Looking to add to my fleet, Know of Bachmann 44, 45, and 70 ton and Model Pawers DTT but what else is out there.
VERY small:
Walthers Plymouth ML-8
BLI Plymouth W-series 35 ton
Athearn EMD Model 40
Grandt Line GE 25 ton
Tyco Plymouth CR-4
Athearn Hustler
Penn Line Whitcomb D-2
Lindsay Vulcan Iron Works switcher
And for some real fun, consider that someone somewhere converted a Climax to diesel. Why not you?
Ed
Recently, Linsay and Penn line have been gone for 50 years
said: “…recently available…”
All of mine are available. Some are more available than others.
A Penn Line is on Ebay right now. The Lindsay will require patience.
Note that the Piko is not available at all. And the Bachmann 45 ton hasn’t been available from Bachmann in years.
Ed
Presumably something smaller than an Alco HH600/660 or EMD SW1?
The SW1 is about a 100 ton switcher. So it’s a significant jump up.
Cute though it is.
And those Alcos are about the same. Except not as cute.
When I read the topic title, some of the locos I cited popped into my head. The OP mentions somewhat bigger ones.
Ed
Got two of the HH660 by Atlas, run nice but rather large.
Bachmann also made a Plymouth at some point. Mine runs quite well.
Simon
There’s also the BLI Trackmobile and the Grandt Line boxcab
Remarkably similar to this old one:
Ed
I remember those, not great running quality. Hear the Walthers Plymouth is great if you can find one.
The walthers units are great. I’d check spring creek model trains and Hiawatha hobbies. They lost them on their site.
Of all the critters I listed, that’s my off-the-shelf fave. I do have one.
I am sure Walthers will do it again. IF they put sound in also, I’ll buy one of those, too. And they HAVE to keep the keep alive. Or no sale.
Ed
If nothing else this shows how defining a word like “recently” becomes a matter of opinion! And nobody mentioned Lionel’s circa 1960 version of the Athearn “Hustler” which came with a rather nice small motor and gearing rather than rubber band drive. And that Gordon Odegard showed in MR how to make the AHM HOn2 1/2 Plymouth switcher (2 axle) a standard gauge locomotive.
Don’t forget the neat little Mack BR switcher that SS Ltd offered unpowered as an all metal kit and which if memory serves NWSL offered a power chassis for. It is even “truly” recent because it has been reissued by Wiseman!
HO SCALE MACK BR SPECIAL SWITCHER KIT (wisemanmodelservices.com)
https://wisemanmodelservices.com/HO-SCALE-MACK-BR-SPECIAL-SWITCHER-KIT
Jordan had a plastic Mack 15 tonner and there was also a brass import of a Mack switcher.
Dave Nelson
I still have my Athearn Hustler from the early sixties. At some point I picked up a re-gearing kit. But, I never got to put it together, so it sits in a some-day box. Has anybody done one of those? It probably needs a motor as well.
Or, it might be a static model on a factory siding somewhere.
My Lionel Hustler was the first sound loco. It sounded like a coffee grinder.
Lima and Mehano made similar switchers. I believe the Bachmann is a better runner, although the (crude) level of detail is similar.
Simon
I just bought a re-geared Hustler with a Cary boxcab body and Kadee couplers that somebody did a nice job on. Runs nicely and that cast body sure helps tractive effort. Trying to figure if I can stuff DCC and a stay alive into it.
carycatalog1983page07.jpg (740×1020) (hoseeker.net)
s-l300.jpg (300×225) (ebayimg.com)
Gonna be the plant switcher at my railroad tie manufacturing and creosoting plant (which was originally going to be narrow gauge until this beauty came into my life)
File:Photograph of Ties Awaiting Creosote Treatment - NARA - 2129633.tif - Wikimedia Commons
Also used to make bridge timbers (as in trestles, culverts, etc)
ALCO HH660 was about 206,000 lbs and the SW1 was about 198,000 lbs