General Discussion (Model Railroader)

Some of  you have said that Bachmann was not very good. But what about the spectrum series. Would the spectrum series be good to start with. For people that do not know, i am new to the hobby and am wanting to find out were and what to do to get started.

I know that Atlas, proto and another has been sugguested, but the local HS has a lot a Bachmann sets.

Hi,

I've had a lot of Bachmanns over the years, and can say that the Spectrums are the best they have ever put out.  I have 4 of their steamers, and for the money, they are an excellent value. 

That being said, the steamers are not for kids - as they have delicate parts and are naturally harder to put on the rails (and keep them on) than diesels.

For beginners, I would also recommend Athearn, another model railroading company that has been around for several decades and provides excellent value.

ENJOY !!!! 

Mobilman44 (been playing with trains since the mid '50s)

 My is to avoid the sets and pick up individual pieces. It's a bit more expensive but you'll be getting more for your money. Many sets have a loco that is of lesser quality than could be gotten otherwise. As suggested above, the Spectrum's are good but can be quite delicate and need careful handling. Athearn has a good line of diesels but the RTR line is a bit pricey. I have many Athearn locos but most are the older blue box kit versions that I picked up for $10 to $30. I picked up 4 F7's one time for $10 each. They were about to be sent out the door of the LHS to auction. There was nothing wrong with them other than they were blue box and weren't selling in this modern 'detail is everything' market. I still run them now.

From what I have heard the Spectrum line is very good especially for the value it presents. I have always been loyal to Athearn but have recently purchased my first Kato and will soon be adding my first Atlas. I do have plans to purchase a spectrum in the conrail paint scheme.

I would absolutely think Bachmann is a great place to start. Oh I almost forgot I do have a Bachmann and it is one of m most reliable and best pulling engines and is only a 4 axle. Go figure

I'll add my  here.  Bachmann Spectrum, steam anyway, is excellent!  Most of my fleet of steamers are Bachmann Spectrum.  They have been been very dependable and good pullers.  For my money they are the best out there when you consider price, detailing, dependability, and pulling power.

73

 The Bachman Spectrum is a pretty fair product line they are relatively inexpensive compared to some other brands, their detailing isn't all that bad either, they run fine some require a little tweaking here and there but that can be said for a lot of locomotives and for the most part they have good customer service. If a newly purchased product is bad most of the time they replace it rather then repair it. Their lower cheaper line is exactly that cheap poor quality stuff that if your running DCC will sound more like a coffee grinder then a model train. May of us have made the mistake of buying cheap low end locomotives just to add stock to our engine rosters but the advice form other members to buy quality rather then quantity is a good piece of advice to listen to. In many cases cheap loco run poorly and have a lot of problems making the modeling experience no where near as enjoyable as it can be. If Spectrum locomotives are lets say the bottom line of the locomotives in your roster you'll have a fine group of engines