Bachmann Trains - Rail Chief Ready To Run 130 Piece Electric Train Set - HO Scale

We purchased this as a last minute gift for our son who is fascinated with trains. I have to say that this set is simply flawless. The set up was super simple even for him to set up compared to the sets from years past. It comes with an unbelievable amount of signs , telephone poles, people, and other items. I cannot stress enough how simple setup was compared to the older HO I had as a kid. The quality is very good and while I like metal trucks more it really is a no big deal due to the fact this works so well and our little guy is so happy.The engine is plenty powerful and so quiet compared to other HO options. We have a dozen cars hooked up and it pulls them like it was easy.Hookup was a breeze.I am truly impressed with Bachmann overall being I never used them before and would absolutely buy another without a doubt.Thank you Amazon, and thank you Bachmann for a wonderful , flawless product that has delighted our son.Recommended for life. Thank you.

This is a very pleasing starter train set for a child or anyone interested in an affordable introduction to model railroading. A serious model railroader with higher standards for details (e.g. sliding doors on box car) or quality may not be fully satisfied. The set comes packaged in a sturdy, informative, and easy-to-open box. I will include pictures in this review, as the stock pictures did not provide me with enough detail prior to the purchase. The engine is one of the best-looking train-pieces in the set, and has functioning (LED, I think) taillights in addition to headlights. Some might be disappointed that the brightness of the lights increases only with increasing the speed of the train. Still, the lights make the engine more attractive and realistic. The engine seems very substantial in build and quality. The remaining cars are varied in type and color, and add to the overall attractiveness of the set. For a five-piece set, the manufacturer chose a very good assortment of colors and car-types. The box car does not have sliding doors that open and close at this price point. The box car looks very attractive otherwise. The cars are nicely weighted and have a low center of gravity which keeps them on the track. Some cheaper sets have such light-weight cars that keeping them on the track becomes difficult. A serious model railroader may not be satisfied with the weight of the cars or quality of wheels and axels, but they are just fine for this starter set, and most people will be satisfied. The engine and cars are fitted with EZ-couplers that work very well. Please note that you must couple the cars on the two pieces of straight-track provided in the kit. If you attempt to couple the cars on the curved pieces, even the EZ-couplers are difficult to work with. The EZ-track provided is enough to make an oval. Only two straight pieces (sections) are provided. Without the two straight sections, your track would be a circle, and not an oval. You can buy separate EZ-track sets to make more complicated layouts. One of the straight pieces functions both as rerailer and terminal plugin for the speed controller. The speed controller plug can plugin to either side of the rerailer which is very handy. If you are new to HO-scale trains, you MUST USE THE RERAILER to get each of the cars - including the engine - on the track. You do this by placing the engine or car on top of the rerailer section, and then moving the engine or car back and forth completely over the rerailer section, which ALIGNS THE WHEELS FOR YOU. You could try to align all the wheels using only your eyes and hands, but it will drive you nuts. Use the rerailer section, it makes life so much easier. Although the EZ-track system easily connects, you still have to be careful not to misjoin any sections of track. Doing so will cause the train to derail. If you cannot easily see that the track sections are connected correctly, just run your fingers back and forth over the connected sections (turn power off prior to doing this). The connections should be smooth. Misjoined sections should catch on your finger. Just pull apart the track and try joining them together again. The back of the box displays several track layouts that are NOT POSSIBLE, unless you buy extra pieces of track. A signal bridge kit is included. It looks wonderful, but is a PAIN IN THE NECK to assemble. The plastic is flimsy, and only some sections snap together. Other plastic pieces just lay together or hook-over one another. I found that I had to file off some of the excess plastic flash to get the pieces to lay just right for assembly. Note: using your wife's fingernail file works well, but requires a lot of explanation after the fact! The tiny plastic rail-traffic lights need trimming and can be pushed into place using the eraser on the end of a pencil. The rail-traffic lights are merely translucent plastic, so they give a slight illusion of lighting up in a well-lit room. These are not electric lights. The signal bridge kit is a nice-looking piece when assembled. It can be purchased separately for about $13.00, but I have to believe that they are better kits that actually do light up for not too many dollars more. The road, rail, and other signs are easily snapped off their plastic piping, but also require some filing of excess flash before they can stand up straight. All signs rest on pedestals that have two indentations for nailing or tacking down to a base board (nice for building a more permanent layout). You might be able to use plastic model enamel paint to give the signs a more realistic color, as they are all black lettering on yellow signs, poles, and pedestals. The HO-scale people are entirely pink - like pigs. As noted for the signs, you might be able to pain them with enamel modeling paint. Otherwise there is a variety of small-town and rural characters that seem like they stepped out of the early 20th century. The figures are nicely detailed. Other than the color, the bad think about the figurines is that they cannot be easily broken off the plastic piping they come attached to. You have to use a pair of nippers (wire cutters). If you try to break off the figurines by hand, you will snap them in two at their ankles, leaving feet attached to the pedestal, attached to the piping. Luckily the figurines are duplicated so that you have two of each kind. There are lots of telephone poles, and they are the right color (brown), and do not need to be snapped off of any piping. No telephone wires or power lines - just the poles. Still, it’s a nice feature. Altogether, this train set provides a lot of value. The little extras - telephone poles, signs, people, and signal bridge - are a very nice touch and can provide the basis for a great starter-layout. If you just want to make a child happy for a few years, or drop as little money as possible to get a first taste of model railroading you could do a lot worse than this kit (I have). I would give the set two thumbs up, but my wife broke one of my thumbs for using her nail file to trim the flash off the signal bridge kit. I do, however, give the kit five stars. Here are some pros and cons, although the cons deserve a lot less weight than the pros. Pros - Good-looking black and orange engineEngine has headlights that grow brighter with increased speedEngine has taillights that grow brighter with increased speedLots of brown, telephone poles with slim pedestals that allow easy tacking/nailing down to board (no wires for poles)Lots of pink, HO-scale people figurines.Lots of yellow, HO-scale road, rail, and other signsPower pack and wiring seem to be of high qualitySpeed controller feels substantial and of high quality and works very wellA detailed HO Scale Signal Bridge Kit (can be purchased separately for about $13.00) Cons - Rerailer track section causes train to rise up slightly (section is bowed upward a little) which can cause decoupling of the engine from the cars (does not happen often)Engine makes no sound (whistle or horn)Engine makes no simulated exhaust or steamBox car has no slighting doors, but is nice-lookingEZ-track bed looks a little fake, and may not please every eyeAll signs have yellow poles and sign-boards with black print (e.g. stop signs are yellow and black, not red and white).People figures are all pink - arms, hands, faces, legs, clothing (uncertain if they can be painted with enamel paints used for plastic models)People figures cannot easily be broken off their plastic piping, you must use nippers (i.e. wire cutters).Excess flash on bottom of sign-pedestals and people-pedestals must be gently filed off to get signs and people to stand up straight. The people figurines need the most filing.HO Scale Signal Bridge Kit is a pain to assemble. Excess flash must be trimmed off and pieces do not all snap together, but do hold up in the end. Think plastic-origami.Note: Not all of my pictures were uploaded by the Amazon review system. Will work on that later.

