this is a place where people can post reviews on ho scale locomotives they have – as time permits i will post my own loco reviews.
I just bought a Proto 2000 SD60 and it is great. I had it pulling 40 cars around 26" curves with no wheel slip. It also has good slow speed trackage. I recommend this engine to everyone.
ICMR
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
Kato AC4400CW, These things are just brutes. One locomotive will pull a 50 car train with very slight wheel slippage up a 5% incline. The paint on mine, two Canadian Pacific Beaver scheme and one twin flags scheme are very nicely done. Decoder installation is a breeze, all you do is just plug it in. The lights are nice and bright with working ditch lights. These loco’s will also crawl at a very low speed, you can hardly tell they are moving thats how slow it will crawl. They are also set up for sound if you choose to go that route, they have the fuel tank area set up so a speaker can be installed in it. The only bad thing I can really say about the locomotive is the detail parts that need to be installed. I found it took a long time to add the parts and was very frustrating at times. I would give these loco’s a solid 9 out of 10 only because of the tiny detail parts.
atlas u33c-it is probably 15yrs old(i didn’t buy it new) makes very slight rumbling at higher speeds goes very slow even when pulling a load it pulls 20 cars with little or no wheel slip. just a great loco if you can find one buy it .it seems like 99% of people think atlas is the best and i agree.but quality comes at a price.
the good old athearn b-b kit gp38-2 i have 2 they are great but the u-joints on the driveshafts make some noise but these things PULL conidering they are only 4-axle one of them is heavier than the other and the heavier one will walk away with 18 cars slipping slightly. i really like the large motor with the 2 big flywheels ,another great thing is they have all wheel drive and all wheel elec. pickup -it runs smoothly will go fairly slow and it’s highest speed is very quick.i’m sure i’ll end up with a few more (they can be had for cheap)and they last forever you’ll definitly get your money’s worth out of it they also appear to be easy to work on.
Kato NS SD80MAC,pulls like a champ,64 cars,no slip. I recommend this locomotive into the HO scale hall of fame.
Patrick
Bachman 58743 Thomas The tank engine, pulls 9 cars with ease, no slip
My roster breaks down as follows:
Proto 2000: 16 units
Athearn Blue Box: 13
Bachmann Spectrum: 9
Stewart Hobbies: 8
Athearn Genesis: 4
IHC (Steam):3
Atlas: 2
Kato: 2
Total Roster: 57 units
Atlas dash 8.Simply the best HO scale model.At least of the recent diesels,Dan
life-like (NOT proto1/2000) gp38-2 won’t pull much(10 cars max) one truck drive, noisy gears ,leaks out any amount of lube applied to the gears now it’s leaking oil and i cleaned out the gears several times, the rubber traction wheels are now somewhat oil soaked , i may have to use this as a switcher however it was my first loco so i’ll always keep it
Hi,
I bought the HO Atlas GE dash-8 40 Bw in the gold series with sound,
Excellent details and ready detailed ,I love this loco ,as Im a n scaler in reality and have 7 of them in n scale both atlas ++++ and halmark ----- 
.
I also bought a Kato GP35 and took the motor to use it as a dummy together with the sound loco .
now I have to buy two more Santafe locos to use in a consist of four,one dummy and one with sound
I dont have any HO layout myself .only a small Blritish OO 4 mm station layout in construction . with a scratchbuilt loco underway ,L&Y 0-6-0 aspinall goods engine.
Is there someone who has seen any one from tower 55 yet , BNSF ?
Please rewiev if so
Santa Fe NM and AZ ,
N scale
Here is a review of some of my HO locos. I measured the drawbar pull with a carefully
calibrated spring gauge and the track is level Peco code 75. These measurements seem
somewhat lower than MR reports give. However, MR seems to me to be way off base when
they say that the average free-rolling freight car requires 0.2 ounces to pull. I put
together a 14-car train, almost all fully weighted, and different length cars, and only
1.1 ounces draw was required. So I figure .08 ounces/car is closer to correct. For
this reason, I give my own calculated cars/engine.
The order is name; appearance grade; low-speed smoothness grade; drawbar pull oz.;
of cars
Steam:
BLI NYC Niagara…A-…C…3.8… 47@
BLI N&W A…A-…B…4.4…55
BLI NYC Hudson…A-…B…3.6…45
BLI PRR J1…A-…B+…3.3…41
BLI 2-8-2 light…B+…B…3.9…49
BLI PRR T1…A-…B+…4.0…50
BLI PRR M1a…A-…B…3.3…41
BLI ATSF 3751…A-…B…2.8…35
BLI 2-8-2 heavy…B…B-…2.4…30
BLI UP MT-73…A-…C…@
Bachman PRR K4…A*…B+…1.7…21
Bachman Decapod…A*…B…1.4…17
Bachman Lt. Mtn…A-*…B…1.9…24
LLike Clinchfield…A…A…2.5…31
LLike Erie 0-8-0…A…A…2.5…31
LLike Berkshire…A…B+…3.5…44
Rivar. Allegheny…A…A…5.0…62
Rivar. FEF-3…A-…B+…2.7.(no tire) 33
Athearn 2-8-2…B+…A-…2.3…29
Lionel Challenger…A-…B…2.4…30
Diesels:
LLike E8/9…A-…A-…4.3…54
LLike SW9/1200…A-…A-…1.5…19
BLI E7…A-…A-…3.2…40
BLI SD40-2…B+…B+…3.3…41
Atlas GP40-2…A…A-…2.5…31
Lionel Veranda…B-…A-…4.1.