Oddball MUs

[Keith 55]

Anyone have a pair of locos that surprised you by running well together?

I had an old trainset Bachmann F9 laying around, and after some tweaking it runs smooth and silent.
Last week I was shocked when I discovered that it MUs perfectly with my LifeLike BL-2.

How about you?

 

[ChiefT]

Which engnes do you prefer? Life-like or Bachmann? Which is better?
Thanks

 

[CBCNSfan]

Life-like or Bachmann? Which is better?

Hi ChiefT, are you asking about the trainset quality engines or the LifeLike PK and the Bachmann Spectrum engines? There is quite a difference.
Cheers Willis

 

[Keith 55]

Bachmann's Spectrum steam locos are well respected.
I prefer '40s and '50s era diesels, so LifeLike gets my money. Their models released over the last 5 years are every bit as good as my Atlas and Kato engines, in my opinion.
Cheap trainset locos aren't worth the aggravation. I just had one from 20+ years ago and decided to try and improve it as an educational exercise.
As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
A $20 loco just won't have the quality of a $90 loco in detail, paint, printing, electrical pickup, smoothness, noise or reliability.

 

[union-pacific-steve]

when i still had a layout my bachmann f7 used to run really well with my lifelike PA1... but it wouldnt run so well alone... and it ran downright awfully with my bachmann dash 8

the other two always ran well... i guess the F7 is a bit odd