Anyone ever seen an IHC loco review in Model Railroader? I’ve got years of the mag and can’t recall ever seeing one. I even wrote MR about it…nothing. IHC may not be the absolute paragon of model loco building but they do have a following. Just curious.
Jon
Some of IHC steamers are alright. But the Diesels are probably not worth metioning.
I got a IHC SD35- IHC’s Premier Series with New Haven badging, and it runs fine. It has electrical pickup wipers on eight of the wheels, can motor/w brass flywheels, and directional lighting. So, the mechanism is good, and the loco weighs more than a pound.
The problem is in the detailing. It looks too toyish, and one would have to go through great lengths in order to have half the detailing as what an Athearn BB, or RTR for that matter- to end up with the same results.
This is the main reason why I only bought one of them, and not a railyard full of them, like I am doing with the Athearns.
I’ve never seen a reveiw in the mag before. I got an SD-24 for a gift and it needed a lot of wheight and goes WAY too fast. I might consider their premeir line for a second purchase some time.
I have four of the Ihc engines, 2 Mikados, 1 Mountain and a Santa Fe Class 2-10-2. They pull well but do lack in detail. I also have four Broadway Limited steam engines that are much better in detail and design. The main problem I have had with IHC is their apparent lack of customer service. I have e-mailed and called for missing parts and they have been no help at all. They wanted me to purchase the parts even though the engine was brand new. Other than that they are decent engines but basically very generic.
According to the index, August 1997 has a review of the 4-4-0.
Enjoy
Paul
Model Railroader hasn’t done any reviews of IHC engines that I know of. They stopped reviewing the affordable when more higher quality products were being released by the boatloads, which was around the mid 90s.
I did a few of my own reviews on IHC steam and diesel a while ago. Here are some links to them:
C-628 http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/547402/ShowPost.aspx
2-6-0 http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/549465/ShowPost.aspx
2-8-2 http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/795003/ShowPost.aspx
(actual scale speeds are 137 for the C-628, and 73 for the 2-6-0. The 2-8-2 is correct)
SqueekyWheels, the reason IHC diesels look more toyish is because all of the shells were made in the 70s and 80s by lower quality manufacturers. The SD35 is actually one of their better ones, and is a copy of the Atlas/Roco SD35 from the 70s, which had good detail for its time, but has average-low detail by today’s standards.
I posted reviews of the 4-6-2 and 2-6-0. Do a search and you should find them.
Darth Santa Fe,
Model Railroader is behind the World’s Greatest Hobby campaign but they’ve stopped doing reviews of affordable locos? [B)] How do these two positions reconcile themselves? [?] Thought campaign was to bring new people into the hobby. The new hobbyists may not want to start with a commitment to top end products (cost and may be they won’t become as enthusiastic as the rest of us so why commit big bucks early on)
I’ve got a Mountain and two GG-1’s by IHC. The Mountain’s valve gear takes up so much space laterally that it won’t clear an Atlas truss bridge. The newest GG-1 is the model with twin motors and it runs quite well. [tup]
Thanks for review references I’ll check 'em out.
Reason I brought subject up is both IHC and Bachmann Spectrum came out with 2-10-2’s and it would be nice to have reviews of both.[:D]
Jon
I have several IHC steamers and two of the Mountains, I like them!
I also have 5 BLI steamers, 2 -T1 Duplex’s and 1 -M1a and 1- M1b, and a J1.
I’d like to see a review on the new IHC Santa Fe’s also.
The K4Kid
Working on the Pennsy
Maybe I’m wrong, but when was the last time anyone every read a bad review in Model Railroader? I don’t think the magazine goes to the LHS a purchases products to be reviewed. If I’m not mistaken, the products reviewed are sent to the magazine by the manufacturers and I’m certain the sample were chosen carefully. I’m not knocking that, I’d do the same. If IHC doesn’t send them a sample, it doesn’t get reviewed.
I think it’s also the case that in the last 20 years are so with the advent of higher end, well detailed and smooth running locomotives, some people have become experts at comparing apples to oranges. Hardly a week goes by without a question about IHC or Bachmann and the answers are always the same, “Don’t waste your money, they’re not on the level of a Proto2000 or a BLI.” Maybe we should judge a product on its on merits, for the price that’s being asked for it, the use that can be made of it by the potential purchaser, who may have different needs than the reviewer.
I’m editing my answer because I’ve just read the thread, “Walthers DCC 70 Tonner for $39.98.” I thought these were good reviews because the responders simply said this is what the locomotive is, this is what it can do and these are the problems I’ve had, if there are any. They didn’t try to compare this $40 locomotive to a $100 + model.
The steamers, often times they’re good, but not excellent. You don’t want to know what I think of their diesels![xx(][xx(]