really nice review Kris! You just confirmed my choice of not buying them. Wayyyyy too expensive for what you get. Maybe if another manufacturer did them they would be of more quality for that price tag.
27:07 I'm blown away by the price point of the coaches especially seeing that the lighting flickers. A wee bit pricey! Having said that, the loco pricing seems reasonable. Do you know if these are coming out in nscale? Great review, Kris. Take care. Sean.
The loco and cars were actually announced in N scale as well. You might be paying about the same or more I hear. But that’s a call you will need to make when the time comes. Love to see if the N scale is any better.
Too bad for the flickering lights. What a bummer. Hopefully someone does a how to video on installing a capacitor. Honestly at that price they should have come equipped with one. Thanks for the Rocco coupler part number. Great review!!
Bachmann is keeping with the tradition they've had for years lol. High price for things that don't work great. The locomotive is really nice tho. I'd personally cut the bar off of the coupler above track height like I had to on my kadee couplers.
Really nice review Kris, they look great but unfortunate they don’t perform at the same level. I replay thought this was Bachmanns moment to break the “cheap” reputation. Guess not
I do like the VIA Rail Charger by Bachmann, but this is disappointing in my option. Mainly the price, rollability, lighting, and those couplers! If the couplers were standard kadees, instead of the European connections. I would order this in a heart beat, but having to modify a $150.00 car to accept kadees. No way! The rollability can be resolved, and maybe the flickering lights. Either way, great review. I am thankful I watched the review first, instead of buying sight on scene. The review has changed my mind, and saved my wallet.
Hi Kris, great comprehensive review, like all the pros and cons you mentioned, though I would not buy something like this it's good to know what other products are out there.
height - spelling error when talking about couplers. I'm reviewing the review. Seriously; very interesting and I like VIA but not a fan of the current Bachmann offering.
@@BriansModelTrains I appreciate it. No the funny thing is that I have those pre saved in my editor. On one of my last review videos someone said the same thing lol. I didn’t think much of it this time as I thought I changed it. I will fix it now for next time.
Bought the locomotive, a little bit overpriced but overall a nice purchase. The cars on the other hand are very overpriced for what you get so I will pass on them until another manufacturer makes them or Bachmann lowers the MSRP to under $100 cdn.
This runs between Montreal and Toronto. It is replacing the P42 loco as those will be scrapped soon, the same as the LRC cars. 4 sets have already arrived and Via will continue to grow this fleet. I hear they run as early as 6-7am and 5-7pm through my local area.
@@GoViaorgohomeit also runs between Montreal and Ottawa, Ottawa and Toronto and Montreal to Toronto. A tad expensive for me regarding the locomotive and cars. I am very much a F40PH/Budd coaches for me.
I can do without the cars. give it time they will be running with the regular VIA cars, in the real world. so I will just do that now. Charger, well for 400$ not going to say must have but anyone that does get it will be super impressed. like they say, it is your layout do what ya want, so pull box cars with it.. lol
Hi Kris. Thanks for a really informative review. I work at The Via station in Dorval, and I see the Venture trains on a daily basis. First impression on seeing the Bachmann locomotive and coaches was not to great. I model mostly European, my only North American models are mostly Via. At first glance, the coaches look a little “cheap” for lack of a better word, and at least in my eyes, they don’t seem right, not to mention the issue of price. There is something about the locomotive that just doesn’t seem to hit the mark. I think I’ll pass on this set. Maybe Rapido can improve on this set, not withstanding their debacle with the first run of the turbo train. It’s too bad Roco or Piko didn’t make this set, at least we would have close couplings. Never was a big fan of Bachmann. I don’t think I’ll be buying this set. Thanks again for the review. Looking forward to the next one. Cheers!
Thanks for watching! I agree that the cars have almost a cheap look and feel to them. If I was even 60% sure another company would make the set I would have waited. Unfortunately I don’t see it to be the case. However even with Go equipment we have settled for athearns USA model being painted in Canadian road names for years and years till Rapido did them properly so I will hold out hope that it could still happen at some point. The loco is cool though. Sounds neat though I’m more of a esu fan. Keep alive in loco but not cars is a hard miss for me. I Like my Roco northlander so I can see how you would think they could do a better job. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. -Kris
Rapido’s first LRC run was pretty bad too, my Kato F40PH couldn’t pull 3 LRC cars on straight level track. As bad as the Athearn bi-levels were my Atlas GP40 was able to pull 6 of them. ;)
Excellent review car the via set the looks awesome. On the other hand sucks about the couplers. To me and other customers l would think the manufacturer would make it right on the couplers. Light flicker that sucks specially, when you pay $150 per car. Other manufacturers hundred dollars to 150 for top brass equipment. Buchaman needs to come to a better cost for the consumer. And a replacement coupler. I can now see why some people only got the locomotive.
