Large Scale Central

Bachmann Customer Service

General Discussion
#41

Yes, by all means, let’s keep is gentlemanly.
Especially when one has no freaking idea what they are talking about and dissing something they have never seen.

Have a little chat with your buddy, please.

And, remember, I was addressing him, not you.

Every One of my Bachmann 4-6-0’s (quite a few…5 or 6 anyway) have one version or another of the BBT drives in them, as well s one 2-8-0 with a test gearbox.

The Anniversaries were another disappointment.
On our RR, slipped like no tomorrow where others pulled fine, and when they slip, it’s like a jackhammer.
Weight added overloaded the Mabuchi motors.

Extruded aluminum chassis, stainless axles, ball bearings on main axles, ball bearings on countershafts, new gearing with double-lead and a Pittman motor, you cannot add enough weight to damage them.
Try that with your plastic chassis and Mabuchis.

#42
Curmudgeon said:
.... bucko, .... .... stew-pid .... .... rectal orofice .... .... zip it. ....
I thought we ruled out this kind of response? Well it was enjoyable while it lasted!
#43

What’s this “we”?

Nothing not factual there.

#44

Me thinks it was a conspiracy with my Bockman prollem.
I faxed the sales receipt to this guy Bill as he asked me to do. Weights would be mailed as soon as he got the fax on his desk, he said.
Someone who lurks this forum who works there, said, stall this guy for a while. He’s one of the troublemakers.
Anyway, that’s what I think happened.
Everyone else I talked to said, “I get no problem with Bockman. They ship the parts out to me right away.”

#45

Sir - thanks for your rapid response. Yes, I know you weren’t addressing me, but Zubi and I are both far away in time and space from you in the NWP. In my case I’m eight hours ahead of you - in Zubi’s case, he is sixteen hours ahead of you and might not be able to get to a handy PC right now to comment. Again, unlike you, we don’t have a forty-foot long 4% grade to torture our poor little trains on - in fact, most of us don’t have 40 feet in a straight line anywhere in our property, so the destruction of our locos is a rarity, not an expected event. As you know from my posts, all of my Bachmann LS models are running just fine after more than ten years, in some cases.

The BBT replacement mechanism is not something I had ever heard of until I read about it a few years ago on the ‘other’ forum. As I noted, it is a fine piece of craftsmanship, of that there is no doubt, and is obviously built with a long and hard life in mind. It is the response to a need that you seem to have in the USA that we don’t seem to have here, namely to max out the performance of what is basically a little toy train made down to a price. The price of making into something you expect it to be is buying into a BBT chassis.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

#46
Curmudgeon said:
What's this "we"?

Nothing not factual there.


Dave good to have you back
Just so you know that Batt Lcoc you sold me with the BBT drive worked great this weekend at Ric’s.
From here on out its dealing with you and Barry only. You guys have true Customer Service.

Thanks again for the great Loco
Geoff

#47
Terry A de C Foley said:
Sir - thanks for your rapid response. Yes, I know you weren't addressing me, but Zubi and I are both far away in time and space from you in the NWP. In my case I'm eight hours ahead of you - in Zubi's case, he is sixteen hours ahead of you and might not be able to get to a handy PC right now to comment. Again, unlike you, we don't have a forty-foot long 4% grade to torture our poor little trains on - in fact, most of us don't have 40 feet in a straight line anywhere in our property, so the destruction of our locos is a rarity, not an expected event. As you know from my posts, all of my Bachmann LS models are running just fine after more than ten years, in some cases.

The BBT replacement mechanism is not something I had ever heard of until I read about it a few years ago on the ‘other’ forum. As I noted, it is a fine piece of craftsmanship, of that there is no doubt, and is obviously built with a long and hard life in mind. It is the response to a need that you seem to have in the USA that we don’t seem to have here, namely to max out the performance of what is basically a little toy train made down to a price. The price of making into something you expect it to be is buying into a BBT chassis.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


Okay.

