BachmannTrains - Pacific Flyer Ready To Run Electric Train Set - HO Scale

Choo choo these help me battle my crippling depression of how my life is constantly going down hill

Great steam engine. Love it.

We always had a train under our tree during the Christmas season when I was little and then the train got replaced by presents over night on Christmas eve for the next morning. I never started that tradition with my own children but decided I wanted to do it with my grandkids. This train was perfect! It reminded me of daddy's old HO train set and it worked wonderfully! It is small enough to not take up a lot of space but large enough to be noticed and played with under the tree. I can't wait to add some village pieces to it as the years go by.

While Bachmann HO trains are regarded more as "toys" in the professional HO model railroad community (rather than authentic models of actual prototype railroads), there must always be an entry point for those new to the hobby. Bachmann faithfully fulfills entry-level, "new hobbyist" interest quite well and quite inexpensively.This set comes with a steam locomotive (Union Pacific RR 0-6-0 with operating headlight and slope-back tender); 2 rolling stock freight cars (a gondola and a boxcar with actual sliding doors), and a "generic" caboose in Union Pacific livery - all that any kid / person needs as an entry to the hobby. As usual with complete, inexpensive train sets, this set also comes with a 36-inch circle of curved "Snap-Fit E-Z track" (18-inch radius curve segments, black roadbed). The "Snap-Fit E-Z track" system is designed especially for young people to easily align and push the tracks together and they snap into place making it immediately usable on floors, carpets or wood platforms without much hassle. For a more realistic look, the tracks are Nickel-Silver and don't rust or get tarnished as much as the old brass rails did. The cars couple together with the Bachmann "E-Z Mate" knuckle couplers (somewhat compatible with HO professional modelers standard "Kaydee" style knuckle couplers). Finally, the set includes a generic DC power pack (speed controller) with wiring, power indicator light and direction switch. One of the curved tracks holds the plug-in terminal "re-railer" to power the train. (A "re-railer" is a piece of track that is designed with embedded guides between and outside the track rails. One simply sets the car or locomotive down on it, rolls the unit back and forth a few times and the track easily aligns the wheels of the unit inside the rails so the trains roll on the tracks. No eyestrain or careful adjusting of the wheel trucks necessary.)The set says ages 14+, but I got started with trains at age 7-8, so use your own judgement about who the set is intended for. The set is R-T-R (Ready-to-Run - meaning no extensive assembly of anything) and with the purchase of some extra 9-inch straight tracks and a pair of turn-outs (commonly and IMPROPERLY called "switches"), one can begin to make all kinds of track layouts.I also strongly suggest getting the Bachmann E-Z Track Expander Set, which comes with both left and right powered turnouts; 9-inch straight track (4-pieces); 18-inch radius curved track (4-pieces) and 2 Hayes bumpers (to put at the end of short stub tracks or sidings off the main line. Get a couple of books on HO model railroading, some buildings, some figures and a 4x8 foot piece of plywood and join MILLIONS of us relaxing and watching the trains go in and out of tunnels, rolling down the mainline, changing tracks and "delivering goods" in your own miniaturized world! Similar to ANY hobby, your pocketbook will be the limit, but your imagination will take you past that.

Excelente tren

The couplers are extremely weak and Bachmann knows it. They have the replacements for sale at exorbitant prices. Not another purchase I would make.

very nice

Have not assembled it yet