Bachmann J Class 4-8-4 is in stock at Trainworld.

[BruceG]

The new Bachmann N&W J Class 611 and it’s cousins are in stock at Trainworld. No one appears to have noticed. Even Bachmann omitted them from their live Facebook presentation from Trainworld last week. What’s up with that?

Bruce

[spookshow]

Weird that Trainworld gets to sell them when nobody else even got a chance to solicit reservations. I'd love to get one, but I only do PayPal and Trainworld doesn't offer it.

-Mark

[Mark5]

I thought these were announced quite some time ago.

https://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=265_372_661&zenid=a7e90ffc5amomth4l72un60k10

We should see them at other places soon.

Mark

[BruceG]

I believe they were in a Bachmann’s catalog published last year.  But they only recently showed up as on hand at Bachmann, and now in stock at Trainworld.

Bruce

[greenwizard88]

Bachmann put a notice on their website late last week that they were in stock. A few other dealers have them on listed as I'm stock too. I ordered mine Friday, but it still hasn't shipped yet.

[greenwizard88]

So my J came in the mail today. It looks about the same as the previous run, maybe slightly more muted colors, but given how subjective color is it's well past "good enough" for my taste.

My previous model was... wrong. The motor wasn't properly isolated so it wasn't as DCC ready as everyone else's, and the front pilot was constantly derailing at switches. This one has none of those problems. Out of the box, at slow speeds there's some jerking, but it smooths out once you start moving. I haven't broken it in or played with the CVs yet, but I suspect I'll be able to fix the slow speed operations easily enough.

Sound...  is awful. Out of the box it was loud. I set CV 128 (master volume) to 32 before I was happy with the volume. The whistle sounds like a dying cow. I wish I could say it was the engine, but I found a youtube video that sounds similar enough that I'm afraid the real thing sounds like a dying cow, too. I'll have to change it. Per the documentation, there should be 16 whistles total on the decoder so I should be able to find something I like.

Overall, it's about 1000% better than my old J, so I'm happy.

[peteski]

So my J came in the mail today. It looks about the same as the previous run, maybe slightly more muted colors, but given how subjective color is it's well past "good enough" for my taste.
. . .

Overall, it's about 1000% better than my old J, so I'm happy.

What old one are you comparing it to?  There were 3 revisions of this model.  See http://spookshow.net/loco/classj.html

[Mark5]

Saw these last night ... looks like they changed the red to match their own N&W passenger cars ... 

[greenwizard88]

What old one are you comparing it to?  There were 3 revisions of this model.  See http://spookshow.net/loco/classj.html

It's the 2016 release of model 82153. I guess you can call it the "DCC ready" version, although nowhere in the paperwork, insert, or 2016 catalog does Bachmann ever mention it being DCC ready. Probably due to the fact that it isn't

Color wise, Mark is correct that the maroon matches their passenger cars. It also is the same color (or very very similar) to the HO scale J from the early 90's, the one with the pancake motor and eventual cracked gears. Next to the 2016 run of the locomotive it's very noticeable. But considering the Bachmann N&W Observation is a NYC prototype, both of my coach cars have the same number, and the Powhatan Arrow never ran with a streamlined baggage car, the shade of maroon is the least of my worries. Hey, at least it does match! And if you accept some inaccuracies (yeah yeah, wrong forum, I know!), it looks quite sharp.

I was able to break it in. I'm using a different whistle (CV 120 = 4 or 5), which sounds much better than the default. It's otherwise everything that people claimed the 2006 version was - that mine wasn't.

[peteski]

Thanks Drew.
I have that one (came packaged with the auxiliary tender) and also the #611 from the initial run.
I ran the old one with a set of Con-Cor cars on my NTRAK club's layout.  I bought the 2016 version few years back from BLW, because it was on sale, but I haven't taken it apart yet.

[spookshow]

If anyone could provide a picture of the decoder installation, that'd be great. Save me from having to buy one 

Thanks,
-Mark

[thomasjmdavis]

It's been a while since I saw one opened up, but isn't the "2016 release" mentioned here just a re-release of the "2006 version" reviewed by Spookshow on his blog?  Where the installation is just soldering some wires in place in the tender (granted, why they left out a plug, as that would have seemed a worthwhile sales feature, who knows).  Is there any difference between the 2006 and 2016 versions (other than, no doubt, huge increase in MSRP).

And other than the factory installed econo-sound board, are there any improvements between the 2016 and 2020 releases?

[greenwizard88]

As far as I can tell, it's the exact same mechanism between the 2006 and 2016 versions, and the only difference between the 2016 and 2020 versions are the decoder and maroon paint color.

(and the part where my 2016 model just sucks. I don't know if my issues are unique to my model or a problem with the whole run though)

[Nato]

        Con Cor who is no longer making their own N  products, but sells other manufacture models in N is listing them for sale, though not cheaply instead they are offering a three easy payment plan. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[spookshow]

It's been 14 years since I've looked at one of these things, so I decided to pick one up and check it out. Ran like crap out of the box, which was kind of disappointing (and surprising). As it turns out, one of the crosshead guides was bent at an odd angle and causing all sorts of problems. But once I straightened that out it ran as smoothly as I remembered from 2006.

Too damned loud, though! Sheesh.

-Mark