Commenting based on the electronics point, I would say that the Bachmann VIA cars seems to have a little capacitor, but the design is not much effective for non-perfect layout. Plus it seems too bright. Rapido cars have better dimmed lighting. But that noise from capacitor is a little questionable...it should not have any noise...
Great review. Its also been my experience that Bachman is not up to the standard of Rapido. I really wish that Jason and the gang in Markham had gotten the license to manufacture these instead of Bachman. Just my two bits.
I wonder if the N-scale versions will have similar issues. For the price they are asking, it is really a shame that you have to source other couplers to make the train work. Was there no way to adjust the original, included knuckle couplers ?
I tried. I was so close to returning the set out of pure disappointment. Nothing worked to keep them together and with them having the euro ends to hold the coupler I was limited on what I had. I did change the loco to a #5 kadee but that was it. Had to special order those from a shop in Toronto. They overnighted them to me so that was nice. Since then I have been real happy with the set. I have been wondering how this will transfer over to N scale myself. I would be real interested to see how well that goes.
I connect all the cars with Roco euro couplers. Coupler number is in the video. It was not holding to the loco either so loco got Kadee #5 for now. I will replace car ends with Kadee euro couplers eventually.
Not a Canadian or Via modeller but where’s the non-powered end unit at bringing up the unpowered end of the train? Seems like that’s pretty important to having a fulfilled train set?
I have my Bachmann Siemens Charger and 4 cars. Adjust your coupler Kris, with a coupler tool. I switched out the couplers to the others provided. I had No issues, and worked 100% while be being pulled by the Charger and being pushed. In regards to comparing these Bachmann Venture cars, I feel your being unfair, as you're not comparing it to another manufacturers Venture coach or Charger.
No other company makes venture cars so I did what I felt was the next best thing. The comparison of passenger cars. If anything it’s not fair to put a Bachmann up against a Rapido but this is a good way to compare what you pay and what you get. I feel I covered it. No couplers it came with worked. The extra they came with were even worse. I know there are some sets that are good and work right out of the box and I was baffled by the fact that mine did not. A bunch of others have come forward and reached out with similar issues as well so I’m not the only one. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment. -Kris
For the price it is not worth it, in my opinion. Got to run one at Sparkys. All the metal wire details are not painted, making it look cheep and unfinished. The inside lit walkway details are a sticker not even 3d molded part. This is not worth more then a Rivet Counter Scale Trains or Athearn Genesis loco. Especially when you can get way more detail. Also, this thing won't pull more than 6 passenger cars up grade. For this price and the pricing on the coaches. It is a pass for me. I wish Rapido got the licencing deal for these. Even with their quality control issues, they would have done a much better job and, for a bit less MSRP. The loco should be 299 Canadian in line with certain Bowesers and Intermountains and the cars should be in the 89 to 99 dollar range because they have interior lighting. Other then that these are Walthers Mainline quality passanger cars. That go for 75 to 79 Canadian.
![NON STOP HO Scale Model Trains: Ep.39 | Amtrak, BNSF, UP and more! San Diego [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UtAJtBUduGw/mqdefault.jpg)
really nice review Kris! You just confirmed my choice of not buying them. Wayyyyy too expensive for what you get. Maybe if another manufacturer did them they would be of more quality for that price tag.
Rapido, specifically!
Good review Kris. Thanks.
At the end of the day I go by value. Not for me at the price.
27:07 I'm blown away by the price point of the coaches especially seeing that the lighting flickers. A wee bit pricey! Having said that, the loco pricing seems reasonable. Do you know if these are coming out in nscale? Great review, Kris. Take care. Sean.
The loco and cars were actually announced in N scale as well. You might be paying about the same or more I hear. But that’s a call you will need to make when the time comes. Love to see if the N scale is any better.
Too bad for the flickering lights. What a bummer. Hopefully someone does a how to video on installing a capacitor. Honestly at that price they should have come equipped with one. Thanks for the Rocco coupler part number. Great review!!
Bachmann is keeping with the tradition they've had for years lol. High price for things that don't work great. The locomotive is really nice tho. I'd personally cut the bar off of the coupler above track height like I had to on my kadee couplers.
I was thinking also about shortening the grab bar on the couplers for the very same reason...
