is it a smooth runner? How many passenger cars can it pull. Is the quality good. Thanks for the help.

Jeff Strong

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jeff S.

I was wondering if any of you guys have purchased this engine could tell me what you think about it? Is it a smooth runner? How many passenger cars can it pull. Is the quality good. Thanks for the help.

Jeff Strong

I purchased two this summer, Jeff. The only glitch was that the first of the two initially showed a slight hesistancy to run consistently after I applied power. I was using MRC's Tech II power packs, with the momentum switch turned 'on'. The engine would start, pull for a bit then just die. After continuous running once I got it going, it was super, as was the second unit. I usually operate a five car passenger consist with no problems; it shouldn't be a stretch to pull twice that many, if not more.

[detting]

I have the "Plus" version of the J and it is Junk. The main problem is that the drivers are on plastic half-axles and the drives tend to lose their quartering and cause the mechnism to bind. I have has the same problem with the NYC Niagria.

I did not want to spend the extra $$ for the Spectrum since the mechanism did not look like it has changed from the plus version, so I never got one. It may be OK.

FYI: The Prototype Police slammed this version since the boiler is to small and the skylight casting is to big. I am sure that this thread is floating around somewere on the internet.

Personally, I think the Broadway Limited N&W A or Proto 2000 N&W Y-3 would be a better choice. I have both these models and they see much more action that the J.

Mike

[nfmisso]

The Spectrum J is an excellent model, well suited to share the roundhouse with the BLI A's and P2K Y3/Y3a.

I have multiples of all of them.