Well ok not choo-choo but diesel locomotives. My future layout will be a freelanced railroad, based in 2005, and following closely the look and feel of NJ where I live.
So I know I want CSX, NS, and Conrail locomotives, but not sure what model locomotives to go for. They all must perform well at low speeds, and I think I would like to stick to just Atlas and Kato.
Any recomendations?
bcauldwell,
For modern diesels, Atlas and Kato are the way to go. An SD70 or GP38-2(?) should be applicable. Even though you will be modeling 2005, be sure to keep a few “older” diesels around for yard and industrial switching.
Tom
Check out the reviews on this Website for other brands of locomotives.
If you want to get the flavor of NJ, try parking a MOW train on a siding that includes a gondola and caboose. Plase a clump of weeds in the middle of the gondola that grow to the height of caboose’s capola. I spotted just such a train along the NEC between the Newark stations when I rode a NJTransit train into Manhatten this last Sunday. It apparently has been a bit of a while since anyone approached that train.
What scale are you thinking of doing? N? HO? 1:1?[:)]
Preferably I would like to do 1:1, but I don’t have room for a 1:1 or an HO layout, so I’m going with N-Scale…
OK. Than the best choice for you would be Kato, Atlas or Bachmann. (I have two Bachmann Standard N diesels and they are very smooth runners)
I bought my first loco last month at a train show, it was a Bachman for $20 and runs horribly. I’m turned off of Bachman because of that, should I give them another chance?
Ouch? You were had…or just got a bad one. Can you return it? Did you keep the seller’s card and the receipt?
I know next to zilch about N-scale, but I have noticed that there is a strong reliance on Kato locos in this realm of the hobby.
The Bachmann diesels aren’t the best choice. Atlas and Kato would be much better. If you ever do get Bachmann, make sure it’s their “Spectrum” line, and not the “Standard” line. Big difference! The “Standard” line is their cheapy stuff - mostly junk. (Probably what you bought from the train show.)
Tom
Kato AC4400W, SD70M, SD70MACs are appropriate for your era. The Kato NS SD70Ms are quite nice. They would be the best place to start, if you’re going to go DCC.
If you aren’t going DCC, then you’ll have to reach back into time a little and run older (prototype) equipment, using models made by Atlas. They have slow speed motors with excellent low speed characteristics out of the box. The speed on the Katos is too quick w/o DCC.
Atlas also makes very good locos.