The issue I had was somebody who had never seen one (not you) dismissing it out-of-hand, and not nicely.

Oh, and it’s 150’ of continuous 4%.

ONE old Bachmann Shay, dry weather and worn drivers (into the copper), 28-34 loads unassisted with zero wheelslip.

#48
Curmudgeon said:
What's this "we"?

Nothing not factual there.


By posting “we” agreed to this:

Bob McCown said:
For the first time in the almost 9 years I've run this forum, I have been forced to implement something I was hoping I would not have to.

Effective IMMEDIATELY:

No religion or politics discussion.
No insults. Period.
No “baiting” someone else’s beliefs, or pushing their buttons.

Anyone, and I mean ANYONE violating any of these rules, will get an public warning from me. A second offense will result in loss of posting privileges to the forums and chat. A third offense, and I will remove your account access.

Since I cannot, and do not, want to read every post in the forums, anyone that sees anything they deem violate any of the above 3 rules, email me a link to the thread, with the subject “LSC thread question” and I’ll take a look at it.

I, and I alone, am the final arbitrator on whether or not a post violates any of the above rules.

You can’t behave, so now you’ve been told to sit in the corner. Don’t like it, there are other train forums you can go try the same crap on. I’m FAR more lenient for misbehaviour than I should be, and I was hoping that you all would be adult enough to not behave like spoiled children. I, apparently, was wrong.

#49

Oh Jeez…
Sometimes it just boggles the mind! Zubi tried to make a point that LGB’s quality was vastly superior to Bachmann’s and in doing so, he insulted not only Barry’s BBT chasis but Phoenix Digital Sound as well! Barry had a legitimate reason to respond as Zubi’s post could have been construed as a criticism of Barry’s product (and yes, I have two of them in my Bachmann Big Haulers, one a 4-6-0 in an older 10-Wheeler and one a 2-8-0 in my Annie) to which Dave rightly decided to chime in and call it like he saw it! Of course, there are those like Zubi that seem to be contrary just for the sake of getting a rise out of some people and then there are others that chime in with the “He’s being mean! He should be punished!” speech (sheesh…)
That being said, I’ll now chime in and say that a Bachmann Annie with a BBT 2-8-0 drivetrain, a Sierra digital sound system and an RCS r/c battery control system installed by Dave is FAR superior in nearly every way to my LGB Mogul but that’s my opinion. I don’t expect everyone to agree with that statement but for me it’s true. Oh yeah, I almost forgot…no skids needed for power pick-up from the track with battery power (I just had to add that little tid-bit in!)

#50

Not trashing B’mann specifically. The newer bug maulers are night and day from the first three generations, so they DO get the idea of improving the breed (at least up to a point…can they ditch the crappy coal load now, and maybe offer a short smokebox version? And maybe re-release the indie with something a few people must think less important than fancy electronics, ie. enough weight for some sort of adhesion?). Would I LIKE everything to be as bulletproof, drop dead reliable, sure footed, and simple to maintain as an old 2020 or 2017 was? (Barry’s chassis are at least to that standard) Yes, most certainly. But is it realistic to expect something that will last 20 years for a bargain basement price? Probably not.

As for Zubi’s comment about adding up market stuff to the ten-wheeler, I think he’s right, in a way. There was a political flap a few months back about “putting lipstick on a pig”… In that sense, I have to agree – it’s still a rather ungainly plastic thing (unless you are a Tweetsie fan), with some questionable details, even if it now runs perfectly… it just now set you back as much as two or three base models, or an upscale one. If this makes you happy, who am I to say you are wrong? I put spendy Ozark castings on ‘crappy’ Aristo and B’mann stuff when I kitbash, and that does nothing to make it run better… so who’s the bigger fool?

#51

Although I often criticise the design criteria and build quality of Bachmann products I have only ever had to deal with Bachmann service two times. The first occurred a few years ago when I wanted to replace my version #2 Porter 0-4-0. This was a superbly smooth runner, even though it was a somewhat fragile loco.

