I AM PLANNING ON MAKING A PURCHASE FOR A NEW AC4400, the first thing I would think is choose Kato but what about the new Athearn models or Atlas. What do you think is the best for the money? Thank you. Joey
I would go with the Kato. A little bit more expensive, but a lot smoother and more quiet runners. Like most everything in life - You get what you pay for!!
i myself would go with Kato or ATLAS! i have several Atlas engines, and EVERY one of them are JUST as good as my Kato’s[;)]. just my two cents. [:D]
Thanks “Iginc” I hadn’t considerd Atlas. Any others ?
Kato is very much a leader, but for the money and excellent quality, I would lean toward Atlas.
REX
Atlas has higher quality detail then Athearn,but Athearn is still good. I don’t have any Kato units,so cannot comment on them.Atlas engines are gennerally quieter than Athearn.
Proto 2000’s look REALLY nice [:p], but honestly, i dont own any[:-^]. perhaps someone can give some feedback on them, i would also like to know if they run as good as they look. [:D]
protos run great. Almost on the kato level. My p2k SD60 will pull almost 100 cars on level track all by itself!
I would choose Atlas hands down. I own one Athearn, Nice, but not as smooth as Atlas or Kato. My Proto 2K has a glowing nose (plastic around the headlight lights up). Kato and Atlas both beautiful detail and great, smooth runners – even at a crawl. For me, though, applying all those tiny grab rails on the Kato is not fun. My one “DCC ready” Kato required me to grind down the weights to make the decoder fit “DCC not-quite-ready?”. Atlas comes with or without DCC and sound installed, fully detailed – and I like that. I own several Atlas engines, and every one is perfect.
Kato has turned in one heck of an operating performance over at the Chgo Museum of Science & Industry.
You don’t mention scale, but I’ll assume HO.
In my opinion, Kato makes the best HO scale diesel mechanism available - period. Atlas perform nearly as well, but their shells are generally more accurate and have better detail. The Athearn standard line (the “Blue Box” and “Ready-To-Roll” models) are solid performers at a reasonable price, although not as smooth as Atlas and Kato, especially at low speed. Their performance can be improved drastically with a little tweaking, and the shells are a great starting point for a detailing project. Athearn “Genesis” models are great runners with top-drawer detail.
Which one? I have or have had all of them in my fleet, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any of them. You said you were looking for an AC4400, however: that limits your choices to Athearn and Kato, since Atlas does not have an AC4400. All other things being equal, I’d say go with the Kato if you can swing the additional cost, but the Athearn will also serve you well. It just won’t look quite as good or run quite as well out of the box.
I do not have any of the Katos, so I cannot comment on them. I have to agree with others observations here The Atlas locos that I have are exqusite out of the box in terms of performance, well engineered and assembled. I would like a broader selection of models however.
The Athearns are a work in progress, from shimming the motors to cut down on the end to end play, lubrication and gauging of the wheel sets to create a good reliable runner.
[2c]
Will
I’m a Kato fan, but Atlas and P2K are also good - you can’t really go wrong with any of them. I’m in N scale now, so my fleet will pretty much be Kato and Atlas and I’ll be quite pleased with that.
Almost went with Atlas but picked Kato instead. Still the absolute best running engines ever made. Athearn or anybody else is not even in the game.
Athearns that I own are not impressive, especially the AC4400. It derails so much!(Did, before I junked it) For your AC4400, choose Kato hands down. For other purchases, a healthy mix of Kato, Atlas, and Proto 2000.
The P2K engines are great, and mine don’t have glowing noses. Which one are you referring to?
Trainboy
I had a P2K GP9 that exhibited a “glowing nose”, but that was remedied when I replaced the headlight with fiber optics and LEDs.
Of course, many of the older Atlas yellow-box models (as well as the Stewarts, and maybe some recent Atlas locos) actually have Kato drives in them. I have a couple of Atlas GP7s and Stewart F-units that are all Katos. You can easily tell by just flipping the loco over and looking at the stamp on the bottom – it’ll say Kato or Made in Japan. If it says Made in Austria, it’s a Rocco drive (just about all if not all the older S-x series are Rocco). Good, but not as strong and silent as the Kato drives.
I’m a big Kato fan myself, but I like Atlas too. I also own a couple of Bachmann and Life Like’s that haven’t ever given me any problem.
Tracklayer
First Atlas does not make a AC4400 so you can put that myth to rest …The only AC4400s is made my Athearn or Kato…If you want a Kato it might be to your advantage to buy it now if they are still available.However,my dollars goes to Athearn and Atlas since Kato doesn’t seem to care enough to answer their e mails or the HO market…[:(]
I have nearly 60 some locomotives, a mix of Kato, Atlas, Lifelike, and Athearn. I’ve been operating the layout since the mid 90s, so we’re talking 10 years of regular operations, giving the locos a workout. I’ve seen how the locos age, what locos develop maintenance problems, which ones keep on running, etc.
Kato and Atlas are the leaders, with Kato being just a very slight bit better than the Atlas locos, but they are so close I’m happy with either.
Athearn come next, they are real workhorse locos and although they don’t run as nicely with as little maintenance as the Katos and Atlas’s take, they run pretty well and are easy to maintain. Their most annoying characteristic is gear noise.
The Lifelikes look great and run pretty good at first, but they do not age well. Once in a while even a brand new LL has an issue. I’ve had the greatest success with just ditching the LL mechanism in favor of an A1-Protopower-Stewart mechanism. Power pickup issues really plague the LL’s.
This is from 10 years of intensive, regular operation and maintenance across a loco roster of about 60 locos.