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Bachmann Model Railway Locomotive Reviews -
9F
Author
"Daniel
Hull"
(forum member)
 Bachmann
00 BR 9F 2-10-0
"NRM
Evening Star (32-850)"
Rating 9/10
The 9F was the biggest of all the standard locomotives, using a
2-10-0 wheel arrangement. It was developed for heavy freight,
mainly bulk loads. One of them, 92203 holds the record for the
heaviest load ever moved on a British line. They were designated
as freight locomotives, well known for such freight workings as
the Windcutter trains of mineral wagons on the Great Central,
however they did also see some passenger turns fairly regularly,
even hauling the Pines Express on occasion. It is even said that
these small wheeled locomotives could reach 90mph regularly on
the Great Central passenger turns.
Anyway to the model, looks great doesn’t it? and it looks even
more amazing when you actually have it in front of you.
Now the first point I’ll make with this 9F is the turning
circle, it will not go round 1st radius track, and
it’s obvious why, it’s got 10 coupled driving wheels, even
though just like the real thing the middle axle has no flanges,
it will not go round the tight corners. Saying this it will very
happily go round 2nd radius curves and over twisty
trackwork. Due to the weight of the locomotive it is very much
planted over points, and on my layout none of them are
electrofrog. I’ve had no stalling issues with it either, even
though it has no tender pick ups, which is a minus of Bachmann
locomotives, because as far as I know none of them have tender
pick ups.
I’d recommend if you intend on buying one of these make sure you
have a large layout, or at least one with wide curves to stop it
from looking unrealistic, in fact talking of unrealistic it
brings me onto the one problem I have with this model, the
tender on it’s closest coupling setting seems too far from the
locomotive, have a look above and see what you think. I’m
starting to live with it now, but I don’t think it’s right.
Having said all this the detail of the model is fantastic, the
version I have is the NRM Evening Star (32-850) (pictured above)
it’s becoming rarer now and expect to pay over the odds for it,
but I found it in a model shop where it was the same price as
the black ones so it was a no brainer. Evening Star comes with
metal name plates to go over the printed ones and it certainly
looks fabulous.
You can see in the photo above there is a lot of detail, far
more than the Hornby 9F, just compare the front pony truck and
you’ll see an obvious example of what I mean. The loco ran
smoothly straight from the box and will haul a scale length
train with ease. My layout has gradients on it, not inclines,
and the 9F will happily haul upwards of 25 wagons once it gets
going. It has quite a lot of momentum for a 00 engine, due to
the flywheel, even with an instant cut of power the Bachmann 9F
will bring the train to a stop smoothly insuring all wagons
don’t crash into one another or fall off the track.
There are a few variants of the standard black 9F’s available,
the main difference is the tender types you can have, there are
BR1B, BR1C and BR1G, also there are weathered and non weathered,
single or double chimney versions.
For those of you who have DCC layouts its DCC ready and a DCC
fitted version is available, be it for a lot more money, in fact
the topic of the price is important. This model has been out for
a couple of years now and you can still find new ones for around
£90 - £100, my one cost me £95, but Bachmann's latest price list
has them at £120 - £130 and £142 for the DCC fitted one, this is
very steep so I urge anyone to buy as soon as possible.
Bachmann Class 9F
Features:
Flywheel drive
Sprung buffers
NEM couplings
Metal nameplates (evening star only)
DCC ready or fitted
Overall: To recap: It’s a
good hauler, able to pull scale length trains at scale speeds,
the tender – loco gap maybe a little bit big, the detail is
fantastic, it runs well even out the box due to the flywheel,
DCC ready, with many variations of the model and remember if you
think you want one decide fast because prices are going up!
I give this model 9/10, it is very good, but I’d say let
down by the gap between the loco and tender.
Class 9F Pictures:
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