Bachman PRR K4

[Joseph Hall]

As I continue to get back into the hobby, I am beginning to face financial crunches at the hands of my financiers. OK, my wife is concerned at the # of Broadway Limited Boxes and my want/hint lists laying around.
I'm in the market for a PRR K4 and wanted to get a feel for the Bachman model. Good or bad?
Easy to convert to DCC?
Appreciate candid opinions.
I've got an eye on the Bowser version, have a few Bowser locomotives, and except that they seem a bit clunkly on details straight out of the box, they are good engines.
OK, let me hear it!

 

[ross31r]

if you want a DCC K4s why not get the Broadway one to start with?

 

[Russ Bellinis]

The Bachmann K4 is and has always been in the Spectrum Line. It is an excellent model and a good runner. Do you want sound, or just dcc? The new K4's may even be available with dcc installed. If not, I don't think decoder installation would be particularly difficult. If you want sound, the Broadway Limited is probably the least expensive way to go. By the time you buy a Bachmann or Bowser K4 and then buy a decoder with sound and install it, you will probably have spent as much as you would to have bought the BLI to begin with. If you buy the Bowser kit with the super detail kit, you may have as big an investment in the locomotive alone that you would have in the BLI, and you would still need the dcc sound decoder.