If you were going to pick a train that had the lowest/easiest maintenence, and rock stable dependibility, long term realiability, what would you chose?
I’m looking at HO specifically
Mehano?
Athearn? (RTR)
Atlas Trainman?
Walthers Trainline?
Bachmann?
Bowser?
Any specific models?
I am not looking for most features, most detailed, or most accurate. I just want reliable.
This train will run non attended for about 8 hours a week for a non-profit. The layout is already there and built. It just needs a little TLC as no one is taking care of it.
I do realize there is track cleaning and lubing every 24 hours of run time.
I’m hesitant on Bachmann. My steam driveline gears always wore out. Bachmann is a great value, but they have maintenance issues in the long term.)
For reliable and smooth running, Atlas, Kato, Athearn Genesis, and Bowser are very good for diesels. My only experience with post-Walthers Proto engines is one of their E-7 passenger diesels, and it’s great!
I’ve had good luck with BLI steam engines, but I also have several Bachmann Spectrum engines that have served reliably for years.
Is Meneho steam? Thats a name even after 40 years in the hobby I’m not very familiar with. It’s a fringe brand?
Agree, Athearn Genesis, RTR and yes bullet proof blue box locos, Atlas, Bowser, and KATO. I’ve heard LL Proto 2000 are not so bullet proof - Joe Fuegate has mentioned lots of maintenence issues over time with them. Not sure about post Walthers P2K - although they seem to be better quality and twice the price.
Steam or diesel? For steam, our local hobby shop owner has been using Mehano (IHC) engines for his display. He says they last for about 3 years of everyday use, without any maintenance. When they fail, he just buys another one. You can still find them at reasonable prices. If you want to purchase new, Bachmann and Mantua are pretty robust for steam. And I recommend locos with 3 drivers (e.g., 0-6-0 or 2-6-0) and a tender for reliable operation. For diesel, Bachmanns (new ones) are pretty solid for the price.
I would avoid locos above 100$, they are not really more reliable than the ones in the 70$-100$ range. They also tend to be fragile.
One thing to consider is theft: don’t go for an expensive engine (Kato, for example…) if no one is keeping an eye on it. And go for DC of course.
I have a fleet of Athearn BB SD40-2 frames with heavy Cary bodies that rarely need lubing and never any maintenance. The Athearn shells are easily removed if need be. I run them in pairs on DC for hours at a time. The pair I run the most must have hundreds of hours of run time without a single problem.
My LHS had a large loop layout for display (about 40’ of track) with a Athearn BB switcher towing a half dozen freight cars that ran 8 hours every day (six day week) for over twenty years with only occasional lubing. It was still in operation when he closed his store.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I have a couple of Kato HO NW2 switchers I’ve converted to HOn3. They ae solid, reliable, and smooth runners, even after I’ve hacked them.
With Walthers/P2K, looks for the newer runs over the last few years that replaced the troublesome P2K Athearn-clone trucks with new trucks that have very nice and robust helical gear drives. I have some F7s that are great running locos and haven’t given me any trouble in 5 years and lots of miles.
One more note about Bachmann. I have 3 generations of GP30 and F unit in my posession. The original ones were pretty bad with pancake drives and clip-on shells. The 90s Plus/Spectrum were a whole lot better - the F units had 2 screws securing the chassis and a dual-flywheel drive that’s pretty quiet, while the GP30 still had a clip on shell, but improved a lot with a dual flywheel drive. The modern F and GP have 4 screw chassis and better paint and graphic details and improved plastics used on the detail parts. The F units no longer have one singular numberboard and light assembly. The most recent ones I have bought are DC converted to DCC, but they come from the factory with isolated motors and separate wires going to the trucks.
I compare this to my Athearn RTR F7 of the same price, and I have to say I’m not impressed. The brand new athearn looks really dated, and I still have to isolate the motor from the frame. If I had to do it again, I’d buy another Bachmann in its place.
At this point in time, I’d put Bachmann above Athearn RTR at that price level. They have really improved as a brand.
For just plain reliability and maintainability you can’t beat late model (plastic side frames, gold motor) Athearn Blue Box, followed by Athearn RTR. The only thing with the Blue Boxes is to replace the contact wipers with thin stranded wire.
They are well designed, the parts are readiy available, common between many models, and easy to take apart and replace. With a few drops of oil they run forever. We have some on the museum layout that are 30+ years old.
Blue Box and RTR also share many parts.
The one weak spot on the Blue Boxes is the sintered wheels that collect dirt. They can be cleaned once in a while or replaced with RTR wheels.
I don’t know of any steam that is as durable or reliable as Athearn diesels. Mehano and older Mantua come close.
Unfortunately very few models available. Have two Mikados (NYC, PRR), one GG1 and one Big Boy. All bought on Ebay.
Easy to open, all die-cast design, brass gears, high quality either coreless or brush motors…and above all, they run perfectly. You can grab them in your hand, will not loose detail parts - they are not highly detailed like e.g. Intermountain Cab Forward, but good enough.
I am no expert here but I do know about trains that I have bought and run for long perios of time without issues.
Bachmann have some really good locos - if you want to buy a low cost but relaible loco.
I bought really expensive trains from Broadway Imports and Intermountain that failed on the reliabilty front. I am not saying these locos are not good - just saying that in my opinion they didn’t last the distance. Mostly, they are very attactive on the cosmetic front but I want a loco that will run and run.
This is just my opinion. I have only been doing model railroading for 3+ years so other opinions may have more weight. However, I do not have a favorite manufacturer so I might be seen as more imapartial as a newbie.
I love the cheapo Bachmann trains I bought as they just keep going - clean track or not.
The Athearn RTR F7 is a bad example to put forward because it is probably Athearns oldest diesel, tooled in the 1950’s IIRC and a poor representative of the Athearn RTR line. Thats the thing about Athearn RTR is it includes a broad range from the old crude F7 at one end of the spectrum to the relatively recently tooled and highly detailed SD45T-2 and even more recently tooled SD40 - just this year Athearn began selling some of it’s older, more toy-like models under the Round House name which helps to set them into a different category.
It’ not hard for Bachmann to beat the venerable (Globe) Athearn RTR F7, and that isn’t saying much because the Bachmann F7, while more crisply molded, is pretty far down the ladder interms of F shell fidelity to the prototype. For F units, most brands are more toy-like in appearance and I personally feel the only F’s worth buying based appearance are (in order of worst to best): Stewart/Bowser, Walthers P2K, Intermountain, and tops are Athearn Genesis. I can’t comment on BLI but they haven’t made very many of them.
Yes, the drives have improved significantly by all reports but again, the broad comparison to brands simply can’t be made by comparing only one model. Athearn RTR shells, as a rule (barring the Globe F7) have a greader fidelity to the prototype vs. Bachmann. I doubt I will ever buy a Bachmann because the outward appearance of the models have too many flaws or are too crude in some areas.
I would go for mantua and mehano. Mantua just can’t be killed, and are very easy to maintain. I’ve gotten ones that have been in storage for over 30 years, and a little cleaning was all they needed. Although I don’t have any personal experience with mehano, I have heard good things about them, and they are relatively low cost.