They look good! Hopefully you can fix the flickering lights -Jenny
nice video Chris they look awesome thx for posting 😊😊👍👍
Really nice review Kris, they look great but unfortunate they don’t perform at the same level. I replay thought this was Bachmanns moment to break the “cheap” reputation. Guess not
The loco is good. But cars are a different story. I wonder how this will translate to N scale
Yes, my question exactly. @@GoViaorgohome
I do like the VIA Rail Charger by Bachmann, but this is disappointing in my option. Mainly the price, rollability, lighting, and those couplers! If the couplers were standard kadees, instead of the European connections. I would order this in a heart beat, but having to modify a $150.00 car to accept kadees. No way! The rollability can be resolved, and maybe the flickering lights. Either way, great review. I am thankful I watched the review first, instead of buying sight on scene. The review has changed my mind, and saved my wallet.
Still waiting for my Pre-Order to be filled OVR....
Hi Kris, great comprehensive review, like all the pros and cons you mentioned, though I would not buy something like this it's good to know what other products are out there.
WOW!!! That TCS Decoder sounds so good. Very, very impressed!!!
I was extremely impressed when I bought my chargers. Best sounding locos I currently have
height - spelling error when talking about couplers. I'm reviewing the review. Seriously; very interesting and I like VIA but not a fan of the current Bachmann offering.
lol I thought I fixed that. Dang that’s embarrassing. Oh well.
@@GoViaorgohome I really like your videos. I make speeling errors too!
@@BriansModelTrains I appreciate it. No the funny thing is that I have those pre saved in my editor. On one of my last review videos someone said the same thing lol. I didn’t think much of it this time as I thought I changed it. I will fix it now for next time.
Great review. Thanks for sharing!
great review bud now you just have to do the review on the Cab car once it comes in
Cheers bud
A Roll Off! LOL. Great review Kris.
Kris this a very impressive looking train, the Rapido cars are much better, it is low my my wish list for sure but a great review
You can stop the ditch lights from flashing by setting CV 117 to 255
Bought the locomotive, a little bit overpriced but overall a nice purchase. The cars on the other hand are very overpriced for what you get so I will pass on them until another manufacturer makes them or Bachmann lowers the MSRP to under $100 cdn.
Love the look of this train. Is it even in the real world yet? and where might I see one?
This runs between Montreal and Toronto. It is replacing the P42 loco as those will be scrapped soon, the same as the LRC cars. 4 sets have already arrived and Via will continue to grow this fleet. I hear they run as early as 6-7am and 5-7pm through my local area.
@@GoViaorgohomeit also runs between Montreal and Ottawa, Ottawa and Toronto and Montreal to Toronto. A tad expensive for me regarding the locomotive and cars. I am very much a F40PH/Budd coaches for me.
Really want one of these but holding out in hopes Bachmann does one in brightline paint scheme 😬
O MY 😊😊👍👍
I can do without the cars. give it time they will be running with the regular VIA cars, in the real world. so I will just do that now. Charger, well for 400$ not going to say must have but anyone that does get it will be super impressed. like they say, it is your layout do what ya want, so pull box cars with it.. lol
The “regular” via cars are being scrapped as these come online. Highly doubt they’ll be put with any of the old cars.
Hi Kris. Thanks for a really informative review. I work at The Via station in Dorval, and I see the Venture trains on a daily basis. First impression on seeing the Bachmann locomotive and coaches was not to great. I model mostly European, my only North American models are mostly Via. At first glance, the coaches look a little “cheap” for lack of a better word, and at least in my eyes, they don’t seem right, not to mention the issue of price. There is something about the locomotive that just doesn’t seem to hit the mark. I think I’ll pass on this set. Maybe Rapido can improve on this set, not withstanding their debacle with the first run of the turbo train. It’s too bad Roco or Piko didn’t make this set, at least we would have close couplings. Never was a big fan of Bachmann. I don’t think I’ll be buying this set. Thanks again for the review. Looking forward to the next one. Cheers!
Thanks for watching! I agree that the cars have almost a cheap look and feel to them. If I was even 60% sure another company would make the set I would have waited. Unfortunately I don’t see it to be the case. However even with Go equipment we have settled for athearns USA model being painted in Canadian road names for years and years till Rapido did them properly so I will hold out hope that it could still happen at some point. The loco is cool though. Sounds neat though I’m more of a esu fan. Keep alive in loco but not cars is a hard miss for me. I Like my Roco northlander so I can see how you would think they could do a better job.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.
-Kris
Engine looks great!! Those cars... not so much.
