This review is on Bachmann's HO scale Spectrum 0-6-0T switcher.
Bachmann did a great job of packing just about every detail and feature possible into this little engine. All the major parts are cast very finely, with nice, clean detail all around. There is a fine seam going across the top of the boiler, water jacket and domes, but it's not enough to make the engine look bad. The handrails and piping are fine blackened wire, which look better than plastic parts, and are also much durable. The bell and whistle are brass parts, which help give a more realistic look to the engine. The front, rear, and cab steps are finely molded black plastic parts. They can be removed to make changing the couplers or removing the boiler easier. The coupler lift bars are movable blackened wire parts, and look very good. The pilot beams have detailed wood grain cast into them. The cab has a full interior with crew, which looks very nice. The boiler backhead helps hide the drive mechanism, and the rest of the gearing is in the firebox, making the whole drive hidden completely. The wheels are all metal and look excellent, with blackened nickel rims and RP-25 flanges. The siderods, crossheads, and crosshead guides are all detailed blackened nickel parts. The firebox is part of the diecast metal frame, and except for the gear pins, it looks great with clean, even rivet detail. The coal load looks pretty good and has a gloss finish. The lighting is directional, and instead of putting light bulbs in the light housings directly, Bachmann used light bars to completely hide their presence. The front light is in the middle of the boiler, and the rear light is under the cab floorboard. The paint is all very smooth and sharp, with clean separation between colors all around. The lettering is also very sharp and contrasts nicely with the black paint, with nearly the same matte finish as the rest of the engine. The couplers are over-sized EZ-Mate Mark IIs with coil springs, which are fine. Kadee Whisker couplers should be a drop-in fit, but the type with a separate centering spring won't fit without modification.
The 0-6-0T ran quietly and fairly smoothly at all speeds, with only a little waddle to it. The waddle mostly disappears when the engine is pulling a couple cars. The tiny N-scale motor runs at a very high RPM, but with the nice low speed gearing, the maximum speed at 12 volts was only 40 scale MPH. The minimum sustained speed was less than 2 scale MPH. At 12 volts, the current draw running free was 0.05 amps, and the stall current was 0.35 amps. The underframe and mainframe are metal, but the boiler is plastic, so the engine only weighs a few ounces. It's still heavy enough to pull 8 free-rolling freight cars without much trouble, which is plenty for a switcher of this size. All the wheels have electrical pickup, so the engine can travel through short, good quality switches pretty well. The gearing is silent, and the only noise you hear is the whine from the high-speed motor and the wheels on the track. Although one of the listed features is a flywheel (at least at Walthers), there isn't actually one anywhere in the engine. If you can extend the shaft past the worm a little, there might be enough room for a small NWSL flywheel, but it isn't really needed. The engine is DCC ready, but the PC board doesn't have a standard plug. Soldering is required, and Bachmann gives a detailed wiring diagram to help out. There's only enough room in the smokebox for a small N-scale decoder, but if you want sound, the electronics and speaker will have to be in the cab. There's enough room in the cab for a decent sound system.
Bachmann's 0-6-0T switcher is one nice little engine. Its great detail, smooth running, and affordable price make it one of the best value switchers on the market. I guess you can say it's the real "little engine that could."
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Excellent review. I agree completely that Bachmann did a superb job with this locomotive. I have three undecs. that I'm detailing, and they all run beautifully and look even better.
Juan
The 0-6-0T has a pretty low frame that extends almost the entire length of the engine. The way it's designed doesn't really allow for modification, so converting it to a 2-6-2 would be extremely difficult. And if you want to keep all the detail, it's pretty much impossible.
Wow, someone resurrected a almost three year old thread.
The drivers are about 44 inches in diameter. Very low frame and it would not look good if you could put a lead and trailing truck.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Get a Precision Scale Co catalog if you are serious about changing the way this loco looks. I have bought those catalogs twice over the past twenty years for reference. They have brass and plastic super detail parts. I usually call direct and order over the phone as some LHS's can take time getting parts from them.
You can also do an advnced search of Walther's for the part. The manufacturer number is, 585 for PSC.
http://www.precisionscaleco.com/
Bowser also has parts right at their website.
http://www.bowser-trains.com/
Great. Any chance that you might install DCC and Sound in this? If you do, I sure would like to hear about it.
thanks
wdcrvr
I've got that loco. It is the only steam loco in my HO fleet. I refer to it as my North American version of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Great review.
The engine reviewed is the old DCC ready engine from the first production run.
Bachmann has since added DCC to their 0-6-0 tank engines.
Great running little engine nevertheless.
trainobsessed Any idea of any possible conversion? How bout adding piston valves, new valve gear, lengthen the tank, heighten the fuel box? Anything, I'd really like to buy this engine, but I can't stand it when I have the same engine as 1000+ other people out there.
Any idea of any possible conversion? How bout adding piston valves, new valve gear, lengthen the tank, heighten the fuel box? Anything, I'd really like to buy this engine, but I can't stand it when I have the same engine as 1000+ other people out there.
The prototype was an Alco 'catalog' loco - a stock design that they could whip out for a customer without having to do any fancy planning. As such, it was probably sold to several dozen (or hundred) industrial/mining operations without significant difference other than the name on the tank, the number on the cab side and the color of grunge accumulated in operation.
Just looking at mine:
Installing a more modern valve gear would involve moving air tanks under the cab, but it could be done. OTOH, the long main rod would call for a long eccentric rod, and probably wouldn't have been done by a prototype owner. Even without that, any or all of the minor cosmetic changes above would give you a, "Not like 1000+ other people," model.
The one I have in service lost its bell - Japanese locos don't have them - and its footboards. My other two will probably end up as mechanisms under some kind of oddball articulated.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with one imported Alco 0-6-0T)
I have one I am converting to a cab forward.
wdcrvr Great. Any chance that you might install DCC and Sound in this? If you do, I sure would like to hear about it. thanks wdcrvr
I've done it with 3 of them.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
I have the PDF from a Yahoo Group about DCC and sound in one of these but cannot post it here. The document belongs to the person who did it. You "might" find it in a Google search. The person used a SoundTraxx 090LC decoder but the SoundTraxx Micro Tsunami would work also. The Micro is a little smaller than the LC.
You will need experience for this install. It is not plug and play. I requires modifying the loco frame.
With the small speaker, you will have to do a lot with the sound CV's to get decent sound.
Newby here and I need help. I have the Spectrum 0-6-0T DCC ready and have had a "challenge." In trying to install the decoder, some of the factory installed wires came unsoldered. Bachmann doesn't have a wiring guide, except to install a decoder, and trying to find images with a clear enough picture to figure out where the factory soldered wires go is not happening. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Maybe these pics can help trace the wires
http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Installation_Pictures/HO_Scale/Bachmann/0-6-0_Saddle_Tank/Bachman_0_6_0_Saddle_Tank.htm
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
When you attack a DCC loco, you just have to know what you are doing. Understanding the DCC wiring format. Some attempt to do this, working at the component level when not totally understanding the basics. The NMRA came up with a standard many years ago.
I would never attempt to change engine or maybe a transmission on a car without understanding the basics. Sure makes sense. Car manufactures will not put that info in a manual.