I am considering a Stewart U25b with Stewart drive in rock Island colors. This is an online purchase. I have not owned a stewart before and would like any opinions anyone would wi***o share on their detailing, performance, ect. Our local hobby shop does not have one.
Gee, I just noticed nobody answered you. Weird. Anyway, yes Stewart is one of the better running locos up there with Kato, Proto, Atlas, etc. At least from my experience with a couple of their F-Units.
I would buy one sight unseen, at least as far as running quality. Hope this helps.
BTW, I have one the Burlington Stewart U-25’s and it ran great right out of the box when I tested it on a friend’s layout. I also have one in Pennsy but haven’t run it yet.
Have to tell you that I purchased a NYC Stewart F7 from Happy Hobo Trains about 3 years ago. From right out of the box I made it crawl at about 2 scale miles per hour with an MRC 2400 powerpack! Runs beautifully. What impressed me even more is how quiet it runs. Crisp paint job and nice detail. Am definetly going to put a Soundtraxx decoder in it. (I’m presently converting to DCC - It’s the way to go!) As a " budget concious" modeler, I can honestly say that with a Stewart unit, you’re getting a very nice model for the buck! MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE A GOOD QUALITY POWER PACK or you’ll be cheating yourself out of good, prototype style performance! Hope this helps!
I was at the Stewart Open House last month. The paint jobs on their locos are incredible. There is an emphasis on quality throughout the factory and they do only one thing - HO.
I think that you will be happy with a Stewart.
I’ve never had a problem with my Stewart engines. Very good quality.
Warren
The detail on these is excellent. They do have different drive mechanisms, however, with the kato-powered ones having very smooth performance. The early versions of these had the athearn drives, which are ok, but not as good performers.
Jim
I have 3 Stewart F7s and 2 Alco C630s and all are excellent locomotives. Stewart produces high quality products.