Finally cars that roll worse than the athearn bi-levels. 😂
Rapido’s first LRC run was pretty bad too, my Kato F40PH couldn’t pull 3 LRC cars on straight level track. As bad as the Athearn bi-levels were my Atlas GP40 was able to pull 6 of them. ;)
Excellent review car the via set the looks awesome. On the other hand sucks about the couplers. To me and other customers l would think the manufacturer would make it right on the couplers. Light flicker that sucks specially, when you pay $150 per car. Other manufacturers hundred dollars to 150 for top brass equipment. Buchaman needs to come to a better cost for the consumer. And a replacement coupler. I can now see why some people only got the locomotive.
I find it too expensive. Disappointed that the coach couplers are attached to the wheel truck. But I love this review
Commenting based on the electronics point, I would say that the Bachmann VIA cars seems to have a little capacitor, but the design is not much effective for non-perfect layout. Plus it seems too bright. Rapido cars have better dimmed lighting. But that noise from capacitor is a little questionable...it should not have any noise...
I was honestly shocked to see these when I was ordering my ACE charger. Seems like they’ve gotten the SCV40 down
i love the charger i have 3 amtrak. but im disapointed with the venture cars i expecred better after the charger
Great review. Its also been my experience that Bachman is not up to the standard of Rapido. I really wish that Jason and the gang in Markham had gotten the license to manufacture these instead of Bachman. Just my two bits.
I full heartedly agree. Would have been a 10/10 at that point.
I can totally get behind that!@@GoViaorgohome
I wonder if the N-scale versions will have similar issues.
For the price they are asking, it is really a shame that you have to source other couplers to make the train work. Was there no way to adjust the original, included knuckle couplers ?
I tried. I was so close to returning the set out of pure disappointment. Nothing worked to keep them together and with them having the euro ends to hold the coupler I was limited on what I had. I did change the loco to a #5 kadee but that was it. Had to special order those from a shop in Toronto. They overnighted them to me so that was nice. Since then I have been real happy with the set. I have been wondering how this will transfer over to N scale myself. I would be real interested to see how well that goes.
Also having coupler problems - what type of replacement coupler did you replace the original ones with
I connect all the cars with Roco euro couplers.
Coupler number is in the video.
It was not holding to the loco either so loco got Kadee #5 for now. I will replace car ends with Kadee euro couplers eventually.
Roco 40270
Not a Canadian or Via modeller but where’s the non-powered end unit at bringing up the unpowered end of the train? Seems like that’s pretty important to having a fulfilled train set?
Bachmann is yet to deliver those. I’m sure they will show up eventually
What i do with all of my couplers that do that is clip the airhoses off
Also sounds like you need a pair of Kadee pin pliers..
if the pin hits , bend it up a bit
I have my Bachmann Siemens Charger and 4 cars.
Adjust your coupler Kris, with a coupler tool.
I switched out the couplers to the others provided. I had No issues, and worked 100% while be being pulled by the Charger and being pushed.
In regards to comparing these Bachmann Venture cars, I feel your being unfair, as you're not comparing it to another manufacturers Venture coach or Charger.
No other company makes venture cars so I did what I felt was the next best thing. The comparison of passenger cars. If anything it’s not fair to put a Bachmann up against a Rapido but this is a good way to compare what you pay and what you get. I feel I covered it.
No couplers it came with worked. The extra they came with were even worse. I know there are some sets that are good and work right out of the box and I was baffled by the fact that mine did not. A bunch of others have come forward and reached out with similar issues as well so I’m not the only one.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment.
-Kris
Wonder why they named them Charger's?
If you shrunk this down, I would buy it. But they also have to shrink the price too
They will make it like that…. In N scale
@@GoViaorgohome half the size but not half the price 😂
Kato lighted passenger cars don't roll any better than the Bachmann.
Wow fare evauation. Thou not for me, i feel the value is very poor.
For the price it is not worth it, in my opinion. Got to run one at Sparkys. All the metal wire details are not painted, making it look cheep and unfinished. The inside lit walkway details are a sticker not even 3d molded part.
This is not worth more then a Rivet Counter Scale Trains or Athearn Genesis loco. Especially when you can get way more detail.
Also, this thing won't pull more than 6 passenger cars up grade.
For this price and the pricing on the coaches. It is a pass for me.
I wish Rapido got the licencing deal for these. Even with their quality control issues, they would have done a much better job and, for a bit less MSRP.
The loco should be 299 Canadian in line with certain Bowesers and Intermountains and the cars should be in the 89 to 99 dollar range because they have interior lighting. Other then that these are Walthers Mainline quality passanger cars. That go for 75 to 79 Canadian.
Awesome set Kris. Loco= $500 Can which is about $350 US. Same price as the other versions. As far as I know, only Bachmann makes them.
True. If you are in the USA apparently train world makes it all down.