Being gone from this hobby for awhile what are the best brands of Engines. I am just into modern type loco’ no steam. I have some Broadway Limited’s ’ Atlas gold’ and Athern. Been hit and miss with the BWL though. Have always had good running with the Atherns’ and Atlas. Just seeing if anything new is out. Thanks
I like Atlas, from the “yellow box” to the present offerings, Athearn, new and BB locos, Bachmann Spectrum, and Kato. I also have a few Walthers Trainline, but haven’t converted any to DCC yet.
I also have a few P2K’s, and they run fine.
Mike.
All new production is pretty good. Any maker who advertises in Model Railroader is offering good product. The more expensive models may offer more fine detail and a drive that runs a little quieter and is better at slow speed running. For myself, I buy on looks, if it looks good, it is good.
I guess it depends on what you consider “quality”: Detailing? Runnability? Accuracy to the prototype? Each manufacturer has their good and bad offerings.
Consistency-wise: Atlas, Bowser/Stewart, Intermountain, and Proto 2000. Except for a rare exception, they all run very well and look great.
I like BLI but I have had to send 2-3 locomotives to their backshop for repair because of problems right out of the box. The good news is that they fixed it the first tiem (no charge) and they work great.
I’m not a fan of Athearn. While the detailing of the mid-line shells was nice, the chassis ran poorly because of pick-up issues. That said, I was given a Genesis F3 A-B recently and they both run very well.
Tom
Of course if you want SD40T-2’s or SD45T-2’s, at present you have no other choice.
Which brings me to the original poster - your choices can be limited by what type of diesel you want to buy. In some cases you have choices, like with EMD F units, everyone under the sun has made them so you have a bazillion choices from Athearn, Athearn Genesis, Intermountain, Walthers Proto 2000, Bachmann, BLI, MRC, and some I’ve forgotten.
OP, if you want advise, help us by narrowing things down a bit because of the above, it depends on the model what choices you have.
I consider a good loco one that can run at very low speed and quiet and never sputters’ Look’s are great also. I don’t care if the Loco is perfectly accurate to the real thing’ since I do not study that part of the hobby. I mostly like the 4 axle type SD-40 ect. I do have some of the big Modern 6 axle units that have sound and look great and run well. I guess it still the same as about 7 years ago. Thanks
All SD40’s currently produced look great.
Kato is generally regarded as having the smoothest and quietest drive train and is usually the producer who has the least one-off lemons. Intermountain are also near kato in running quality.
Hello all,
I guess that depends on your budget.
Hope this helps.
In my time in the hobby, I have purchased locomotives from Rivarossi/Hornby, Trix, BLI, Atlas, Bachmann, and Athearn. Hands down, Trix carries the flag for me. My Rivarossi has never let me down, nor has my Atlas Train Master. I have had two Bachmann Spectrum steamers, one a plug (Class J 4-8-4) and the other a gem (a metal Heavy Mountain 4-8-2 on the recommendation of Sheldon). BLI has its problems now and then, but they always come good when asked to repair them, and I am fully satisfied with them. Their brass hybrid models are exceptionally good.
While Athearn Genesis engines are very nice to look at, they can be finnicky in terms of pickup and reliability.
Again, my experience only.
.
STEWART! I have 8 of the Stewart F units with Kato drives. 2 ABA sets and one AB for my streamlined passenger trains. Simply a fantastic locomotive. They run great, and the spartan body casting is pre-dimpled for the drill locations for the Walthers diesel dress up kit.
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There is no other F unit for me.
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-Kevin
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I also have had good luck with Atlas and some Athearn. I was recently surprised with Bachmann’s newer line of GP7, GP9 and RS-3s. They are smooth runners.
My test results show that Kato & Atlas china score highest overall and have the least variation model to model. Kato HO choices are limited.
I am a lucky guy, as I don´t have to ask that question for the prototype of my choice!
There are only two manufacturers catering for those intersted in HO scale Swiss NG trains - is either Bemo from Germany or Ferro Suisse from Switzerland. The latter one manufactures hand-crafted brass locos which are just overwhelming in terms of detail, but as pricey as a Patek Philippe watch.
