New 44 tonners

[philnrunt]

This is my first day on this site, so if this has been discussed before, my apologies..I had 2 Bachman 44 tonners in May of '89, and both experienced disintegrating motor windings after about 3-4 hours running time. This reinforced my opinion that Bachman was not necessarily the best loco manufactuer out there.
Now I want to try them again, but I'm a bit gun shy. Are the new 44 tonners reliable? Are there any reviews I've missed on these new engines? Help me out folks!

[Anonymous]

WELCOME ABOARD!

Some of our members haven't returned from working the extra board and prevents them
from responding. No on board computer on the older diesels.

[orsonroy]

Bachmann generally has a poor reputation with their diesel models, and a very good reputation with their Spectrum steam line. Their newly-released 44-tonner is by far the best HO diesel they have. The old version had two independently motored power trucks. While a nice idea, they had a tendency to fight each other, causing mutual destruction. The newly released versions of this engine have a more traditional single motor, and run much more smoothly. I've got one. While I haven't put much time on it, it seems to run just fine, and has good slow speed control.

If you want a 44-tonner, head straight for the new ones by Bachmann. Don't be tempted by a good price on the older versions!

[fmilhaupt]

I just wi***hey'd release the new mechanism in a form that would fit the 70-tonner shell easily.

I've put the new mechanism under an old 70-tonner shell for an industrial unit, but had to make significant externally-visible modifications to the shell in order to be able to mount it to the frame. I ended up having to detail it out to look like a much heavier switcher (85-90 tonner, mostly due to the thicker-looking frame I ended up with) in order to make it look plausible.

[Jetrock]

I own three Bachmann 44-tonners--two newer single-motor versions and one two-motor version. The single-motor definitely does run more smoothly, and I generally find that it is a high-quality motor, with good low-speed characteristics and a satisfyingly slow top end.

I am not too bothered by this because I bought the two-motor one specifically to cannibalize it for use as power trucks in traction box motors! I discovered upon this cannibalization that one of the two motors was barely functional--I will simply remove the motor when it is installed in the traction body and run off the remaining motor's power. And since the now-unpowered truck has power leads, I can just install some jumper wires to feed the motor from both trucks.

I have a couple of the 70-tonners too. Their performance is a little rougher than the single-engine 44-tonners but better than the double-engine model.

[Anonymous]

I use the old 2 motored 44 tonners for powering kit-bashed gas electrics. I just use one of them per gas electric and replace the side frames w/ MDC Pullman 4 wheel side frames which are a perfect match for the power truck's wheelbase. I use a complete Pullman truck at the aft end of the gas electric and install metal wheels w/ wipers and run jumpers to the motor for 8 wheel power pickup. The compact design of the power truck is perfect for powering box cabs, traction and gas electrics because it is easily hidden in a 'baggage' section of the FYI - I used Spectrum hw combines, shortened w/ typical gas electric profile roof made from bass wood w/ appropriate roof details. There's plenty of room in seating section to add full interior details-I use Pike Stuff modular seats, cut apart and rearranged and make bulkheads from card stock and/or styrene sheet.

It's alot easier & cheaper, however, to just buy Spectrum gas electrics from Trainworld for $15.-$25. when they're on sale !