Honestly, this channel is a life-saver. Your reviews have probably saved me hundreds or even thousands of pounds on poor locos that I was going to get until I saw your review. Whenever I see a loco I am interested in, my first thought is "Let's see what Sam says about it". My favourite example is when I could either get a Bachmann E4 or a Hornby 2P for the same price and your review saved me £100 by avoiding the 2P!
I believe 80135 is the only standard 4t that has ever been painted in BR green, but not while in its BR days. The locomotive is now on the NYMR though when painted in green and the current livery I'm not sure!
2:20 I have the opposite problem - about ¾ of my whole collection is either BR Black or BR Green! The only other liveries I have is LNER Apple Green, ROD Khaki, GWR Chocolate & Cream, Regional Railways White and LMS Black
I personally have a Bachmann standard 4, and I would personally describe it as lovely! For me, she seems to run like a charm (as long as you keep the valve gear well lubricated), is quite powerful and yet as you said, she looks gorgeous! This is just me, but I love the Bachmann standard 4 tank, can’t say that for most Bachmann locos
Idk if you watch Doug DeMuro's car videos, but there's an interesting parallel between your train reviews and his car reviews! Especially the scoring system and rankings. I enjoy watching both obviously, keep them coming!
I would have to agree with you Sam about the BR Green paint with the lining. Its one that looks very nice and looks like class. I think the reason why I like BR Green is due to the fact that I keep the A4 Dwight D. Eisenhower clean at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI. Also, Congrats on making it over 85K for your subscribers!
That’s a really nice engine, I need more tank engines for my model railway and that is the perfect one for me it looks beautiful, keep up the good work and stay safe during these hard times!
Extremely fair as ever Sam. I bought one of these at Christmas from TMC and it had to be exchanged on quality grounds with wonky buffers. Mine even struggles on THIRD radius curves! But like you, I still love it. Cheers!
Ahh sorry to hear that Andrew - I don't know what it is with Bachmann locos struggling like that - I've had quite a few recently that do! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam, I really love your videos and they give me a great deal of pleasure. I'm not a railway modeler but I can appreciate the great efforts all you guys do in creating scale miniature railways.
Sam is a great youtuber, the thing about doing this sort of thing is you need the 'it factor' and Sam definitely has it. His videos are very entertaining and I'm pretty sure sam could pull off any style of video, sam reacts to, sam cooks, sam could reveiw anything and it would still be entertaining, music, films you name it, sam needs his own television series.
I hope you're proud of yourself as you're drawing me into British trains for the first time since I was a little boy! I'm from the US so there's no shop I can just walk into for UK stuff. Do you have any videos giving advice for people starting out? Really dig how calm you and your videos are, that's a rarity.
Thanks so much Nicholas, that's so great to hear! Yeah I have a video on getting started in the hobby - it's a bit old, but there are some tips in there! Good luck! :D Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I think 80135 is in preservation at North Yorks Moor Railways. At Bo'ness we are coming to end of the heavy overhaul of 80105. I notice that there are not cylinder pressure relief valves, that is because we have just fitted ours after the valves were set. Also the motion will be a great deal lighter. A good looking model.
1:59 is so relatable - searched for the prices of the latest class 101 the other day and was blown away at the prices of the 4-car EMUs - over £400! Makes the £240 for the 101 look almost reasonable...
I remember buying a Bachmann 4CEP EMU when it first came out (about 10 years ago?). I seem to remember I paid £100 to £120. Now they’re £400 plus! Won’t be buying any more!
Yeah I know - it's a tragedy isn't it? I just know I won't be able to buy them at that price... maybe that's what Bachmann want, lol! ;D Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam. I have one of these. It is number 80104 as preserved on the Swanage Railway. A friend of mine has 80135. The only problem I have with them is that they tend to slow down on curves (2nd radius) and they derail very easily when negotiating points in reverse but as I am quite happy to watch them just trundle around the layout it is not a big deal to me. All the best, Darren.
I have two of these and they both run really well , mine were made in 2008 and 2015 , yours according to the records is from 2002 . I remember having to adjust the front bogie and rear bogie back to back measurements to make them run better on curves. I have three Hornby Dublo versions and two Wrenns , when comes to brute power they in a class of their own .
Glad to hear yours run well! Mine's not from 2002 - the packaging is way too modern for that - this version was released from 2002-2018, so mine's definitely towards the latter end! Sorry to hear you had trouble with the bogies too :( Thanks for watching - Sam :)
80135 is one of the preserved BR Standard 4 Tanks, and it is based on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway! I rode on the railway with that exact loco pulling the train.
