Advice on buying first HO Diesel switcher engine

I am thinking of buying my first diesel switcher engine for the early 1950’s era. I have a digitrax dcc system and would like a new locomotive that comes with dcc and sound factory installed. Can anyone recommend which brand and model is best? Athern, Atlas, etc.

Thank you.

Paul

Atlas hands down. Proto 2000 is nice too. If I can’t find a loco with sound and DCC in these 2 brands, I don’t buy it.

thank you for the quick help. Is there any specific model line from Atlas?

paul

I dont know what one is better the P2K or the Atlas but I have heard good from both. I have 2 Kato NW2s in HO but I dont think they were around in your time and they are a pain to put decoders in. I can say this for sure tho stay away from the Bachmann Spectrum 44 tonner. While it is a nice looking loco and all you have to do is plug the decoder in, the loco cannot pull more than 4 or 5 cars at once. This loco is very underweight and there is not alot of room to add more.

There is no such thing as “best”. However Athearn’s dcc and sound electronics suck sewer water big time, and I don’t believe they make a switcher so equiped anyway. Atlas makes a really nice H15-44 or H16-44, but they do not come with sound. It can be added after the fact, I think Soundtraxx made a drop in (other than the speaker) conversion. Stewart makes a nice VO-1000, but also with no sound. On the other hand BLI has NW2s and SW7s that come with both DCC & sound.

http://www.factorydirecttrains.com/EMD-NW2-SW7-Switchers-c3428.html

Proto-2000 made a really nice SW8 with both DCC and sound, but they went on sale late last year and I don’t belive one can find one other than the used market.

LOL, I like it when you don’t beat around the bush. Tell it like it is man.

Wow. Thanks to all of you for all the very specific advice. that is what I was looking for. I will look at Atlas and Proto 2000 then.

paul

I don’t own any of these models, but I have followed discussions about them. Be aware that there’s no repealing the laws of physics. A switcher without sound has room for a sufficient amount of weight to give it good tractive effort. When a speaker and sound board are crammed in, some of that weight has to go in order to make room for sound components. This tends to result in a lighter weight and less tractive effort. Some of these switchers make up for that by using traction tires. But this then tends to take away from good electrical contact.

I’d recommend buying such a switcher from a dealer with a good return policy. Try it on your layout to makes sure it will be adequate for your needs, as steep grades can really impact the performance, even if the loco is operating as designed.

Paul,

While getting a factory-installed sound system might be preferrable (and cheaper), I wouldn’t completely rule out buying a switcher and having the sound installed.

With a switcher you want something that is going to be smooth and has great low speed response. Stewart locomotives (those with either the Buehler or Canon motors) are some of the best pullers and crawlers out there.

I have a VO-660 and FT that absolutely crawl on speed step 001. Some of that is due to the fact that the mobile decoders installed in each of them have back EMF (BEMF). Primarily, it’s due to the fact that Stewart locomotives come with a terrific drive in them.

Now, it may be a little more of a challenge to install sound into one but it might be worth it. BLI makes a nice SW7/NW2 with sound. I don’t know how good it is a switching speed though.

Tom

Hi, I have two of BLI’s switchers, an SW-7, and a NW-2, both of mine run very smoothly, and will really crawl well. strong pullers too, 15 cars no problem. One of these days I will have to try to remember to see what it takes to put em on their knees down at the club. They sound great too.

Smile, Trains are Supposed to be Fun,

Doug

Well, let’s see here. I currently have:

Athearn

Sw1500, SW7 (x2).

Kato

NW2 (x2)

Bachmann Spectrum

44 tonner (x2)

Walthers Trainline

SW1

United (brass)

0-6-0 switcher (used as mine shifter) (just to show I’m not opposed to steam switchers)

Surprisingly, despite having 16 Proto 2000 (aka P2K) engines, none are switchers. They are good engines, but haven’t made any switchers painted in Southern Railway green paint scheme (at least that I’ve seen).

Atlas, Kato, Stewart, P2K, Athearn Genesis, Intermountain, BLI, PCI are all good engines, Bachmann Spectrum are OK. I have 2 of the 44 tonners, the early first runs with 2 motors. They run OK, but are a bit light for pulling. Then again, so were the real 44 tonners. The regular Athearn Blue Box kits run OK, but are a bit on the noisy side. This is normal for these engines. They can be tuned up, and tricked out to run silently and smooth as silk, but then you could have bought a higher end engine with better detailing and possibly DCC and/or sound for about the same money. The Walthers engines are good runners, but the SW1’s haven’t been made in some 10 years or so. They can be had used for a fair price. Mine is a fairly stout puller (for what it is). The Kato NW2’s are almost solid weight. As a pair, they will haul nearly anything you might expect them to pull. More than plenty of power for switching a yard.

