Bachmann DD40X Nscale Review
#1
Just arrived today after almost a year wait...as soon as I can for those who are interested, I'll post a review with some pictures. More to come!
Mark

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#2
Disclaimer: I'm not a die-hard rivet counter but I appreciate those who are since they push manufacturers to make their models accurate and detailed. Working in Nscale has taught me that it you need to get out a magnifying glass to see particular detailing, or if you really can't see that intricate detailing one foot away, it'sdoesn't matter all that much.

Manufacturer: Bachmann
Scale: N
Overall Impression: B+

Storage Box: Packaged in a newly designed clear plastic frame that slides into a clear plastic tube that fits into the clear plastic box. There's no way this unit will slide around during shipment or handling.

Motor: Dual motors, DCC controlled.
Lighting: Front lights with blinking yellow light over cab stay illuminated in forward or reverse. Rear light only illuminates in reverse.
Couplers: Bachmann fixed knuckle on front and rear.
DCC: Bachmann contracted third party, with sound/speaker provision.
Weight: 6.0 oz

Discussion: This is not considered a Spectrum engine, but compares very nicely to their Spectrum line. First off, this engine is long...I mean long. At just over 98 scale feet from coupler to coupler, it takes up some room. The shell is solid and nicely detailed with either raised or indented panel detailing where appropriate. The handrails are only slightly thicker than a Kato or Atlas product, but slightly over painted. The overall shell paint is crisp with sharp decals that look similar to the prototype #6932. All the exhausts and fans are darkened which shows their detailing. The trucks are not well detailed, and appear to be slightly over painted. The fixed couplers are attached to the truck assembly instead of the shell to allow a tighter radius and no doubt, greater sales to those of us with smaller/narrower layouts. The major modeling defect is the lack of walk-thru between the two motor shells like the prototype. This area is painted black and slightly recessed from the outer shell moldline. From a foot away, you really don't notice it all that much, but when you look at the engine level with the tracks/layout (and you know there's supposed to be daylight between those two motor shells) you can't help but see the black painted frame. This is probably going to be everyone's most talked about concern with this engine. The DD's were known for that open space between the engine housings, and you'd think Bachmann would have taken care in their design to accommodate the prototype's most noticeable attribute. Oh well. When first placed on the tracks, the dual motors made the traditional Bachmann growl and wouldn't perform well, but seemed to quiet down after running a while, and performance improved with no hesitation in either forward or reverse with adequate slow speed creep. Still, this is no Kato/Atlas/Athearn/LL Proto N engine...it doesn't glide over the rails, it more like, ponders. Generally, a moderate speed is gives better performance than running "full speed" or creeping. There is noticeable wheel noise when the engine takes the tight 11 inch curves. I used Peco Code 80 turnouts and Atlas Code 80 flex and snap track on my layout, with a few sections of Code 55 on a siding. It runs well over both codes, but doesn't like the transition track I made from the Code 80 to Code 55. (I don't fault the engine here...just my crafting the transition track. I'll make another transition piece and see if performance improves when moving between the two codes.) The engine seems to have problems traversing the Peco turnouts at anything more than a slightly fast speed in either direction. This could be the fault of the Pecos or the engine, I'm not sure which yet, but I'm leaning to a Peco problem since other engines have had similar problems running over these turnouts. The plastic wheel guides of the Peco turnouts seem slightly higher than the rails which cause some lower clearance trucks some problems staying on the rails. As with other Bachmann DCC-equipped engines, this one needed extra resistance placed on the programming track to allow my Digitrax Zephyr to program the engine to its road number (I used two lighted coaches to add resistance/draw). Once completed, there were no more issues with the DCC operations; the lights, speed and direction all worked well. The only operational criticism I have is the coupler height. Both front and rear couplers seem one to two millimeters too high compared to other products. Both couplers to an adequate job of staying coupled to other cars by various manufacturers, but if you have a dip between rail sections like I did, the cars will decouple. (This problem was mitigated by adding styrene shims beneath the two problematic rail sections. Once the slight dip was removed, the engine didn't decouple again over the entire layout.) I'll eagerly await a MicroTrain-specific coupler and replace the factory fixed knuckle couplers as soon as possible. On the layout, this engine demands nothing smaller than an 11 inch radius curve. I had to completely rework one section of my layout to (exactly) an 11 inch radius to allow all eight wheels to stay on the rails through the curve. If less than 11 inches, either the front wheel or most rear wheel set will derail (depending on direction of travel of course). All the wheels are gauged correctly per the NMRA Nscale Gauge. The engine easily pulls on a flat surface, and shows only a slight effort climbing a 1.5% grade while pulling four passenger cars. All in all, it's a Bachmann engine with loud motors, ok couplers, and performance. But the modeling is well done in my opinion, much better than even the Spectrum models. So all in all, I like the engine. Sure I wish it had better motors and a gap between the engine shells. And I wish Bachmann modeled #6936 that is still on the rails today and has slightly different UP heralds for those of us who model the "present day". (For those who model "present day" operations, you can add the UP winged herald to the nose using the SD70M Microscale decal sheet.) But this is a very nice looking engine that performs satisfactorily. If you really want the DD40, don't let this one get by you, buy it while you can.
Mark

Citation Latitude Captain
--and--
Lt Colonel, USAF (Retired)
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