Bachmann HO Spectrum EMD SD45 Diesel

Now in a departure from my normal interest in either British or Japanese outline trains here's one I saw which I loved and was at such a bargain price I couldn't resist getting it

[Super]

Oh my, she is beautiful. Love all the hand rails, metal or plastic?

The body and fittings like most models these days is plastic, but it is very heavy featuring amongst other things a dual flywheel drive. Basically what that means is that the motor has a heavy weight fitted both ends, these mean it takes a short time to get moving but moves away very smoothly as it builds up momentum. Similarly, when you stop it will again slow down smoothly rather than just stop dead like most electric trains do as the flywheels carry the momentum on. It also has a gearbox on each end which effectively give it 8 wheel drive (4 of 6 wheels on each bogey) which means it will (or should) be able to pull very long/heavy loads.

The reason I got it so cheaply (it is brand new) is that one of the plastic handrails the left front side was missing (this is the handrail from the front of the cab to the nose), this is only a small detailing part which I'm hoping I might be able to get from Bachmann and if not will maybe just remove the opposite side one so it matches.

That’s really nice! Back when locomotives like this were common on US and Canadian Class 1 railroads, I never really appreciated them. Now that so many of the big railroads use wide cab GE engines, I miss the older, low nose Spartan cab EMDs.

(Honestly, I really miss the old high nose EMD engines running long hood forward on the Southern Railway. However, that’s another story for another time!)

thats a neat model! i like that its rather unique, paint wise.