Liliput BR 18 316 DB (104001)
Can anyone offer an opinion on this Locomotive? I am watching one on eBay Germany at the moment and I am strongly tempted - it certainly looks nice in the picture. Thanks in advance, Neil

Hello Neil, I have not seen the eBay item you refer to so do not know if it is original Liliput or the more recent Bachmann Liliput. I have the original Liliput (pre Bachmann) version of this locomotive. One thing I would recommend before purchasing is to check the minimum radius applicable to the model. The current German Liliput website ( www.liliput.de ), according to my translation, lists the minimum radius for all the Badische Pacifics as being 420mm. This of course is referring to the newer Bachmann model. However, my original Liliput model would not take 17 1/4" radius curves due to the drawbar between the loco and tender being too short, causing the loco and tender to touch and subsequently derail. After replacing the drawbar with a slightly longer piece, the loco and tender did not bump and I have a very smooth running loco that has been operating for over ten years now. As the Bachmann version is advertised to manage 420mm, it would seem likely that this issue has been attended to. If it is an original Liliput loco, I would feel a little uncomfortable purchasing it if my layout's curves were less than say 21". Just an important thing to check before you buy. Richard Whitmore

104001 suggests its new production Bachmann Liliput so it seems that 420mm radius is what it will do.... only thing to check is that the drivers are true on the axles - the first batch from China were not so good, although I'd imagine you'd be very unlucky to have this problem.... only other thing you might consider is remotoring with a Faulhaber... I always thought the fineness of the spokes on the drivers of this model were exemplary and extremely convincing, so not much point in replacing them. Although it dates from the late 80ies/early 90ies this is still a good model (one of my favourites) and will probably be a damn sight cheaper than the new Trix announcement; Liliput have also done a fine job of marketing different variants of this prototype - although I'm not sure of the authenticity of some of the (many) Laenderbahn schemes they've churned out over the years.

Hello again, Neil, Andrew raises an excellent point regarding quartering, which can very, very occasionally happen with Bachmann models (my similar experience was with a British outline loco). However, where on the rare occasion a problem occurs with a new model, Bachmann are very quick to resolve it, so I agree with Andrew - you would have to be very unlucky. Andrew's comments made me reinspect my own model. Yes, those wheels are absolutely beautiful. I too have always regarded this locomotive as one of the most elegant designs of its era. I suppose the only other issue to mention, which you no doubt have already seen on this forum, is the concerns that have been raised about purchasing over German eBay, where this item is listed. Best wishes, Richard

Richard, Andrew, Thanks for the information - the loco for sale on eBay was the new Bachmann Liliput model. I'm not too worried about minimum radius as I do not expect my layout to have any curves with a radius less than 1 metre. Regards, Neil