This is a great starter set. I bought it for my 9 year old grandson as a Christmas present. It's his 1st one and I'm glad that I can add Bachmann track and cars to it. Shipping was super fast!!

Good quality. Present for great grandson.

First off, I have never had a train set before but I always wanted one around my Christmas tree. So this year I decided to ask my husband what kind of train can we get to go around the tree.I bought this set and had some difficulty figuring out how to easily get the track set up. You do have to be careful when attaching the tracks as to not bend the little metal pieces that complete the circuit, so I was a little bummed my daughter couldn't help set it up. I also had to buy extra tracks so I had enough room to place it around my tree.But everyone knows the company Bachmann and it is rather easy to buy additional track, cars, engine, ect. My daughter loved "being a conductor." She speeds it up, the slows it down, and loves to make it go backwards as well. The hardest thing was when it derailed behind the tree and we had to crawl underneath to get the cars and/or engine so we could get them back on the track.My only concern was my dogs interaction between the tree and train they actually got real good at just laying and watching it go around the tracks waiting till I wasn't looking so they could at least try to smell it...But having a train completed my Christmas tree and I can also leave it up all year round. My only complaint is how sensitive the track is sometimes dog hairs would screw it up. and the coal is not glued on so sometimes it would fall off and cause the train to get stuck on the next time around. But for my first train set I recommend this set as long as you purchase some additional tracks. But if it is your first train set plan on putting it together with patience and little distraction.

Like most scale train sets, this is a model first and a toy second. I would not suggest it for children as the track and train are both delicate, not through poor construction, but simply BECAUSE they are models. That aside, the detail in this Bachmann set is phenomenal- it harkens back to the quality of old HO sets Lionel used to make. The BNSF runs a line not more than a quarter mile from my home, and looking out the window I can see GP40's just like the one in this set run by with the very same livery. The tracks were easy to put together and consistently built. As with most small-scale train sets, the cars are a bit tricky to put on the rails at first, but after doing it a few times it becomes easy. The set comes with a few bags of road/rail signs, people, and power poles, which are pretty cheap and basically painted, if at all, but are a nice touch for a beginning modeler (or someone who wants a train for their Christmas tree like me). Also included is a signal tower which straddles the track- it's snap together but glue will hold it better. Overall, a great deal for an starter set from the go-to name for HO scale trains.