I have the black livery 80104 as it runs today at swanage, I did pay the full £130 from a local store. Mines hates any curves so lucky I run a end to end layout! But it is a gorgeous looking locomotive which I grew up visiting so my model has a very special meaning to me.
BR Green on the Standard 4MT and 4MT Tanks looks stunning. Just waiting for a Std. 4MT in BR Green to come up on Hattons for a reasonable price! BR Black does look good, although I think the detail stands out better in BR Green.
If I remember correctly these engines never ran in green under BR and the model is for the engine that runs on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway however green may have been used if the class ran in the Weston region. I do really like the green though and bought this exact model some time ago, I plan to possibly remove the modern overhead signs so I can run it in a 50s setting. Excellent video as always Sam!
Love this locomotive. Been on the look out for one of these but seam to be a bit hard to find over here brand new. It looks very smart with that BR green and stripes and so does that black. I think the green gives it a bit of a grand look. Lovely runner and I am very envious of you having this. All the best, Clint
That is like my favorite Tank Engine next to the terrier and they look amazing in the green Livery and I love the BR red stripes and white stripes livery
Early CREST B R Green. The best B R steam livery. Lovely locomotive Sam . Can't remember if i had that particular locomotive in my collection. Top notch video, thanks Sam .🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🚅🚄
BR actually did 3 different standard 4s. The 75xxx 4-6-0, the 76xxx 2-6-0, and the 80xxx 2-6-4T. I got a hornby dublo 4mt tank many years ago, had issues with it so swapped it for a bachmann one with a friend (he's happy with the dublo one). 80097, it ran like yours on DC, but when I fitted it for DCC, the slowing on corners stopped, and it's a great runner now. Since then, I've picked up another, 80079, which was really cheap as it has damaged paintwork and a missing rod on the valve gear, but again runs well. And double heading, they can haul quite long trains. Only 80135 ever carried BR green, because its owner specified it when he bought it for preservation. It currently runs on the NYMR including along national rail metals to whitby so needs the warning flashes to be mainline compliant, although I think it's under restoration atm (it was in bits when i visited the grosmont depot in august 2014).
I just got one NOS for £70. Excellent model, and I see the real one regularly. On the NYMR it pulls 4-7 coaches, but in BR days they normally pulled 3-4 suburbans, or freight.
The 4MT and its predecessors are my favorite tank engines, from any country. They have a nice brawny look about them. This one looks sharp in BR green. I have the BachFar Fairburn no. 2085 in N gauge in the Caledonian Railways lined blue livery it wore for a while in preservation. It's beautiful, and was a hit when I ran it at train shows (remember those? Good times, good times...). It's a tad underpowered, though, just like it's bigger OO brothers!
There's something that is absolutely handsome about these beefy tank engines 😍 saving up for one of these, or something similar A tank engine, but with a wheel configuration and linkage like a tender engine... its so weird, such a lovely hybrid!
Hi Sam, this loco is now owned by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, it was donated to the Railway when the Owner Died, and it was he who had it preserved in Green. The Locomotive is the star of a North Yorkshire Moors DVD, called "North Yorkshire Moors from the Footplate", which is worth buying.
If I recall correctly, these were one of Bachmanns very first 'Blue Ribband' models, which were the first models to be designed after the split chassis was done away with. I wouldn't be surprised if these are closer to 20 years old. They are a model of their time, but at that time they were probably the best steam model available, which shows with how well they stand up to modern models. I had one of the very first release, and remember there was a recall issues due to faulty motors for those who wanted them. Even with that dodgy motor, mine was fantastic considering Hornbys best effort at the time was still tender driven! The slowing of your model on R2 curves I'd say is down to the wheel back to backs being a little off, I've had this from a few models over the years, including one Bachmann Fowler 4F that derailed on anything tighter than R3 for the sake of one axle being 0.1mm too wide to gauge. Going from that dust, I'd say yours was a shop display model at some point...Hattons usually put those models out as bargains when they bought up unsold ex-shop stock. The performance of it possibly suggests is might even have been a shop demo model, that motor does behave like its well worn!
Watching your video back at 14:07, when you have the keeper plate off to show the bearings, it does look like the wheelsets have that worn sheen where the blackening has rubbed off with a used model, even on the bogie. Definitely more sheen than I'd expect to see from a model which has only been run in.
Thanks a lot for the info - yes the gauging is a good point, I'll have to check that! The close ups on the axles were taken BEFORE the model had even been run in - not the first time I've seen this from brand new models, perhaps they're run-in at the factory, or just manufactured that way? It is strange! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
The black version of this was my first purchase when I retired 10 years ago for £65. I totally agree with your assessment, but I still love it. A so and so for fitting the dcc chip.
