New Bachmann GP7 images...

[Sokramiketes]

So where are the grab irons??? There doesn't appear to be any in the photo.

Jon

Isn't that awesome?  I hope the trend catches on.

And I like the leaving-them-off trend much better than the poorly-installed-wire-grab trend that Intermountain started with their Canadian SD40-2's.

[RockGp40]

Aren't the stripes on the anti-climber wrong too, \\\\ coupler ////  (shown)   versus   //// coupler \\\\   ?

 I need a proto photo, but looking at them it seems backwards.

[FrankCampagna]

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nyc/nyc5600alr.jpg

Frank

[asarge]

The lack of tread on the walkways I can overlook.  The option to add MUs is actually what I'd prefer, but the lack of grabs irons is troubling.  Hopefully this will not be a problem by the time they release them in a scheme I care about, i.e. at least one western scheme that's not Uncle Pedo.

They never intended to mold on or install grab-irons.

[RockGp40]

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/nyc/nyc5600alr.jpg

Frank

Thanks Frank, I stand corrected.

Brian

[sizemore]

Looks like I'll be picking up a few...ugh!

The S.

[SkipGear]

They never intended to mold on or install grab-irons.

The HO units came out the same way earlier this year and were well recieved. It's similar to the answer to the tender on the 4-6-0, 90% of the people won't notice or don't care, 5% will complain, the other 5% love the idea as it makes installing seprate grabs sooooo much easier.

Molded grabs that are the correct size end up looking like flashing or tooling marks that shouldn't be there. Most molded grabs are 3 times the size they should be.

I will say, at least on the NYC unit, they should printed them on because lacking those yellow grabs does stand out, at least after I have seen the proto photo. Before seeing that, I didn't notice.

[Mark5]

The class lights look a bit oversized.

Also, they did splendid job screwing up the Union Pacific font on pix posted on the A Forum.

[mcjaco]

Isn't that awesome?  I hope the trend catches on.

Agreed.  No more scraping!

[Mark5]

And I like the leaving-them-off trend much better than the poorly-installed-wire-grab trend that Intermountain started with their Canadian SD40-2's.

Agreed. The grabs on the IM SD40-2W (or whatever it is) pix I've seen look worse than molded on grabs to me. Maybe they don't look so bad in person. Maybe.

[lock4244]

Agreed. The grabs on the IM SD40-2W (or whatever it is) pix I've seen look worse than molded on grabs to me. Maybe they don't look so bad in person. Maybe.

They look great in person.

[Sokramiketes]

They look great in person.

Hmm, the ones I've seen seem to have been painted, then installed, and the paint was crushed by the needle nose pliers (or whatever) used to install them.  So they're crooked and flaking paint.

[MichaelWinicki]

Here are a couple more images along with a wee bit of technical info on the Bachmann GP7's...





The engines are just under 3 oz, which makes them a good 1/2 oz heavier than the Atlas GP7's.

One can pull a 6 car train up a 4% incline.

The electrical pickup system is somewhat like the one used on the Spectrum SD45, meaning the brass wipers on the trucks, rub against the frame of the loco rather than against brass strips, like those used on most Atlas and Kato locomotives.  That I wasn't too keen on, knowing how lousy the electrical pickup is on the SD45.

However the truck wipers used on the Bachmann GP7's use a dimpled piece of brass to rub against the back of the locomotive's wheels, as opposed to the SD45, which tries to maintain electrical contract with a piece of brass staying in contact with the axle.

The GP7's maintained good electrical contact all throughout the layout, without a single stall.  I prefer the Atlas or Kato method of maintaining electrical contact, but if the engines don't stall– then I'm a happy camper.

The Bachmann GP7's are a little noisier than the Atlas, but the decoders showed good response and will creep along at a very slow speed.

Overall for the investment, I think they're A-OK.

[Chris333]

Has anyone popped the hood yet?

Just wondering if it has the same small can motor Bachmann has been using in everything lately.

[wcfn100]

Has anyone popped the hood yet?

Just wondering if it has the same small can motor Bachmann has been using in everything lately.

Spookshow showed a pic on A-Board. Maybe you can tell from it.

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=63528&whichpage=2

Jason