I see that MRC is closing out their locos. (didn’t know they sold locos.) Price reduced from $80 down to $20. They look great in the photos. 8 wheel drive and pick up. Metal grab irons, fine see through fans and grills. Heck, the shells alone look like their worth $20. Anybody run these or know who accually made them? Wouldn’t mind a couple to pull some passenger service.
As much as I like MRC for quality power packs and even the DCC unit they supplied with the Athearn Genesis F units, I’d pass on MRC F units.
I can’t remember what MR said about the motors on these but the appearance is not even close to the quality we’ve come to expect in recent years. The most obvious flaw is the units sit way too high. I would be weary of a potentially top heavy unit leading to derailments. When compared side by side an Athearn Genesis F unit the MRC F units are unfortunately laughable.
$20 is a great deal, but you will most likely be looking for something better in the future.
I consider the Athearn Genesis series to be the best detailed HO F units in plastic. Intermountains are probably the next best. Life-Like P2k are a close third. Stewart/Bowser are likely fourth. BLI is fifth mainly due to painting/printing errors. And then you have Bachmann and some others that have made F units in the past. But MRC is way down the line…perhaps even below Athearn Blue Box.
I bought a few and wished I didn’t. They look good. I wouldn’t be surprised if they use the same shells as Athearn because from what I see on the Horizon website, I can’t tell the difference. They run just so-so. Not real smooth especially at low speed. To me, that is the mark of a quality loco. If it can creep along at walking speed without hesitation, you’ve got a winner. These are definitely not in that category. At that price, you are probably getting what you are paying for but they aren’t worth much more than that.
These ALCO shells with a top motor replcement such as A-Line will run with the beat of them. I’d go for it. Do the A with a dummy B, and if you lke it, remotor the B.
Most of us assume you are referring to these:
http://www.modelrectifier.com/search/product-view.asp?ID=752
Which are EMD units, not ALCo.
The MR review of these was the most negative that I have ever seen, very poor detailing, dimensions off, running characteristics awful.
You would be much happier with a new Bachmann FT, P1K F3 or even Athearn Blue Box F7. Any of these three, you should be able to find for only a few dollars more at Trainworld.
Far superior are the Bowser/Stewart, Intermountain, Athearn Genesis, BLI and PCM models - at significantly higher prices. BLI is taking care of the painting issues, even replacing shells for people who bought them earlier.
I’m not sure if this is the same dog I had, but MRC locomotives were Walthers Trainline products with MRC decoders added, so if you have ever examined a Trainline product you know what you’re getting. They were released when MRC first attempted to produce a DCC decoder some time around 1999-2000, so they have been sitting on a shelf since then.
The decoder in mine was defective and had to be replaced in order to get the engine to run. Three out of 4 other MRC decoders were also dead on arrival. Those were the first, last, and only MRC DCC products I ever bought.
I eventually took the decoder out and gave the locomotive to a person who didn’t have DCC.
The mechanism runs fairly well, but the shells are very plain-Jane with little detail. The detail that does exist is cast on.
If you purchase one and it doesn’t run, the first thing to do is change the decoder.
In addition to reading the MR review, I have examined a couple in person. They do look terrible. The website states all (8)-wheel pickup, it does not say 8-wheel drive. It also mentions some type of “Power drive Transmission”, whatever that is. The lack of pictures for most of the road names is also a concern.
MRC is selling these at $20 for a reason and it certainly is not a community service.
Jim
I have seen these MRC units and I fully agree they look terrible!
My suggestion is to pass them by and buy a better quality F unit.