I want to buy a diesel equipped with DCC, sound, ditch lights…the whole shooting match. I am willing to pay for quality. There are so many brands out there to choose from. What brands are considered “best” for top of the line all around quality, looks and performance? Thanks!
Broadway Limited Paragon2
Atlas Master Gold Series
But what do you mean by “best” – that’s too subjective and open to personal opinions. What I consider best others may turn their noses up at.
There are others, but I don’t own any of them to know about their quality or lack thereof.
Personal opinions are good, if you get enough of them. At least it will help me know where to start shopping. Forgot to mention…it’s HO scale. Thanks!!
If you provide a little more info like what scale, what decade and which road you will get a much better answer. For starters, enter “best” in the search community search box on the right for plenty of subjective opinions.
Atlas Master Gold Series, for sure.
OK, DCC, Sound and HO. Is there a era you wanting to model?
Best? Best sound, best pulling best quality or best prices?
Of my sound engines only 4 are diesels, rest are steam.
Best as far as quality would be my Proto E-7 with QSI decoder. I have only had one Proto engine go bad and I run them hard.
Best sound, well I like my BLI Blue Line GE AC 6000’s and RSD 15 better than the Proto 2000. But I think it more of I like the sounds of the engines than better than the sound quality.
Pulling power, the Blue Line GE AC 6000’s hand down. They have pulled 40 cars here at the house and on a better track could pull 60. RSD 15 will pull 25 cars, but is a liter engine.
Best prices, Blue Line again.
Here are a few on sale at Ulrich Models (great store to buy from!) Now, they come DC with sound and are DCC ready. In other words they need a DCC motor decoder installed. Decoder is around $25.00 and Ulrich will install for free (they are easy if you want to do your self) and with them selling at $90.00 you would have $115.00 in a pretty good engine!
Cuda Ken[2c] worth again.
70s to now, Canadian National, best mix of pulling power, sound and appearance, HO scale. Wondering about “Intermountain” for one.
Bought a Bachmann Spectrum Diesel and 2-10-2. Both look nice (especially the steam) but not much pulling power. I was used to the old Athearn Blue Box for pulling power.
What about the SD70M-2 Diesel Engine w/Proto-Sound 3.0. (Walthers 507-8020281)Description says it has DCC remote coupler operation. Anyone tried that yet? Thanks!
My diesel are older generation. Broadway EMD F3 A/B with LokSound, both powered. Those beast will pull anything I put behind them. Excellent running locos. Each loco weighs about 1.2 lbs each. The layout limits what I can pull with those. I picked those up at my LHS for $250. Someone ordered them and could not pay for them when they came in. They did not sell for some months. The price came down and I grabbed them.
I just picked up a Broadway EMD F7, A/B both DC powered, refurbished from Broadway for $100. I will put the Tsunami in each. My way.
Right now Broadway has the Blueline and Paragon series. They have a nice variety of diesels.
Gotta go with the upcoming InterMountain SD40-2Ws. Great sound, accurate details…they scream CN70’s
Also consider the new Stewart Hobbies C630Ms in CN. Again, great sound, accurate details…they scream CV70’s.
Atlas GP40-2Ws are also comming out.
Atlas CN C420s have been out for a while and with a professional install, you can enjoy the ditchlights, sounds and everything else you are looking for (PM me).
As you can see, you have some great choices.
David B
I am a fan of BLI, but I only own their steamers. I have read that their AC6000 is a very good model. I know that several people have reported good results with the MTH SD70, but be aware that you will need the MTH DCS system to get everything out of that engine. There are some limitations to operating those MTH DCS engines on DC current or with a DCC system…just be advised.
I have one Atlas engine, their Master Gold H24-66 Trainmaster equipped with a QSI decoder. It is a superior model as far as I am concerned.
I have two entirely different Proto 2000 engines, one an F2 A/B set prior to the purchase of Life Like by Walthers, and a P2K SW8 switcher with QSI from after the merge. Both are nice engines and smooth runners.
I also have two Athearn Genesis SD75M, one with a Tsunami and one with a QSI Revolution, both added to DC engines. They are lovely, and are strong pullers, but those darned three-axle trucks are very particular about my trackwork. I have had to fix some too-low outer rails on superelevated curves where I had not shaped the roadbed carefully, allowing the outer tie ends to dip a bit.
Kato HO diesels enjoy a strong, and deserved reputation, although they don’t quite meet the standard of Athearn Genesis, mostly in the detailing of the trucks…or so I have read here and there in threads where the two competitors are mentioned.
Intermountain…can’t help you there, but I haven’t read of any overtly hostile or disappointed reviews. I understand they are really good on the rails and with trailing tonnages.
-Crandell
Hey…thanks to everyone. I’m seeing some patterns developing. I have to find out more about the limitations of using MTH equiped Locos with my Zephyr DCC.
The number one issue with MTH DCC-Compatability is the lack of speed tables…unless you have DSC, you cannot actually speed-match these locos with non-MTH as there are no CVs to adjust speeds.
David B
If I’m only interested in the “bells and whistles” (hey, is that were that comes from?) and not speed matching…wonder if MTH would be okay? All I’ve ever done with my other DCC units is play with address and ramps CVs. Other than that, it’s just “press the F buttons and make the cool things happen”. All this was so much easier when my mother bought my first set in 1968 (Triang). That one is still going strong.