The info I have on this model that you maybe looking, is that it was released at the same time I bought my S4MT. The version I have is the BR lined Black #80136 cat 32-355. It is listed twice 1st as BR lined Green #80135 (preserved) cat 32-353 in 2002 then the 2nd with all the same details but released 2016. After the initial release the opening Smoke Box Door was subsequently out shopped with the door lightly glued in place. From 2002 onwards the loco motor was replaced with a higher capacity 3 pole motor and lower gearing. From 2005 they were fitted with an 8 pin decoder socket, which going by your box detail label is the version you have. Still the BR Lined Green is one of my fave liveries and ends with me up to date with all my RU-vid vlogs... Hooray, LOL.
Thanks for sharing John, very interesting stuff! Yes this one was bought brand new a little while ago - I had hoped it'd be the latest version! Thanks for watching, Sam :)
Certeinly looks like a brilliant loco detail wise, I know a lot of Bachmanns diesel locomotives are built for less harsh radius (gradient 3 and up) which may be similar for the 4MT and other steam trains, they do often have very wide wheel bases.
idea: have a separate rating for detail AND features! features being stuff like sprung buffers, lights, firebox glow, opening cab doors, and in this case the opening smokebox door
As for your slow down on your 2nd radius curves, you may want to check the gauge on your drive wheels. They may be too far apart. Even though Bachmann has a lot of "slop" in their wheels from side to side, wheels that are too far out on the axles will bind up in the sharper curves. Or may just not be designed for 2nd radius curves. But may also explain why it is running slow on the straight run as well. I have a habit of checking all my locos and rolling stock with a track gauge to help eliminate problems like this. Just FYI type thing. Keep the videos coming. Nice to see something different from all the American models which dominate RU-vid.
Hi Sam , my loco started life badly , loads of hard creamy gunk in the axles/gears. After cleaning this out and putting tiny amounts of peco lube on each gear /axle/ motion the loco runs like a dream!
I Purchased the same model new mine is not a great runner looks great but one of the the water tank filler caps were missing but give Bachmann their due they were very helpful they sent me a replacement did not think I would get one.
Have a small collection cause im 13 (all I had like 3 years ago was a railroad evening star, triang 2 lms 2p, railroad flying Scotsman and a hornby br green class 37). But building it up, I was thinking of. Getting BR engines for the midland and southern region first and I am definitely getting this for Christmas alongside a standard 4 4-60 and a Britannia . Sorry it was long, have a good day! Henry
It almost look like the CP Class 0181-0190 but this one is from 1924 weighs 98 tons! +4t coal +6000l of oil +10000l of water + 200Kg of tools was fabricated by Henchel&Son(Kassel, Germany) today they as been preserved and one is used to pull the historic train in Douro line this one have Kerosene fireing but in case of special steem trains that use coal to fire the coal comes into small fabric bags and when the fireman needs more coal he just put an entire bag of coal it also protects from the humidity
80135 was painted in BR green in preservation hence the modern overhead warning signs. I rode behind her on the North York Moors Railway ( visit if you get the chance !)
I've recently had some issues with a Bachmann Crab that wasn't handling well in the curves. It turned out to be an overtightened front pony and the middle drivers were out on the back to back gauge. After adjustment, all is well. I would check the back to back on your 4MT.
Beautiful model Sam! These engines have proved very popular considering 15 are preserved! Shame the first built wasn’t preserved and the Bluebell tried to preserve the last built but ended up preserving 80151 instead! Only 2 have yet to be restored which I hope happens soon!
I brought mine (early BR lined black 80136) for less than 45£ as a non-runner. It turned out, there's a DCC decoder in it, and one of the body screws went trough the wiring damaging them and shorting the loco out (probably not immediately after installation)! So the repair was easy, I believe the decoder still works but I only tested the loco on DC with the decoder in it, haven't run it ever since. Let me find it for u... (there is a card in the box the says: Loco 80136 address 54.... suspicious) OK; so It is more quiet (but not silent; on a feedback controller) and no clicking noise, but it is also weak on the torque!
The standard 4MT tank was based on Fairburn's 4MT, which was based on Stanier's 4P (I want to say modified but not sure if that's completely true), and Stanier's 4P was based on Fowler's 4P.
Good scores Sam. I do agree....a fine loco but I really think a five pole motor and proper bearings would have made the mechanism so much better. If this was sorted, you could have excused detail issues. Always loved that livery. Cheers Sam.
