OK, the MD15/s are too new. What is a good early diesel switcher. I seem to recall a unit from EMD that the C&NW had. Would that be available with DCC and sound? If so, where online. My wife wants to buy one for me. Aint that nice of her?
BB
Anything from an SW1-SW1200. Also the ALCo S series, both of which I think are made by P2K. I have an S-3 and it’s quite good.
Matthew
I love my P2K S-1. Runs great, crawls great. They are bargain-priced at MB Klein and Trainworld. I put in a decoder myself, and swapped out the wimpy incandescent headlight bulbs for golden-white LEDs. One thing I did have to do was isolate the motor, which seemed sort of an old-fashioned mounting for a relatively new model. Things are pretty tight inside, though, so finding room for a speaker might be tough, unless you want to fill up the cab.
What about inside the fuel tank??
Isn’t BLI doing an SW-something?? I thought I saw one but could be wrong…
Jeff
BLI has done both an SW7 and an NW2, both with sound. I have an SW7
and am pretty pleased with it except: it was an early run model and I had
to reverse the wiring to get it to run in the correct direction. Turned out that
that was an easy fix. Other than that, good loco. If you are not picky about
sound, the Kato NW2 is an exceptional locomotive. I have 3 and don’t
regret owning them at all-great detail and exquisite running.
John,
I have to concur with Bruce (MisterBeasley) on the Proto 2000 S1. What a GREAT swticher! Can’t beat the quality and the 70% off list price from Trainworld.com. Even though I had to isolate the motor from the frame, it was well worth it. I haven’t seen anything that will outcrawl it yet! Actually, I’ve been told that Bruce Petrarca of Litchfield Station was able to squeeze in a speaker underneath the S1 hood. It’s true - there isn’t much room under the shell.
John, if your dear wife is wanting to spring for a switcher with sound then the BLI SW7/NW2 might be a nice way to go. In the November Walthers catalog, they have a Proto 2000 EMD SW8/9/600 advertised that comes with sound & DCC. Not cheap ($245 list, for both), but you might be able to find it discounted somewhere like ebay. Doesn’t come in CNW though…
([#oops]Sorry, John. Had a momentary lapse and forgot that you were in N-scale. The info on BLI is also HO. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for some N switchers and drop you a line if I hear of any…[:(])
Tom
Excluding the SW1000 and perhaps others that I have forgotten.
P2K also did an SW-7 a while back. No DCC socket, but NCE sells a replacement circuit board decoder that works very well. Atlas also did an S-2, but the P2K one is better detailed. And don;t forget Stewart, Stewart makes the oddballs that the bigger manufacturers have left out, like the various Baldwin units. I have a DS4-4-1000 and it’s another great runner. It only draws about .25 amps stalled, I could run a dozen of them at a time on my Zephyr.
–Randy
I see on Tony’s website that he expects Proto2000 SW8’s with DCC QSI sound … the expected delivery date is today from LifeLike.
http://www.tonystrains.com/locomotive/lifelike.htm
And, I have two BLI SW7 phase II with DCC QSI, undecorated, enroute back to Tony’s in Vermont. I am returning them because I have to sell all my train equipment. They are brand new, never out of the box, received them last month. I believe they are the very first engines out of the new batch, but I am not sure. They may or may not be on reserve for someone else.
Jim
Any of Stewart’s Baldwins would be common 50’s era switchers.
Any of the Atlas or P2k Alco S series switchers would be appropriate.
Any SW1, 7,9, NW, NC and possibly SW1200’s would be OK.
SW1000, SW1001, SW1500, SW1504, MP15’s would all be too new.
Dave H.
How about an KATO NW2 will this fit in the 50’s??
the NW2’s were built throughout the 1940’s, so …yes Oleirish
John,
Looks like everyone else is giving you HO-scale suggestons, too. Atlas makes a Baldwin VO-1000, which would definitely fit in the era you are wanting to model. It doesn’t have sound though. Actually, finding sound in N-scale is going to be a challenge. Hopefully, that will improve in the future.
Tom