I’m modeling a relatively small area of CSX railroad. I’ve seen several different locomotives in use on the prototype: GE ES44DC, GE C40-8, GE C40-8W, GE AC4400CW, GE C44-9W & EMD SD40-2 all CSX locos.
My issue is finding these in HO and the right color schemes. I’ve found most of them, but not all from the same manufacturer. So far, I’ve found them from InterMountain, Atlas, Athearn & Bachmann. I assume that different manufacturers have different levels of detail.
I have two specific questions: first, given the manufacturers above, how noticeable will differences in detail be?
Second, undecorated locos expand my options, but I don’t have the skill to decorate them, are there people or services that will do that for you?
The ones that are available DCC and sound equipped are Intermountain (Tsunami sound), Atlas Master (QSI sound), and Athearn Genesis (Tsunami sound). The others can usually have it added but it’s best to get them factory equipped.
Some Bachmann models come as “DCC On-Board” using a watered-down Lenz motor and light control decoder that most people replace with something better.
Broadway Limited has some CSX trains as well. I dont have one as of yet but it seems people are happy with them. I have two Atlas CSX Gp-38 and an Athearn dash 9 and I am fairly happy with them. More so give the price I paid at Modeltrainsuff.com
Don’t forget Kato! I’ve seen the Kato GE Dash 9 / AC4400 units and they look better than the Athearn locos. I think Kato made SD80s and SD90s as well. I’ve seen a Kato CSX SD in N scale, but I don’t know if they made one in HO.
Many manufacturers have a great amount of detail, but it may not be prototype specific to CSX. So one manufacturer may have it correct while another is more generic. The differences aren’t as noticeable these days as most manufacturers have separately applied details like grab irons and such. However, some have even more and it can be noticeable, it really depends on what you want. Remember with more detail, fragility (fragelness?) increases.
On your second question, yes there are custom painters but they aren’t usually cheap. Getting the skill is not that difficult, practice on junk shells or cars. However, unless you absolutely need your entire roster complete in the next two weeks, I’d recommend getting the models that are available and waiting a bit to see if the manufacturers release anything in the scheme you want.
Most of us have acquired our “fleets” over a significant period of time and have been fortunate that stuff we want has been made (when we were able to acquire it!)
Last thing, you may want to check and see if there are any CSX forums or historical society as they may be able to point you to folks that can assist too.
Another manufacturer left out is MTH. The DCS is an issue that they are addressing but otherwise the quality and detail is right up there with the rest. I have Atlas Gold, Paragon 2, Blueline, MTH, Athearn Genesis, and Bachmann Loco’s. That list is in the order in quality as I see it.
Thanks for all the helpful info. The only reason I left manufacturers out was because I couldn’t find the specific locos in current CSX colors from those manufacturers. I’m still in the pretty early planning stages, and once I get started I will be building my stock over time so waiting and seeing what comes out is an option for me.
Kato engines are excellent; I have a pair of N-scale CSX SD-40s. Kato can be somewhat frustrating, however, at least in N-scale. When they market a new item they seem to do it only in a few road names, instead of the variety of road names most manufacturers go with. While I agree that a model should be offered only in the road names that actually owned that model, I would like to see Kato offer a wider variety.