August 19, 2006

Soundtraxx/Bachmann On30 2-8-0 with Tsunami Hauls!

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The On30 2-8-0 last installment in the trio of Tsunami equipped locos from Bachman has been released.

The 0n30 Consolidation is as fine as the Climax and the Shay but with a slightly more conventional appeal than its two geared predecessors. The detailing is thoughtfully applied and tastefully accented. There are cleaning chutes on the side of the wood burning stacks, cinder catcher, sanding lines, firebox detailing, even red painted knobs and detailed gauges inside the cab, this little guy has it all! Once more, thanks to the factory installed Tsunami sound system, the sound is impressive, the whistle fidelity is the best in the Tsunami series, the chuff features an apparent timed 4 chuffs per revolution.

This locomotive is even more customizable than the first two. Not only can you customize the road name and number, but the fuel load (oil bunker, coal, or wood pile), smoke stack, cow catcher, and even the boiler face can be changed and includes a headlight relocation kit.

The pulling power is superb as well. We tested it with a full HO scale CMX which it pulled with no problem (no small feat as these cars are extremely heavy), then added several specially weighted metal freight cars (equivalent to 5 or 6 standard cars each) and that did not stop it. In fact, it was not until we added another CMX that we got the wheels to slip.

Bottom line, this is a finely detailed good sounding hauler. After having extensively tested and reviewed all three locos in this series I can say that this one is by far my favorite.