Without exaggeration I have purchased in excess of twenty Bachmann Anniversary locomotives for my various projects. I have come to expect a degree of relatively poor quality control as most of my purchases were to strip for parts and I was ready to pass it over. However, my latest purchase from a major authorised Bachmann reseller on eBay has me guessing have B’mann lost the plot. This is not an indictment on the eBay seller but simply to point out that the locomotive was new from a Bachmann dealer and not a eBay ‘new’ special. On arrival, the usual detail pieces were to be found rattling around in the box (no big deal, just a hassle to refit). The smokestack and its mounting had broken away from the smokebox dictating some superglue to refit with possibility of superglue ‘hazing’ around the join after regluing. Also, the pilot wheel insulating sleeves were cracked and deteriorated (both axles).
Within 30 seconds of running it was obvious that the tender light did not work. Several hours later after replacing two LED bulbs to no avail, I checked the loco terminal connections and noted no power at the disconnect terminal on the rear of the loco. After stewing over that for sometime I ran the loco. Seconds later the reverse gear linkage was flopping around. Investigation showed a screw missing. At this point I decided to strip the loco and give it a once over. Every screw in the drivetrain and valve gear linkages was loose (finger tight only). The reason for no power for the tender light was that during assembly at the factory, both power leads had been severed. Also the onboard ballast weight was loose in the body. OK, this loco was only purchased for parts, but at some point all these parts needed to be used so this obvious lack of quality control is not acceptable. I grant that the loco was most likely assembled around four or five years ago and has been sitting idle on a shelf somewhere, however, screws do not loosen themselves sitting on a shelf. Wires do not sever themselves sitting on a shelf. Cast weight blocks do not loosen themselves sitting on a shelf. All these problems, with the exception of the loose detail pieces, are directly attributable to poor assembly and equally poor quality control at point of assembly. The Anniversary loco is being currently manufactured as part of Bachmann’s 175 year anniversary, so I hope that QC has improved of late.
I view poor QC as smptomatic of poor work ethic. I know for sure that any future purchases of B’mann products will only be after the product has been in the marketplace for many years as although the Anniversary is my all time favourite largescale loco, I have lost faith in any future purchases of the model or any other B’mann product.