That leaves with no other than Bemo, which are quite nicely detailed, but their perfomance quite often requires a lot of tinkering to educate them to run smoothly. Once that´s accomplished, they run like a charm and look good, too.
A minor correction…A SD40 is a six axle locomotive and there are several SD40/SD40-2 available… I would hold my mules on buying a SD40-2 until Scale Trains releases their SD40-2 and from the photo examples the operator and rivet counter model looks great.
I decided to stick with Atlas,the older Life Like P2K,Athearn RTR and Kato. I do have a ST SD40-2 on preorder. I have a Genesis GP9 and one Intermountain GP10 as well.
My Atlas collection is Atlas/Roco (the Alco S2 and S4),Atlas/Kato and Atlas Classic. IMHO you can go wrong buying Atlas locomotives.
That’s my opinion also. They both run magnificently and each loco is very consistent from model to model. You know what you’re going to get every time you open the box.
The other producers seem to have more inconsistency with their design of different models and how each individual loco within a particular model might run.
IMO, the Stewart/KATO F unit chassis is 2nd to none; they are the smoothest best chassis out there bar none. If you get the Kadee 450 close couple kit, they look even better at 3’ apart.
The Stewart F unit shell was the best F for years after it was introduced in the late 1980’s and still looks quite good even today, especially with a little judicial weathering and some added details.
Sorry your right Larry about SD-40 being 6 axle. I guess I meant my Atlas Athearn GP 35 38’ That is what I have most of and they run great. But all of my Broadway Limited 6 axles suck compared to my Atlas 'Athearn. I will never buy any BL again. Junk IMHO.
I will just make my age old comments for any new listeners…what difference does it make how good a specifc brand is if they do not make the model you want? Are you actually going to settle for something other than what you want?
EVERY company makes winners and loosers, better to judge by the model, than by the brand. I have had great experiances with nearly every brand, and bad or “so-so” experiances with nearly every brand.
I have locos from Bachmann (Spectrum and regular line), Athearn (blue box, RTR and Genesis), Intermountain, Mantua, Rivarossi, Proto, BLI, and IHC.
The nice people at Atlas and KATO, good as they are, simply don’t make very much I want, and what they have made that might want, was also made others, often by Proto, which I prefer for several reasons.
BUT, I have no issue with making small adjustments myself and “tweeking” locos to run their best…
Sheldon
I am the opposite of Sheldon:
I try not to have to adjust brand new locomotives, because in my past experience, I personally sometimes do more harm than good, even when starting with the best intentions. Of course I open gearboxes and check lubrication, but I don’t modify anything.
For that reason, I try to find what I believe to be the best engines available, regardless of price, that happen to be available and “correct” for a roadname I can live with (midwestern to southwestern). I run and enjoy them and am happy with them. Obviously, it has to be a model that I like–I don’t just buy anything because it’s available and lettered Santa Fe or Rio Grande–I’m actually pretty picky.
All that means I have rather few engines, or anything else, on my roster, but the ones I have are …well, much better than what I could build/kitbash myself.
John
Yes, this!!
It’s all about priorities. I like the detail on Proto locos and I’m a sucker for Athearn’s see-through fans, but I run on a club layout and those tiny plastic detail parts always worry me – they are so easy to break.
I’ve come to appreciate locos I never thought I would like. My Walthers Mainline F40PHs may not have the best detail, but the wire grabs/handrails look good and they pull like no one’s business. I used to worship Kato and recently bought a pair of GP35s, but truth be told they look a little plain, and on our massive club layout – where we usually run 3-4 unit consists – their fine running qualities are a little lost. I recently bought a cheap-o Bachmann GP40 with DCC on board. Detail is crap and it sounds like a garbage disposal, but mid-consist with a Genesis Geep and the Katos, it adds pulling power and you never notice the molded-on grabs. I can’t stand to look at it by itself, but in a consist it does a great job.
A club member has a BLI Hudson that I just love; it looks and sounds great. But it has traction tires and it wobbles. If but if I paid what he paid, I’d be peeved.
Aaron