Hi everybody. Are best engines GE or are there other kinds of locomotives better for model railroading.
Sincerely
Ryan LaPlaca
I’m not really sure what you are asking, but it really doesn’t matter what brand of locomotive you use…they are just models. Yes in the real world both GE and EMD are the biggest locomotive manufacturers.
If you are asking who makes the best HO scale locomotive, I would go with KATO, Atlas, Athearn RTR(some) and Athearn Genesis.
Sean
In n scale there aren’t too many GE choices currently, though the Atlas -840b is a good model. As for what you want to model it’s your preference. Unless you model NS, then stock up on those GEs.
Hello Ryan.
Please, give us just a little more detail so that we may be better help you…
Are you modeling the present time or the past? Are there specific railroads that you like.
For example if you’re modeling the 1950s, then the primary North American diesel locomotive manufacturers around back then were GM-EMD, ALCO, Baldwin, Fairbanks Morse, and of course GE. Most of the major railroads then had locomotives from each of these manufacturers; especially Pennsylvania.
Jump forward into the 1990s and you have EMD and GE and MLW, as well as a couple of smaller manufacturers like Bombardier.
Today, GE has become the dominant manufacturer, but EMD is still hanging in there as well.
As for models, KATO, Atlas have excellent reputations. I like P2K locomotives myself as IMHO, they’re the best bang for the buck.
The backbone of my line are Athearns and P2Ks, probably the same with most people who model in the diesel age.
Athearn Blue Box/RTR are good values, but lately I’ve been seeing some threads on this forum about quality control issues regarding this line, but in my experience they’ve been pretty solid, I really like their GE Dash-9s and EMD GP38-2s.
Athearn Genesis are great in my book, I’ve got a pair of their EMD F7s and they are some of my best locomotives. I’ve heard their SD70Ms are quite nice too.
Atlas is all good for the money, their line fits in somewhere between the two Athearn lines in terms of detail and mechanical quality. Especially if you model the transition era, you can get a great engine from them for about a hundred bucks.
Proto 2000/1000 are probably the best deal in model railroading and there’s a huge selection offered. They’ve reciently been bought by Walthers but that’s probably a good thing so the product shouldn’t suffer, in fact it may get better.
Bachman Spectrum is hit or miss on diesels, their small switchers are decient, if overpriced, but their bigger diesels have had some rather serious quality control issues. However, they’re known for making models of prototypes nobody else is, like the Amtrak Acelas.
Sewart Hobbies is very good, but their line is rather limited, they’re known for producing every variation commercially viable for a given diesel locomotive. If you ever need Baldwins or big Alcos, they got your back, and probably in the paint you need too.
Walthers Trainline has had some real worthwile models, too bad they don’t make those anymore. Their GE Dash-8 was great as was their EMD GP15T. They also make a good EMD F40PH, but Kato’s is better.
Speaking Of Kato, they are golden, period. Seriously, this is a company that I truly think can do no wrong when it makes a model. I’m sure somebody on here has a horror story about Kato engines, but I’ve not yet come across it
What are you asking? In the real world, there’s a difference between GE and EMD. But in the model world, it makes no difference.
In N scale, the Atlas U25B is awesome. I bought mine last year, and haven’t had any problems with it. Another plus, is that since it was flood-salvaged, it came already weathered for PC 