I also have some IHC steamers, but wouldn’t buy their diesels; they are not good.

I have roughly 70 +/- engines, but I only counted my switchers.

Brad

Good advice from Mike and Tom. I have a DS-4-4-1000 Stewart, haven’t added a decoder yet. Pulls and runs very nicely in DC. I’ll likely just add a plug in 6 function decoder without sound; though there are ways to add sound to these switchers(the DS4 is similar to the VO-660 and 1000) it’s not real easy; if you add the speaker assembly back in the cab area, which is one way of doing it(the way Tony’s does the conversion IIRC from his website) I’m not sure there would be much of a weight drop, if any. Would be interesting to hear from others out there who have done sound conversions in these Stewart switchers.

Jim

My very best pullers are my Atlas S series switchers. They have good heft, run smoothly and are well made. They are however an older model and I am not sure if they ever made a version with DCC and sound included. I have installed the NCE Atls4 decoder in two and it has performed very well. I also have a BLI sound and DCC switcher. The problem in these smaller switchers is that to fit sound you lose weight, so the sound versions will likely pull a lot less than the non.

I call these two “The Twins,” but they really aren’t. The Erie engine is an S1. It’s a P2k, no sound. I installed a standard decoder myself, and upgraded the lights to LEDs at the same time. I also replaced the rediculous mounting of the cab-end light. They had put it way back in the shell, routed to the end with one of those silly plastic “light pipes.” Talk about dim bulbs. Without the decoder, I got it for $50, and I’ve seen these as low as $30.

The Lackawanna engine is a P2K SW-8. I bought it with sound and DCC from my LHS (special order from Walthers) for $100. I replaced the couplers with Kadees, but I haven’t had to take the hood off.

The S1 is heavy and pulls quite well. There’s probably room in the cab for a small speaker, but the rest of the engine is full of weight. In contrast, the SW-8 is a featherweight, my lightest engine by far. I guess they decided that they were going to use the interior for sound, and give up on weight completely. Instead, it came with traction tires on one axle. These are always a bit dangerous, as you lose electrical pickup from those wheels. This one will occasionally stall on turnouts, or sometimes stall-and-coast, so that the engine keeps going but I do hear the sounds all restart like at power-up time.

I would definitely go with sound, though. It’s a personal choice, and some folks don’t care for sound, but once I got one sound engine I was hooked, and I don’t run the “quiet” ones much anymore unless their lashed up with a sound unit.

I got a BLI NW2 switcher with QSI sound for 149.00 I really like. I’ve had it for over a year.

First let’s get some facts straight.None of Atlas switchers come sound equipped or DCC ready.

Paul To answer your question the only switchers with factory installed DCC/Sound is Walthers/Life Like P2K and BLI.Go with the Walthers/LL as its the better choice of the two.

I have the QSI NW switchers from BLI. They are a set of two in the B&O Roadname with two numbers. They usually work together quite well. I have yet to run them in a switching situation because they need a little workbench time to adjust, program and pass the acceptance inspection.

I owned a first run which derailed because of a twist in the truck, I dont see any sign of this problem in the new switchers. The one I did use was able to shove a cut of cars exceeding 10 in number up a slight grade which surprised me. Eventually I will find out what it will take to bring these units to thier knees.

The Atlas S1 of the new run does not have sound but it is by far the heaviest unit I ever held. This was at a hobby shop and there was no question that unit was very heavy.

The only negative about my switchers was I placed an order for the set early 2006. It took a long time for them to FINALLY arrive. I am actually glad they did because there were other switchers competing for a spot on my road.

I have a set of two Atlas Classic RS1 road switchers without sound or DCC. They will recieve decoders and perhaps sound (Or a factory unit gets built, whichever first happens) but on analog power they are flawless in operation but not quite as perfect as my QSI 2-10-2 Heavy.

On my railroad, all of my engines are expected to switch unless they dont have the front coupler and are equippted with a plastic dummy. The ones without the front couplers get replaced by engines that do.

Ooops! There is ONE Atlas Switcher that is DCC/ sound equipped…The M15DC…[:I]

Yer right, slipped my mind too. LOL.

Those are too modern right now for my era. But who’s not to say that they are very nice units?

I have installed Digitrax SFX decoders with custom speakers into 4 Stewart S12s for a customer. They turned out amazing!

David