Bachmann Announces N NYC J3a Hudson

[Mark W]

I've been out of the loop on this one, but glad this thread caught my eye!  I still have that Hodgepodge Hiawatha F-7 build on the back burner, waiting for the proper Kato mech I planned to use instead of the Con-Cor.  I wonder if and how well this Bachmann model would work for that conversion. 

[GhengisKong]

I've been out of the loop on this one, but glad this thread caught my eye!  I still have that Hodgepodge Hiawatha F-7 build on the back burner, waiting for the proper Kato mech I planned to use instead of the Con-Cor.  I wonder if and how well this Bachmann model would work for that conversion.

Time to buy one and find out!

[PiperguyUMD]

If anyone is using these for kitbash projects and won’t need the tender trucks, pm me, I’ll buy them!

[SkipGear]

Just an update, I looked at the rest of the loco's we received in the order, naturally I picked the worst one for myself. A couple of the the loco's had no angle to the steam chests and one or two had a slight angle, no more than the "adjusted" picture of mine. Going to tinker with it tonight and see if I can resolve the issue.

[prr7161]

My pair arrived from Hogtrainz today.  They look great!  No issues that I can see.  I did a short test run and they ran and sounded fine right out of the box.

[learmoia]

One of mine arrived from the distributor with a cracked jewel case.. and I inspected it through the lid and saw the valve gear was broken loose... steam chest looks shifted up too..

The other one looks good.

[Nato]

            I received my two locomotives yesterday from Hogtrainz, one in each lettering scheme. I would rank this model on a one to ten scale as a nine point nine. First off either Bachmann, but probably Paul at Hogtrainz, has added extra tape inside the plastic top of the liner the locomotive nests in where the cylinders (steam chests) are to prevent shipping damage as reported earlier in this thread. The looks are great, best looking coal load I have seen on a N  model steam locomotive. My layout is wireless CVP DC so I can not fully test them until I run them on the DCC Wasatch N Scale layout when it is next set up. Out of the box on DC this is one of the first sound equipped I have encountered that you do not have to crank the throttle to Warp Speed to start. At startup in DC you get the bell which goes off as speed increases, flange squeal on some curves slow down and the bell comes on again if you stop just the right way you actually get steam sounds. Hey a working Backup Light on the tender, better than non working (KATO 844). I would fully agree that the loop that goes over the post for the drawbar might be a weak link. Both locomotives are very smooth runners right out of the box with no wobble down the track. Well that sums it up for me. Thanks Bachmann and good by Concor KATO. Nate Goodman(Nato).   

[SkipGear]

@Nato - The protector on the sleeve is stock from Bachmann.

I got a chance to tear into mine and figure out the cause of the steam chest tilt. After fixing a couple things that did not need fixing, I realized it was the feed pipes were slightly tall and hitting the walkways, pushing down on the cylinders and causing them to twist.

My solution was to file a little off the top of the feed pipes. It could be that the boiler was snugging down too tight and could have been modified but filing the pipes was easier.

The boiler hooks in the front and just has a single screw in the back to hold it on. Where it hooks may have flashing or something in it making it fit tighter than it should but I didn't dig deep to figure it out.

[Nato]

          Tony, Thanks for your reply about the protective sleeve and what is really causing the problem on some locomotives.                       Nate Goodman.(Nato).

[altohorn25]

Still waiting on mine from N Scale Supply.

[spookshow]

Mine appears to have a pretty significant bind someplace in the mechanism. At speed step 1 it comes to a virtual (or sometimes literal) halt whenever it hits a certain spot in the driver rotation (both forward and reverse).

I'm not seeing anything obviously wonky with the running gear, so I guess I'll try running it around in circles for a couple of days and see if that helps any.

-Mark

[propmeup1]

Very aggravated about the US Mail system right now. Coming from Trainworld out of Brooklyn, NY to DE, 130 miles and these ding dongs can't get it right.  10 days now it's been in the system. I could have walked to Trainworld and back in less then ten days as a fact. Right now tracking says it's been in Wilmington, DE for four days now. wonder what they are doing there other then nothing.
    This has happened before, I very much look fwd to something and after then extra long wait it finally arrives and doesn't run worth a crap. That happened with the first set of BLI centipedes.  After I read Spookshow's review so far i'm not getting my hopes up any longer till I see it running flawlessly.

[Joetrain59]

I finally got mine from Hogtrainz today. Yes, a week to go from NJ to western CT. It runs fine, no real angle on steam chests, all wheels in gauge. The only annoying item is steam generator noise. Thought it was a gear problem at first. A Z905 looks like it could be easy for the tender. But how does the included dummy coupler install?
 I won't dare take the multi, multi folded paper work out from packaging! Can never fold that stuff properly again.
 Joe D

[propmeup1]

tracking says mine should be here tomorrow after over two weeks to go 130 miles. I'll believe it when i see it going around the layout.

[ncbqguy]

A while back I think somebody mentioned that the B&O did not have Hudsons.
Well, they had four Class V 4-6-4s which had 74 (V-1), 84 (V-2), 80 (V-3) and 80 inch (V-4) drivers.
https://www.american-rails.com/v.html
Charlie Vlk