(http://www.rcs-rc.com//pics/Bachmann-0-4-0/BatteryPack.jpg)

I intended to use then new 0-4-0ST to use a demonstrator for RCS and Sierra sound. The loco I purchased was nowhere near as smooth as the old one pictured above. It had a slight wobble going down the track later diagnosed as being caused because Bachmann had eliminated the 3 point suspension in order to mount a chuff timer on the front axle. Anyway I didn’t think it would make a good advertisement for Bachmann or me, so I approached Bachmann about getting a new gearbox and set of drivers supplied. Within two weeks I received gratis a complete brand new loco. Alas this one was worse than my original so I decided to live with the wobble. I didn’t want to send the loco back so, with the permission of Bachmann, I sold the loco and donated the proceeds to the Tsunami relief fund. No complaints about service there. Now recently, I have converted the new 2-6-6-2T to battery R/C. Article to appear soon. When the loco was unpacked and placed on the track to make sure it actually ran, it did so with a bit of a “hitch in the Giddy Up.” Upon investigation I found one driver had a bent boss that holds the crank pin.

(http://www.rcs-rc.com/pics/Bachmann-2-6-6-2T/Drive-wheel.jpg)

It had been assembled like that on the loco and I know that because there was no shipping damage and all the drive train screws of that motor block had been left loose, so that it would actually run. Panic stations. I had to have the loco running to use a demonstrator at the recently concluded Brisbane Model Train Show. I contacted Bachmann who immediately sent me a replaceent driver which unfortunately arrived about two hours after I left to drive to Brisbane. In the meantime Gordon Watson kindly managed to straighten out the boss and crankpin and I refitted the wheel to the loco and kept my fingers crossed. The loco runs superbly. It creeps really well. More on that later when I publish the article. So, on the two occasions I have had dealings with Bachmann service, they have both been positive.

#52

We had a go with Bachmann service a couple of summers back. My son had two N scale engines that needed service. They sent one new U-25b to replace a broken U-25b and a second U-25b to replace a SD-45 (or was it a GP-38?). I don’t remember the exact model but it was one not made any longer so they replaced it with a lesser model instead of fixing the broken one. Ya, I’m still upset. That’s really not a way to make a good impression on a teenager that was relatively new to the hobby scene. But the good part about the experience is he knows what products to buy and what ones to stay away from. So now he only buys Kato engines and loves them.

Jon.

#53

Jon I fear your experience with the replacement approach to customer service, is sadly going to be the wave of the future. If your a straight out-of-the-box operator then that may be all fine and dandy for most, but the real downside is that if you do any kind of weathering, custom decaling, and/or adding detailing to a product, if you send it in for repairs and they simply return a new product, you are screwed out of all the work you have done to the product as they may not return it. It really makes one think twice about repairs or how much stuff one adds to a product. Its one of the prime reasons I keep my engines as simple as possible (no sound, DCC, chip boards, smoke, etc, the fewer pipes-the smaller chance of a clogged pipe approach) and have gotten kinda heavy into building my own. At least I know exactly what I’m dealing with and whats needed to repair it, and what happens if a product needs repair but theres no repair parts anymore? I’m thinking of stuff like the earlier model side tanker for example, or a gen 3 or gen 4 Big Hauler, what would they replace them with? or would they just say, sorry dude your TSOL, its too old. I have been experiencing this in the mountain bike industry where I cannot get parts anymore for some suspension forks more than 4-5 years old. Its a complete BS policy designed to force the consumer into repeatedly purchasing new (very expensive) product every few years. Looks like the same approach is creaping into model trains at all levels as well.

#54
Victor Smith said:
Its a complete BS policy designed to force the consumer into repeatedly purchasing new (very expensive) product every few years. Looks like the same approach is creaping into model trains at all levels as well.
No, not so much BS, as a Revolution!