Hey y’all, got another question. What do you think about MRC locomotives? Are they as smoothe as Atlas or Kato? I found a GP9m they made a few years ago in the 2000 Walther’s. I was just wonderin if it would be worth buying two or three of them to paint up.
Thanks for any input
Greg
No, the’re not even close to being the same quality as Kato or Atlas. I think most of them are Walthers Trainline models with MRC decoders installed. The one I have seen runs okay, but lacks detail. Most items are cast on instead of being separately added.
I owened one MRC it was a f7 it was a problem from the vey first time i took it out of the box.It went back to the lhs,i watched him put it with about 5 others that had been returned
First you have to know exactly which MRC loco you are talking about as there have been several different ones over the years. Currently they sell an F-7 which is their own (made overseas somewhere) and they run very well, are heavy enough to be great pullers. Not quite up to Stewart but cost a little less also. Very few road names however. Couple years ago they sold a C44 (I think) anniversary special which was a custom run Athearn. Over the years they have sold Walthers trainline engines decoder equipt. Use your own judgement there. Previously they sold several different editions of an Alco C-420 which ranged from trainset quality up to a quite well done version with a decent drive, body mounted couplers etc. Evidently these are not common as many people claim all 420s are junk. Not true.
Awww, now what am I gonna do? I was planning on getting a couple of those GP9m’s, guess I’ll have to get the Trainline’s and upgrade them. Oh well, I need some detailing experience anyway [:)].
Greg
I think these units do pop up on ebay from time to time. Be careful how much you’re willing to pay for them though. Pricewise, you can sometimes get P1K and P2K units that offer a bit more detailwise.
One thing I will say is that for DC operation it’s hard to beat an MRC power pack. I have a Tech II 2500 that I bought new back in the early 90s and it’s still a sweet performer. [:D]
MRC needs to stick to making power packs and leave the locomotives to the other guys…it’s worth the money when you get a diesel from a company that does good detailing on their units…chuck
Actually , I still use the AMPAK (MRC) from my first train set, circa 1959. Mostly for aux power now such as switches, but occasionally to run-in a loco on a seperate track.
I have 3 sets of A/B F7s. I bought them dirt cheap from Trainworld. The A units came with decoders, the B units without so I am going to add decoders to the Bs. They run OK. Not great. Hard to make smooth starts and stops. The headlights sometimes blink while running which is annoying.
I am trying to build up my loco fleet quickly and I figured at the $40 for a decoder equiped loco would be as cheap as it gets. At some point, I will probably replace them with BLIs or some other top of the line maker, but they will do for now.
(PS. one of the A units came with the red and black track power wires reversed so it runs backward. I was going to reverse it but figured it would be easier to justswap it with a B unit since they use the same frame).
I have 2 of the Trainline GP9’s that walthers produced in the IC road. They both run pretty good and are the old Cox company made chassis, with updated drive motors. I know when the first Walthers GP9m’s came out, they were not very good. I paid $20 each for the 2 I have, details are week, but they run pretty good, and have good low speed response.