Atomic Systems

Who's the best and why?

Cheers
FRED

Him

Hornby, they made 00 gauge live steam, a real feat...

Hornby the detail on their latest models is top notch, Bachmann have started to have a few shortfalls (printed detail as opposed to moulded and loss of lights) and heljan just seem to lack that little bit behind in the detail stakes.

A hornby release their models 1000000 years earlier than bachmann
B hornby is way ahead of the other two (live steam sets)
C hornby trains stay on the rails more than bachmann....i dont
know about heljans locos staying on the rails though
D there is much more detail in the locos. i remember the old
bachmann halls. they only had half a super drive fitted !!!!!!

Hornby's top quality models are exactly that, take 'em out of the box, attach the detailing parts and it's good enough for an exhibition layout. Bachmann stuff seems to be at a standstill at the moment, the extra detailing parts are ok, but not as good as hornby and they seem to have had some quality control issues recently. The models make a good starting point for fine detailing if you want to put the time in.
Heljan seem to be ok, but far too expensive for my liking and the parts are way too fragile.

Bachman

Because they seem to keep up the real railways more than hornby and heljan.

And reading the april Model rail Magazine Bachmans Freightliner 66 will "with switchable day/night headlight capability and authentically bright constant strength LEDs" Now that is good, and great for me because the 66s and Virgin Voyagers are my favourite both made by bachman.

Tom

I'm going to replace my Lima FL 66 with a Bachmann one.

Heljan models are good... but far too much money

15 quid for a single wagon!

All Bachman Steam loco's have Loco drive.

They dont cost as much as Heljan.

LNERandBR wrote:All Bachman Steam loco's have Loco drive.

They dont cost as much as Heljan.

That is to do with location, wages are higher in Denmark then China so this goes on to the model costs, thats why Hornby went out there and perhaps Heljan should too.

I like Bachmann and Hornby equally but I do have several problems with their stuff.

Bachamnn-
1. The expansion link on the valvegear on the Ivatt 2-6-2T and WD 2-8-0 are the wrong way round.....ie. it should curve backwards, not forwards.
2. The Ivatt 2-6-2T has no motion bracket.
3. up until the WD(?) all Bachmann's locos were fitted with the old Mainline style of valvegear.
4. They hardly ever deliver on time.
5. Most locos can't handle 3 yes that's right 3 bogies up an incline.

Hornby-
1. 2P, 4F, and 9F are tender drive and therefore seem to get quite hot in a short amount of time.
2. The Britannia is STILL tender drive as is the unrebuilt Patriot.
3. No rebuilt West Country yet.
4. They seem to bend the eccentric crank on the valvegear outwards for some strange reason.
5. Their so called "cab detail" is just painted on to a nearly flat backhead (have a look in the cab of the Bachmann Jinty.....now THAT is cab detail)!
6. The tender-loco connection is too far apart.
7. The back-to-backs are usually wrong when first out of the box.
8. They seem to release their really old, . models on the back of Bachmann's new version to try and grab a bit of the action with a piss-poor model ie. the Jinty.

The thing that really annoys me about Hornby is the last point...

9. They only ever appear at Warley(?) and even then seem to be manned by people who either don't know or don't care.
Hornby really need to sort out their public relations, then perhaps they would find out what the public really want.

Frellis wrote:9. They only ever appear at Warley(?) and even then seem to be manned by people who either don't know or don't care.
Hornby really need to sort out their public relations, then perhaps they would find out what the public really want.

Really?

http://www.hornbyrailways.com/pages/nws ... ItemID=439

Regards

Dan

A hard decition because Bachmann have really detailed locomotives that come with information and hornby have a wider range of products with live steam and skaledale so hornby.

Frellis wrote: Bachamnn-
1. The expansion link on the valvegear on the Ivatt 2-6-2T and WD 2-8-0 are the wrong way round.....ie. it should curve backwards, not forwards.
2. The Ivatt 2-6-2T has no motion bracket.
3. up until the WD(?) all Bachmann's locos were fitted with the old Mainline style of valvegear.
4. They hardly ever deliver on time.
5. Most locos can't handle 3 yes that's right 3 bogies up an incline.

1 and 2. The Ivatt 2-6-2t is quite an old model now its pre blue riband so it is bound to have shortfalls.
2. See above
3. As above the pre dated blue riband so were not aimed at the fine detailed collectors as they are today
4. People always complain about this, why? would you rather they delivered on time and as a result it was wrong or would you rather have a super model that is late? I'd rather it was late and looked/performed well.
5. I found this problem, my bachmann A4's struggle up a 1 in 48 when a hornby pannier managed it, Bachmann locos seem to get too much power into the motor, by putting a 2nd loco on the track (not coupled to the train but on the same section) it drained some of the power and the A4 tackled the bank.

Bachmann need to sort out detailing (printed lines on a Deltic where it should be raised is wrong) and fit lights to all diesels, but overall they are good models at a reasonable price.

Frellis wrote: Hornby-
1. 2P, 4F, and 9F are tender drive and therefore seem to get quite hot in a short amount of time.
2. The Britannia is STILL tender drive as is the unrebuilt Patriot.
3. No rebuilt West Country yet.
4. They seem to bend the eccentric crank on the valvegear outwards for some strange reason.
5. Their so called "cab detail" is just painted on to a nearly flat backhead (have a look in the cab of the Bachmann Jinty.....now THAT is cab detail)!
6. The tender-loco connection is too far apart.
7. The back-to-backs are usually wrong when first out of the box.
8. They seem to release their really old, . models on the back of Bachmann's new version to try and grab a bit of the action with a piss-poor model ie. the Jinty.

The thing that really annoys me about Hornby is the last point...

9. They only ever appear at Warley(?) and even then seem to be manned by people who either don't know or don't care.
Hornby really need to sort out their public relations, then perhaps they would find out what the public really want.

1 and 2. The cost of upgrading locos to loco drive and super detailing is quite high, Hornby has to be able to justify the investment (A4's and A3's will recoup the money through Mallard and Flying Scotsman) if it won't sell it won't get done, look at Hornby Dublo they made a co-bo and almost made them go bankrupt.
3. I dont know if it appears much in the top of wanted lists but I'm sure other people want their share of models. As much as I like Rebuilt lights, there are 3 other regions and the BR standards to do so they need a fair share
4. It's probably to aid performance for some reason, remeber we are dealing with curves tighter then in the real railway.
5. the new A4 has some nice backhead detail, is it really worth spending much time and money on a superb backhead that we'll hardly see? if Hornby improves the backheads we'll get the extra cost.
6. This is to enable models to go round tighter then sscale cureves, if you want correct gaps you need to go over to P4 or EM gauge.
8. Can't blame Hornby for trying. Would you give a highly detailed Bachmann jinty to a 6 year old?
9. BR7MT has dealt with this.

Overall I am VERY happy with Hornby, the pullmans are LNER Gresley stock are definantly the top 2 ready to run coaches out there and Horby's locos are superb peices of engineering with a great performance to match (steam and diesel), I cant wait to see how Bachmann responds.

Hornby

Over the last couple of years, Hornby have caught up with Bachmann and have overtaken them slightly in detail.

I do like the way Hornby have produced the 0-6-0 Terrier Tank engines which use torun on the Isle Of Wight, one of them is still working at the IOW Steam Railway 'Freshwater' No.8.

Justin.

A BIG steam fan!!