This review is on Bachmann's newest version of the Spectrum DASH 8-40CW. The new 8-40CW is a huge improvement over the older ones. The painting is improved slightly, with sharper color seperation and better coloring. Two of the vents are now very finely made see-through parts, with a DCC socket visible inside. The small exhaust vent looks a lot better, with a large square opening and bolts or rivets (I'm not sure which) going around the top. The large vent on the top rear of the engine looks much better than the old one and can also be easily removed, but I don't know why, because all that's under it is a black bar holding the rear LED in place. The grab irons are finer and straighter than the ones on the old version, and the two large grab irons on top of the nose are wire. Bachmann is still making the grab irons black instead of painting them, but adding a little paint isn't hard.(I painted the grab irons and truck piping on mine) The railings going around the engine are flexible plastic with yellow painted on. The yellow paint chips off easily, and I had to repaint it on mine. All the steps on the ends are seperate parts, and while I was looking at them I noticed that the grating can be seen through. The fuel tank is improved and has much better detail than the older ones. The windshield and most of the side windows are mounted flush with the shell, instead of being a single piece that doesn't even make it to the window frames. The two windows by the crew can be slid open and closed, which I think is pretty neat. There are two clear optional wind deflectors included to be installed by the modeler. They press into the holes very tightly, but not so tight that they'll break while you're trying to put them on. Windshield wipers come installed, and they look very nice. The truck sideframes are better detailed, and the left-front sideframe has a speed recorder cable installed. The front and rear pilots are more detailed now with MU hoses and cut levers. The MU hoses on the rear are the same ones used on the front to extend outwards so that they'll clear the snowplow, and should probably be replaced to look more realistic. The couplers are now in frame mounted coupler boxes that also hold the shell in place, but they come colored in black. They are also mounted upside-down, but can be flipped over easily. I painted mine silver to match the pilots. The couplers are E-Z Mate Mark IIs and are mounted at the proper height. The shell can be removed by unscrewing and slipping the coupler boxes out, and then gently squeezing the middle of the shell to release the two latches that help hold the shell on. The engine comes packed in a very large box, with a clear plastic display case surrounded by foam. The engine can be removed by taking the case out, slipping the clear outer cover off and undoing a latch on the corner of the case, allowing you to open the sides and top to take the engine out. The 8-40CW started running around 2.5 volts, and I could keep it running fairly steady at 2.3 volts at around 6 scale MPH. I'm sure the low speed will improve as it runs more. At 12 volts it reached around 85 scale MPH, which is quite an improvement over the original's 150 scale MPH, and drew only 0.08 amps. It drew 0.25 amps while slipping and 0.62 amps while stalled. It ran very smoothly through it's entire speed range, and was very quiet except for a little growling. The growl kind of grows on you pretty quickly. It's drawbar pull is enough to pull 50-60 free rolling cars, and that's without the smooth plating worn off![:0] The wheels are blackened nickle-silver with RP-25 flanges, and have a very realistic shape to them. All the wheels are driven and pick up electricity. (the old ones only had 8-wheel electrical pickup) The LEDs come to full brightness at 5 volts, but they have a very blue glow.(I think the blue looks kind of neat on my BNSF version ) The engine is DCC ready (I mentioned the socket earlier) with a jumper plug so it can run on standard DC. There may be enough room in the large rear vent for a sound speaker, which probably explains why the top of it come off so easily. Bachmann no longer uses white lithium grease in their engines. Instead, they have a more common yellow-green grease, which is heavily over-used. I had to clean a bunch of it out of the wheel bearings so it would get better electrical pickup. The trucks and frame are die-cast metal and add a lot of weight to the engine. The motor has a 5-pole skewed armature and dual flywheels, and runs very freely. The couplings on the shafts are very tight, and need to be loosened a little so the mechanism can move freely around curves. The trucks turn just enough so that it can fit on 18" curves. Except for the few slight mistakes in detailing, I'd say that the new Spectrum 8-40CWs are excellent engines that also compare very well to Atlas' DASH 8s and Kato's DASH 9s.
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Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Darth,
How does the engine run now that you have had it a while??
-Smoke
The picture does not show the right hand side, but from the left picture, I can't see much difference from the first run. The one problem I have with this model, at least the first run, is they sit to low on the frame.
Can you post a right hand shot of the tank details??
From your review, it probably does run better than the older runs. The rear vent you have referenced as being removable is the radiator. It can be removed and replaced with the detail associates proper detailed radiator parts for the screening.
Thanks
SmokeHow does the engine run now that you have had it a while??
Runs as good as ever. Very smooth, reliable, and I think it's gotten quieter and more powerful now that it's a little more broken in.
CAZEPHYR The picture does not show the right hand side, but from the left picture, I can't see much difference from the first run. The one problem I have with this model, at least the first run, is they sit to low on the frame. Can you post a right hand shot of the tank details?? From your review, it probably does run better than the older runs. The rear vent you have referenced as being removable is the radiator. It can be removed and replaced with the detail associates proper detailed radiator parts for the screening.
That one picture I have up is a pretty bad one. Here are some better shots of all four sides.
You can probably see that they didn't do a great job on the MU hoses, but at least they're there. I've also painted the grab irons, coupler boxes and interior more appropriate colors.
This one doesn't have the low riding problem that the old ones did, so you don't have to worry about the snowplow scraping the tracks.
Are you saying you didn't like that squeek the plow made when it hit the rail head? I waited to file my plow down till I found all the high and low spots on my track work.
Thanks for the update,
Do you by chance have a video of it??
Well I am really impressed with my 2 GP38's that I've had for a year now (one I just got about two months ago and haven't ran yet). I think I am going to put DCC in these 2 locos and take my life likes and sell them on eBay or something. And I might consider a CSX Dash 8 as my first DCC equipped loco, and it will probably be Bachmann because I am well satified with my two current locos. Great review, by the way.
-beegle55
Smoke wrote: Thanks for the update, Do you by chance have a video of it??
You're welcome.
Sorry, I don't have a digital video camera, so all I can give is photos and my word of how it performs.
"The couplings on the shafts are very tight, and need to be loosened a little so the mechanism can move freely around curves."
How do you do this? Sorry to revive a post from 2005 but I just bought one of these and I think the hesitant running at slow speeds might have something to do with what you are saying above. Again, sorry, new to the hobby at the age of 50 :)
Thanks,
The couplings are made from Delrin and have some flexibility, so I was able to use some pliers to gently bend out the "fingers" a little at a time until they could still pop on but not add resistance around turns. It still runs like new 15 years later!