You're a generous man Sam - I always divide your scores by 2, and then take away the number I first thought of, to arrive at a 'proper' score! What is it with model train collectors - I don't know any other industry that could keep getting away with selling so much over-priced dross...
haha I don't know about that - it's all subjective isn't it? Some aspects of this were very poor indeed, but other aspects were excellent - the score has to reflect everything! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Yes the green does look stunning.I couldn’t have left it in the box for that long without giving it a run.All that dust accumulated due to lack of use 😆
These engines look good in the Brunswick green like the Britannias, but I’m a fan of br black. It’s really meant for the class 4s, the 4-6-0s, 2-6-4 tanks, and 2-6-0s, which you left out.
I have one of these bought 2nd hand years ago for £55 . Put a decoder in it runs beautifully,none of the problems yours is showing here. DCC completely transformations locos and I’m sure you would be amazed if you chipped this loco how it would run. The Gaugemaster Prodigy is my control altho the transformer blew after 8 years use. I have replace that with DCC concepts cobalt transformer kicking out 5 amps and works perfectly with Gaugemaster products as I checked before purchasing. If you haven’t yet tried DCC now the time to switch .
Blimey, for £55, this is much more compelling! I will try mine on DCC one day - but the mechanism would still leave much to be desired! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
The green does look very smart & is unique to 80135 as it's a preservation scheme, they never carried green in service as green was more common on the western region (who had no real need for suburban tanks given their various prairie tanks) & these locos were more commonly seen on the Midland, Scottish & Southern regions back in the day
I guess sometimes with models heavier isn't always better. I never usually see weight as a dealbreaker with models, sure a bit of heft does help with power and weight distribution, but as seen here a lighter loco performs circles around this heavyier one. So my advice is never underestimate/overestimate the weight of a loco. As always Sam, a great video
Not always - if they have poor mechanisms like this, a heavy loco can really ruin a performer! Not true of all locos though - some of Hornby's heavier locos run great! :D Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Lovely Loco...The BR green was never adopted by BR, which looking at this, was a pity..80136 only carries it in preservation, all the class were in lined black and used almost everywhere on the system and were used extensively on the SR region around West Sussex / London area.. built in the year I was born thats why they still look modern, I am getting old ..lol.. they ended their lives far too early, as with all the standard classes, a wast indeed... Tbh these were very capable machines, my memories were fast local services out of Clapham Junction, comprising of no more than 8 - 10 coaches, so your loading would have had the real thing struggling at bit..lol
I like the look of it the BR green suits it. Maybe a very lengthy run in could improve things a bit along with a light service. The dirt on the other hand suggests it’s an ex-display model from the shop.
Have the same Standard 4 Tank myself and it's a neat little model for the price I paid from Hattons. Not the best runner though but it handles my trains well enough.
BR Standard 4MT tanks were never given BR green during service and the livery has just become part of 80135 preservation life. As the owner who restored it wanted to paint the loco green and it next few years hopefully it should run again when its overhaul is completed.
I have this very loco. I found that the sweet spot for what it can haul around curves without too much trouble is 4 coaches or about 13 empty wagons (10 with loads in). I really like mine, although it can be quite noisy at times. I love BR Lined Green liveries. But I'm not a fan of BR Green on its own applied to steam engines. They just look bland to me. BR Black is good lined or not. BR Green on its own looks best on diesels and electric units, but thats just me. Great and fair review as always Sam. All the best!
I have the Bachmann 3MT tank engine but with the running numbers of the Severn Valley Railways new build version which is 82045. The 3MT class tank engines didn't survive the 1960's steam locomotive cull hence why one is being built from scratch again.
Of course, some thought it was a good idea to put water cannons on this thing; it does look good with a blue livery though. (Bonus points for correctly guessing what I am referencing.)
Hi Sam I personally prefer BR green over black, thought it looked majestic running along until it hit that tighter curve,therefore I agree with your scores 100%_Dave
I have some of the Standard 4MT 4-6-0 and the 2-6-4T and having had a long footplate ride (17 to 19 miles) on both locomotives they are couple of my favourite locomotives. Funily enough I haven't had a footplate ride of more than two miles on any other steam locomotives.
I think you should check the guage or width between the wheels, as i think maybe the drive wheels are slightly wider causing binding in the curves especially the flex track curves which narrow slightly..
I bought one of these very recently, whilst the performance is really good it is ridiculously out of guage, I got 14.3mm on each axel except for the rear one which was over 15mm, it barely stays on straight track let alone points.
Noice BR Green Livery. If my favorite tank engine wasn't the LB&SCR E4 it might just be the Standard 4T or another tank engine like the E2, J50, Jinty, etc.
