I own 8 Kato’s & 1 Athearn.
What’s yours?
BNSFrailfan.
Hello fellow BNSF fan! I have 7 Athearns and 1 Athearn Genesis. Im gonna buy a Kato C44-9W in a week or so. (Santa Fe #653) Do you like your Kato products? Thanks, Ben
I stopped buying Athearn engine’s whem Atlas intruduced their Kato drives 1980? Then Stewart - Kato F unit’s finished Athearn off with engine’s that would start without a jerk and crawl to a stop. Easy to get spoiled. They also ran on 1/2 the power for you ABBA fans.
I have 16 Stewart-Kato’s, 7 Atlas-Kato’s, and 10 Kato-Kato’s = 33
compared to (now) 3 Athearn BB, 3 A Line - frrom what used to be an all Athearn ‘stable’.
I don’t regret my Athearn purchases. Tthey were the best available at the time.
They no longer are.
I’ve got several Athearns, and only two Kato/Stewart F7s. I’d love to replace the rest of my Blue Box Athearn F7s with Katos and Athearn Genesis locos, but I’ve got some other projects to put my money into first.
In general I like Katos better, but they don’t offer many locomotives that fit my layout. If I had unlimited money I’d replace my Walthers F40s with Katos but the Walthers run just fine. I’d really love for Kato to come out with a BL2 or a PA1 those I could really use. This summer I’ll probably pick up a few RS-3s and I’m torn between the Atlas and Athearn models.
~METRO
No Katos or Atlas loco’s here
Mainly Athearn & Proto with a mix of AHM, Rivarossi & IHC steam.
Gordon
ATLAS locos are superior to both Athearn and Kato, IMHO.
I’ve got 13 Atheran (BB and Genesis), 2 Katos, and 14 Atlas.
For the record, I also have 13 LL (P2K, P1K), 5 Stewarts, 2 Bachmann, and 1 Walthers.
I have a newer Atlas unit coming. I’ll see if its as good as Kato…
Athearn Blue Box is nowhere near Kato, Atlas, or P2K. And, unless it is repowered, sucks in the quality department.
Hi BNSF Railfan.
I Have:
3 Athearn Gen, SD 75’s
1 Athearn (New Box) GP 38-2
1 Athearn (Blue Box) SD 40-2 But this will be used to repower an Australian Loco
1 Proto 2000 SD 60M
1 Proto 2000 GP 18
1 Proto 2000 GP 9 II
2 Proto 2000 E 8/9’s
I Don’t Have any Kato’s of my own, but I am looking to pick up:
2 SD 90’s
2 AC 4000W’s
2 AC 6000W’s
But i still say you can’t go past P2K for a High detail, High Powered & Top running loco.
Just as good as Kato.
Have fun … Matt
Two Kato, several Athearn. The Kato units are the nicest locomotives I’ve ever owned. They’re a little more work to detail and assemble, but everything fits well and they run beautifully. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Athearn (blue box). Yes, they’re better than they were 25 years ago, but they’re still crap as far as I’m concerned. I did my best Roger Clemens imitation with a particularly bad one against the wall, & it went out in a blaze of glory and I have no regrets. I will never buy another one. I have not tried a Genesis unit and probably won’t. I will get more Kato units as I can afford them!
You don’ have a spot for athearn genesis. Personally I love Atlas but then again I love Diesels. Kato is probably my secod favorite with regular athearn falling into the tollerable category. On my limited budget one cannot be picky.
Jesse
More Athearns and Katos because Athearns are better looking and painted 100% better.
BNSFRailfan, Good poll, but please consider altering it to be more specific.
Guys, this is an unfair comparison. Let’s keep apples to apples.
Comparing Athearn Blue Box with Kato units is like comparing a Chevy Cavalier with a Lexus LS400! Realistically, a cheap, tough, simplified “grocery mobile” vs. a quiet, heavier luxury car with advanced technology. The Lexus is nicer but more expensive to repair and maintain. That Chevy will run until the last bolt falls off!
A more realistic comparison would be Kato and Athearn Genesis. I can say, as a witness, that while I’m impressed with the Genesis units detailing I’m not very fond of the drive as I heard the old familiar “growl” from an SD60 and SD75M not long ago!
The Kato drives are “stealthily” quiet. Yet, when it comes to detailing I’ve read on some threads that Kato falls short on some locomotives.
For me, I’m more interested in “What’s under the hood” as detailing for me is much easier (and cheaper) than having to tinker with the drive train or even replace it as I’m currently doing with my Athearn BB FP45s and U-Boats.
A friend of mine does an interesting combo.
He repowers his favorite Athearns with Kato motors.
Smoooooooth running!
Kato head and shoulders over Athearn. However I voted other as I like Atlas the best.
I own three N scale Kato USRA heavy mikes, four Athearn HO scale USRA light mikes, one Athrean USRA light Pacific, and one Athearn F7A. For my time period (1945-1952) I prefer Atlas (Alco diesels), BLI (steam), P2K (steam), and Bachmann Spectrum (steam).
I do not have a Kato locomotive yet ,have a few Athearns mostly I have are P2K’s.Kato 's are out of my budget Athern are good to work on and detail and they are not that expensive.
have had athearn sold them . have kato 40 locos proto 2000 50 units kato and proto out pull 2 to 0ne one test i did was two sd 70 athearns to one sd 60 proto and the proto pull the athearn like they owned them.
I have no Kato or BB all Atlas and P2k and P1k. Detailinf and painting is much superior from Proto and Atlas Rob
the only Kato I have is a very old NYC RS-11. Bought it for $20 at a swap meet. It runs so smooth it’s scary. The old Atlas locos with the Kato drives were excellent, far superior to their Athearn contemporaries. The new Katos are just too expensive, and they don’t have any locos I want. I have a couple of the new Athearn GP-35s in NYC. The detail is pretty good and they run fine by me.
As for present-day products, the best runners are Atlas and Proto2000, a tie as far as I’m concerned. The detail is a shred better on the Protos. But, the 4-axle units have a problem with gear teeth breaking on the wheelsets, and some are weak pullers. The Atlas products are workhorses.
Alas, I won’t be buying too much more. I have a lot of locos (approx. 35), and corporate greed is pushing prices out of the range of reason. Thanks to Horizon buying Athearn and, not to be outdone, Walthers buying Lifelike, I see no sign of price stability, and I’ll be ***ed if I spend >$100 for any diesel that will later show up at a swap meet for $30-40
I prefer the athearns, I know you are saying why??? But I just enjoy detailing them and the Kato’s are already ready to go.
I also voted other.I own more Atlas than anything else.Atlas is the best.I also like the newer Athearn drive and the paint and printing are top notch.The Kato has the best drive but falls short on details.Dont think I get the same for my dollars as I do with an Atlas.Those gold line units amaze me with the smooth motor control.The sound is ok but doesnt sound like a GE to me.Dan