Model Railroading > Bachmann and LifeLike N scale Locomotives

Wondering about the quality of the newer Bachmann and LifeLike Locomotives.
Shell detail and running.
TIA

The new Bachmann locomotives are decent.

Life Like sold their N Scale line to Walthers who in turn sold it to Atlas. The next release of a former Life Like N scale locomotive is the GP60 which they say will be out in December.

My experien ce with running has not been good and I no longer buy them. Apperance is fine.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

I got a LL GP60 that looked as good as an Atlas loco.  But it has oversized flanges on the wheels and wont work with code 55 rail.  I suspect Atlas will fix that. Its a waste of good money to get any of that stuff used (older)..
RB

Many years ago Atlas had been rebranding their N scale locomatives really having been made by KATO (or so I had read). If true, how long did that practice last for?

Matthew

I don't know about N but KATO did make HO loco's for Atlas at one time.  The Atlas GP7 was KATO manufactured for example.

Cumberland Wrote:
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> Many years ago Atlas had been rebranding their N
> scale locomatives really having been made by KATO
> (or so I had read). If true, how long did that
> practice last for?
>
> Matthew

Before Kato was a brand in the market they manufactured for others Atlas ,Con-cor, Stewart etc, this is in the 80's, then Kato became their own brand and moved away from manufacturing for others. I'm trying to remember the first china Atlas loco it had to be in the mid 90's the GP40-2, the SD60/50 , second attempt at the GP7/9 was china made , I think the last Kato Japan made/tooled Atlas loco was the GP30 and GP35..............Joe
 

> Before Kato was a brand in the market they
> manufactured for others Atlas

Before Kato, Atlas N scale diesels were made by Roco and N scale steam by Rivorosi. Athearn made early Atlas N scale rolling stock.

We have several people in our group with newer Bachmann N scale locomotives. Our experrience has been positive, both steam and diesel.

Jim

> newer Bachmann

That is key.  There are many who report Bachmann engines manufactured in the last 5 or 6 years have been improved a great deal over past offering in terms of chassis and running qualities.  As for the shell fidelity to prototype, I can't comment.  In the past, reviewsers have often called Bachmann loco's 4 foot models - they look ok from 4 feet away.

I have noticed Bachmann engines produced in recent years can have some very high MRSP prices.

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> I have noticed Bachmann engines produced in recent
> years can have some very high MRSP prices.

That's because they have figured out that people will pay those prices.

PHall Wrote:
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> That's because they have figured out that people
> will pay those prices.

I bought a HO scale DCC Bachmann GS-4 Daylight 4449 back in 2008 for about $90. Same item few years later cost $150, and now it's ~$170 or more. I'm talking discounted prices, not MSRP. Can't blame inflation alone, especially during the Great Recession. I'm reluctant to blame increase in manufacturing cost in China for the jump from $90 to ~$150 either, as that didn't happen until later.

This is off topic, but I've watched the real estate market carefully here in the SF Bay Area for years. Much of the drive up in price was "artificial demand" created by clueless young stock options "millionaires" without fiscal discipline on bidding wars, because they could. Not a smart way to establish "market prices."

Until the recent nationwide inflationary pressures, the real estate prices in other parts of the country were more stable and predictable. Prices were based on quality of property + house, desirability of a certain neighborhood, job market, overall migration in/out, and so forth, not the insanity here in NorCal.

Don't think model railroaders are reckless financially, but it'd be nice if consumers can exercise fiscal discipline en masse to control prices. I own a secondhand Spectrum version of the GS-4 (non-DCC) also which I bought for about $40. I shopped for the DCC version later because I didn't want to do the DCC conversion. The older Spectrum version is "better" because all the electrics are in the engine. The DCC version has a wired connector between the engine and the tender - not enough room in the engine itself for DCC electronics.

PHall Wrote:
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> SPDRGWfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have noticed Bachmann engines produced in
> recent
> > years can have some very high MRSP prices.
>
> That's because they have figured out that people
> will pay those prices.

However, the discount prices are quite a bit lower.

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