I love my P2K SW8. It is a fantastic runner. I have an Athearn GP9 from the 70’s – still runs great – I run it all the time. Very smooth but a bit noisy (built in sound-decoder!) Avoid the Bachman diesels – every one I have has needed drive train work, esp. the gears. Once they are worked on and tweaked they are good, but it will take some work. I have a 44 tonner and a baby trainmaster that run great now.
Chuck
My Life-Like GM switchers run the best. Second to them would be the Atlas Alco RS-3s and RSD-4s.
To the original poster,
I would agree with don7’s list (I have never ran an Intermountain howver):
As for the comments on Athearn being good runners. Athearn can be good runners but it’s a bit of a crap shoot. Just as many have complained about noise etc. Athearns QAQC isn’t solid so people get engines that need some help to be better. That said, if you need a tunnel motor, it has to be Athearn! I have lots of them but if you want a 99% chance of a smooth engine, stick to Stewart, KATO and Atlas. Genesis can be very smooth but occasionally Athearns ugly QAQC problem shows up in Genesis but to a lessor degree.
Proto 2000 can be smooth, but experienced modelers know that they don’t hold up under heavy use (mainly the 1990’s models) like Joe Fugate. The newest P2K F7’s are suppose to be much better than the old issue P2K, which often had cracked gears.
Rio said:but if you want a 99% chance of a smooth engine, stick to Stewart, KATO and Atlas.
Just don’t bet the farm…I have had minor problems with 14 of my 37 Atlas locos to include having 4 out of 8 GP38 current boards to fail…The funniest was a "thumping noise…This turn out to be a small piece of Chinese noodle or rice.
I suspect that’s what happens when these locomotives see extensive run time.
Of my 23 RTR Athearns I am yet to have any of the reported issues…I think a lot of Athearns QC problems is modelers believing they should run as smooth as a Atlas or Kato at half the cost…
Brakie - you hit that one on the head!! The older BB Athearns were never known for “silent running”!! In the '60’s, if you wanted a good quality engine and didn’t have the budget for brass, the only other choice was Athearn. Yea, the old bodies were a few scale inches too wide to get a motor inside, but I doubt that anyone would really notice that while it was running around the layout!! Not to change the subject, but I remember a review of a Walthers truck trailer that one of the now defunct mags gave a two page review on!! This was a 5 minute model if you took your time but didn’t weather!! The kicker was that a verticle row of rivits was 114 when it should have been 116!!! Now if you’re a real rivit counting nit picker, stay away from Athearn BB or be ready to spend weeks modifying it!! For most of us, a few inches, a rivit or two, and a little noise, you can live with - for the price!! BTW, I always like to imagine the noise was the diesel engine running!![swg]
Brakie, talking about Atlas locos the only problems i have is with two models the 8-40C and 8-40CW some of them have a humning noise but any other Atlas they run ok.Now the Athearn i think they are the most rugged trains out their.
I agrea, my athearn RTR c44-9w derailed and fell about 2 1/2 to 3 ft and it still works fine. (I was scaerd it was busted up bad, but it still lives on.)
Literal answer is easy - Stewart F7 with Kato drive. I have other Stewart models that also run excellently but somehow the silence and smoothness of their F7 is simply unmatched.
Having said that, as others have noted there are many diesel models today that run EXTREMELY well. My Atlas/Kato, Athearn/Genesis F7, and later-production Proto 2000s, as well as my other Stewarts and the Intermountains, all run very well, on a scale of 100 if I put the Stewart F7 at 98 (well I can still hear something) these would be a 95 - 96.
BEST? Best at what?
PRICE: (cheapest) Bachmann & all Toy ‘starter’ sets.
RUNNING: (consistant) Kato
PULLING: InterMountain
DETAIL: Proto 2000 & Newer releases (Varies)
Above differences are minor - mostly on emphasis.
QVERALL: (personal preference - individual models). InterMountain, Proto 2000, current Athearn (Genesis/RTR/B.B.kits.)
EVERYONE HAS FAVORITES: depend on individals drawing different lines in the sand between acceptable vs. unacceptable. I like Engines that ‘crawl’ and cars that roll’.
SOME have 1-2 engines, SOME 52, and compare. Some products are Generic while others try to be prototypical. Does that matter? Do you model a Prototype?
Lotsa good and varied input here. My favorite, best runners, are still my Athearns. I say this 'cause of their simple, durable mechanisms that run very nicely when broken in such as my SW1500 here with over 50 hours of running time on her. She starts moving at around 1.5 volts and is very smooth throughout the speed range.[C):-)]
The problems I had was the Micky Mouse type that can happen after months of excessive running.Still not sure what cause the DCC/ lightboard failure but,suspect it was a short since these engines had made dozens of trips across the layout over 2 year period without incident and according to the guy that was running them he was leaving the Millbrooke passing siding when the headlight brighten,dim brighten dim and then the engines stop…These are the dual mode GP38s.I finally decided to replace the DCC/Lightboards since I couldn’t find any other cause.
At the Bucyrus club I use Athearn for the week of the county fair due to the hours I operate-averge 56 hours for the 8 days-and will rotate between Atlas and Athearn during our 1 or 2 day open houses.
No mention on your list for the Stewart engines? I assume that is because you have none.
I’ve run mostly protos, but I have ran an Atlas/Kato RS1, a BB SD40-2, and some of the newer bachmann FT units.
Out of what I ran:
Protos, usually (I have an SD9 that makes some grinding noise at higher speeds, might just need some lube)
Atlas/Kato RS-1, it’s second best but considering it’s age, it’s exremly good.
Bachmann FTs, Actually is fairly quiet after being broken in. Makes a little grinding noise, but it’s going away after every run. (makes less noise than the P2K SD9 I have)
BB SD40-2, made a lot of grinding noise
Hmmmmm… deseasels (as a steam lovin’ friend of mine is fond of saying) only, huh.
I have a couple of Atlas non sound dcc units, ones a Fairbanks Morse model and a GP 7 and they’re extremely smooth, quiet runners with only a very quiet motor noise. I’ve got a Kato SD40-2 thats smooth and silent also. A couple of P2Ks that are good and maybe one BLI unit could be put in there. Overall though the Atlas and the Kato are the smoothest and quietest.
Jarrell