Who makes a good n scale steam engine?
Kato makes the GS4. Walthers makes a big articulated Y3 maybe?
I don’t know much about Bachmann’s quality, but they make some nicely detailed smaller steam engines in a variety of road names.
What railroad are you modelling?
Burlington Northern but almost anything will work for me
The Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 is a great steamer.
Yea, figures. Most companies make a moddel in HO then n. Like Bachmann’s On30 2-8-0.
Yea.
Athearn 4-8-8-4 Big Boy and 4-6-6-4 Challenger…jewels in my mind but stay away from the MRC decoder equipped.Later deliveries are Tsunami equipped so should be MUCH better.
As already mentionned,Kato’s GS4 is excellent and easy to convert to silent DCC,sound is feasible though more work.
Spectrum offers a decent DCC equipped 4-8-2 HEAVY Mountain,I have one,not a great one by any standard but is a fair runner and reliable at a fair price.Caution,they also offer a LIGHT Mountain wich is a far cry from the other one.
Model Power offer a 2-8-2 Mikado and a 4-6-2 Pacific that are also easy to convert to silent DCC,not much room for a speaker though.I have the Mike and like it.
You might want to be a bit careful of Model Power products because, well, they are not the highest quality. I think some of thier loco’s have Rapido couplers.
The Bachmann N&W class J for N scale always caught my eye. You might want to try that loco too. Anyone know if its any good?
As a point of order, if you’re modeling the Burlington Northern, which was formed in 1970, you won’t need any steam!
But alas, I model the early seventies, but I too dabble in steam. Here’s a few to consider:
Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0.
I’ve run a bunch of these, and own two of my own. Of all of them, I’ve had one go a little wonky on me. Try before you buy. If DCC is your bag, conversion is relatively simple. Sound is a little trickier, but not impossible. Overall, a solid B+
Athearn Challenger. Nice smooth runner. Get the one with the factory installed sound and decoder. The design of the tender makes it not so easy to get into. I’d avoid running it on anything less than 18" r turns, though.
Model Power Pacific. Although the tender pick ups are a little primitive, this is a very smooth running, good pulling locomotive. The die cast metal boiler is a little lacking in the detail department when compared to the Bachmann Spectrum or Kato Mike, but it holds its own thanks to good paint and lettering from Model Power. Decoder conversion on this is a snap, too.
Life Like/Walthers 2-8-8-2. The early runs of this were anemic pullers, although they run nice a smooth. The newer Walthers releases are available with sound and DCC, and reports I’ve heard are that these produce better tractive effort than did the original runs.
I have to agree with Lee on the Kato’s. I have three 2-8-2’s and they are well worth the money. All three have decoders installed in the boiler and one has been upgraded to sound. Very nice. You still should be able to find them on the secondary markets. I also have two MP pacifics, and they’re okay, but I wish Kato would release some new steam.
PS Lee, congrats on the article in the N Scale magazine. Very nicely done.
Scott