What locomotive brand do you like the best. As for HO scale I’ve owned Life Like, Bachmann, AHM, TYCO and Athearn. Athearn tops the list for me in HO. I know there are better locos out there but I’ve never tried on.
In N scale KATO is by far the best. I’ve had good running Atlas & ConCor, and some not so good running cheaper brands but I can honestly say that KATO is the smoothest I’ve ever used.
My experiance has always been with DC locomotives, so maybe some of the newer stuff is different.
Blackstone HOn3 for me. I know there’re tons of older narrow gauge brass locomotives out there, but I don’t want to mess with it. And what Blackstone’s doing is so far above the Tyco/LifeLike/Model Power I had in my youth 30 years ago that it seems like I’m in a different hobby.
I would say Athearn is my top choice. Granted the only other brand I have is Life-Like. One thing about Athearn is that they have the scale knuckle couplers, so if you do use different brands, you might want to change the couplers. The cool thing about the Athearn couplers is that they are a rust color, so they look weathered.
Kato and Atlas in HO scale.
Hi.
The following are my choices for HO DCC:
Walthers Proto 2000
BLI Paragon2
MTH Proto Sound 3
All the best.
Reinhard
Atlas,Life Like P2K and Athearn BB and RTR.
I like SHS. My American Models GG1 runs very well also.
Enjoy
Paul
I would actually vote on Atlas HO and Proto 2000. Atlas because of their smooth paint, great details, and good quality control. Proto 2000 because of their unique locomotives and GREAT details. 2nd would be Athearn Genesis but their paint isn’t as “smooth” and “flowing.” Also, their quality control isn’t as good.
Rapido FP9a. Turn off the sound and it runs so quiet you can’t even hear it. Very accureately detailed. My nicest engine.
From best to least (downward) DC only
Athearn BB
Bowser
Athearn RTR
Proto/Bachmann-tied
Atlas (Roco)
Kato
Mark H
Best is hard. Best what? Best detail, best pulling, best (low maintenance), best for the $, best paint, best slow speed, best high speed, … Each list is different.
In HO scale Atlas always seems to come out on top in several of those lists. In N-scale it seems to be Kato.
Best detail (excluding brass): Trix, Atlas Master, Genesis (F units), Proto-2000 (newer walthers ones), InterMontain, Kato, BLI, Genesis other units,…
Best value: Bachman Spectrum, Proto-1000, IHC/Mehano Steamers, old Athearn BB, …
Best pullers: Stewart/Kato, Stewart/Buehler, Bowser Steam, Hobby Town, …
Best switchers: Atlas Yellow box Kato drive, Atlas Classic china drive, Atlas Master,
Best imitation of a coffee grinder - Hobby Town,
Best candidate for the trash can - Life Like, Model Power, old AHM, regular brand Bachmann, …
Best sound - totally depends on the listener’s ears…
I guess I could’ve been a little more specific. I was thinking best running but you seem to have covered every aspect.
Ah! Actually not, Best SMOOOOTH runners -
Trix, Atlas/Kato, Kato, Stewart/Kato, Atlas Master, Genesis current run not the old ones, Intermountain, Proto-2000, …
Normally I’d say Kato but I now own two amazing none atlas or Kato made N scale models.
My favorite unit SP&S E7A #750 by Broadway limited for Lowell smith signature series models, and this new Intermountain F3A NP #5606 that I bought is killer detailed and smooth as silk when she runs, and quieter than a ninja.
If you’r going to be tossing any LL P2K let me know and I send you my address…
Walthers just jack the price on the older P2K DC models…
We should add Atlas Trainman to the list since they share the same drives as Atlas Master and Classic.
I can only vote for what I have bcause that is all that I know about.
First, steam engines.
BLI tops the list for detail and performance.
Proto Heritage is a close second.
Bachmann Spectrum, a very, very distant third - - - too many issues.
Now, for my diesels.
Atlas is my most reliable by far.
A close second is BLI Paragon, but I can only vouch for passenger E-units.
Intermountain would be third.
BLI Blueline is fourth, would be higher except for the dual decoders for motion and sound.
Proto 2000 is fifth, would be much higher except for that cracked axle gear problem.
Athearn Genesis is a beautifully detailed loco fraught with problems - - - too numerous to mention here.
Athearn RTR is at the bottom of my list.
Rich
Like several others here I can only speak for the locos I have & there are currently 8 in my fleet, all in HO.
My favorites by far are my two Atlas/Kato GP-7’s. Dependable, trouble free, smooth, quiet runners. Nice detail & I’ve yet to max them out on how big a consist they can pull.
Second would be my Proto 2000 Baldwin BL-2. Again, quiet, smooth & reliable.
My Bachmann Spectrum GE 44 Tonner would be a close third.
Carl
It depends what you define as “best”.
Best operating:
Best detailing:
Tom
It sounds like you have only tried the cheap, lower quality HO diesels, with Athearn being the best of the lot.
Best HO diesels of the past 10 - 15 years have always included Atlas and KATO mainly, and in the past 10 or so years Athearn Genesis has been added, and Athearn has added higher quality RTR diesels since then. There are also Proto 2000, which is Lifelikes premium line intoduced in the 90’s and taken over by Walthers in the last 10 years. There is Broaway Limited and MTH, but I can’t speak for them - don’t own any.
Be aware that Athearns RTR vary from basic but nice looking to quite detailed and good runners. I own a bunch of SD45’s which come with prototypical details and run smooth as KATO’s. The SD40T-2’s and SD45T-2’s are also very nice and lots of prototypical details.
cheers, Jim
When did you buy them? I know the early F7’s had issues with the trucks so they didn’t run well unless you removed the wheels and deepened the slots the axles are mounted in. I’ve heard of issues with some of the other earlier Genesis like the SD70 and SD45-2’s. Later runs of most of the Genesis models, especially after 2004/2005 are generally very good. I have tested my recent GP9’s and they run very smooth and are gorgeous.
So to the OP, don’t take one persons experiences as gospel. Like any product, some go through some growning pains but you can’t generalize that the whole line is "frau
BEST Locomotive? I have no clue. I have never owned one of those. LION tends to buy cheap and put up with what him has. Kato is good, the Atlas/Kato were great, but then I thought the Riverossi GG1s were great, and in their day, I suppos they were. Today they are part of a static display.
Walthers/Life-LLike Proto 1000 subway cars are not the worlds best performers, but they are all I can afford in the world of subway cars. They run well enough and that is good enough.
Perfect is more expensive than any LION I know can afford.
ROAR