I’m new to model railroading and i’m sure like everything else there is quality, average, and junk. looking for advice on a good manufacture. i have a couple new bachmann spectrum which seems good and like the looks and detail of kato. thank you in advance for your help.
Bachman has it’s good quality stuff in their Spectrum line - stay away from anything else. And the Spectrum line is generally at the low end of what’s worth buying.
Can’t-miss brands are Atlas, Kato, Athearn, Stewart
Most Walthers brand stuff (and all of the Proto 2000 stuff they sell) is very good quality
Some of Walthers’ offerings are a little low on the detail side, but it all runs well
Some of the older Proto 2000 equipment was known for having gear problems
fng,
First off: [#welcome] to the forum. Good to have you aboard! [:)]
A few questions for you for some clarification:
- What scale?
- Are you looking for good manufactures for just locomotives? Or, does this include items such as rolling stock and structures?
- If locomotives: Steam, diesel, or both?
- Is there any particular RR or era you are interested in?
As far as locomotives:
Steam (HO)
-
Bachmann Spectrum
-
Broadway Limited (BLI)/Precision Craft Models (PCM)
-
Proto 2000
-
Trix
Diesel (HO)
-
Atlas
-
Athearn “Genesis”
-
Broadway Limited (BLI)/Precision Craft Models (PCM)
-
Intermountain
-
Kato
-
Proto 2000
-
Stewart
Tom
I have all diesel. My small fleet consists of Athearn (both RTR and Genesis). I am going to get two Intermountains and maybe a couple Atlas units.
Some people don’t like Athearns, but I have had no real problems with them. Yes they are a little noisy, but after some run time, they will become a little quiter.
Oops, I forgot to mention rolling stock. I have Walthers, Athean, ExactRail, and Accurail. All of these have performed well and look good in detail.
thanks for the quick responses. i’m using ho scale. i’m new so i like everything steam and diesel. at this time i’m not ready for to pick a particular rr. i’m about to embark on a simple(to others) 4x8 oval with a small yard to get my feet wet. Gin thanks for your help
mike
Here’s my opinion on what I have experience with:
Steam:
Bachmann Spectrum - excellent.
Standard Bachmann - OK to very good.
Old Rivarossi - good to very good with some simple fine tuning.
New Rivarossi - excellent.
Old Athearn Genesis (2-8-2 and 4-6-2) - very good, but many have bad gears.
Standard Life-Like - OK to very bad.
Mantua - good to very good. Usually came as kits.
Bowser - very good to excellent. Almost always kits.
MDC/Roundhouse - good to very good. Usually came as kits, and have poor screws.
IHC - very good.
Tyco - very bad to very good. Very good ones are former Mantuas.
Samhongsa brass - excellent. Excellent drive and detail, but motors are a little weak.
Diesel:
Bachmann Spectrum - good to excellent. Newer ones are much better than older ones.
Standard Bachmann - bad to very good. Many have poor drives, and many now are former Spectrums.
Athearn - good to very good. Always came as partial kits, and often needed adjustment.
Athearn RTR - good to excellent. First ones were assembled standard Athearns, and latest ones are amazing.
Athearn Genesis - very good to excellent. First runs had OK drives with issues. Latest ones are fantastic.
Kato - excellent. Just about the best runners all around, but often only pretty good detail.
Rivarossi - good+. Often need fine tuning, but nice detail and smooth running for their age.
New Atlas - excellent. Kato smoothness, and incredible detail.
Old Atlas (Roco) - good+. Very smooth running (a little noisy) and good detail.
Stewart - excellent.
Walthers Trainline - very good. Excellent running.
Standard Life-Like - bad. Can run fine with tuning, but mostly poor detail.
Walthers/Life-Like Proto - excellent. Proto 2000s had cracked gears for a long time, but easy to replace.
Tyco - OK to very bad. Most use a very cheap drive, but some have a decent Mantua power truck.
Mantua - OK. Decent det
A good tip is to find your local trains shop. usually the guys behind the counter are more than willing to help (cause they want to make a sale!). But i do agree with what most of what there saying.
In my view, Athearn kicks some serious can. My personal favorite.
The newer Bachmann steamers in the blue box that come with DCC on board are excellent runners, not the best pullers as they lack traction tires, which is a good thing as models run smoother without them The ATSF 4-8-4 and the NKP/C&O/PM Berkshires are excellent running engines. They run as good as my Spectrum engines and according to the Bachmann Rep, they have the same basic drive system, but the blue box ones lack more of the superdetailing the Spectrum models have. But put my NKP 759 Berkshire next to a Spectrum PRR K4 and they look to have the same detail level. They are a fresh departure from the high doller steam models with every bell and whistle on the market. Cheers Mike
Though I run straight DC and most of my steamers are brass imports, I have enough current plastic to give a kinda/sorta opinion.
Bachmann Spectrum: Nice detail, smooth runners. Decent pullers. I’ve heard of occasional quality control issues, but the four Spectrums I’ve got have had no problems at all.
Proto2000: Beautiful details, very smooth runners–especially in the slow speed ranges. Fair to poor pullers, though my latest Proto2000 2-8-8-2 isn’t bad in the hauling department at all.
IHC: Fair detailing, smooth, quiet runners. Not bad pullers. They’re rather generic in appearance, but lend themselves very well to ‘kit-bashing’.
BLI: Good detailing, relatively smooth runners, decent pullers. However, if you’re running straight DC, they take a great deal of power to get everything working because of their built-in sound. They’re really meant for DCC control.
Tom
[quote user=“Darth Santa Fe”]
Here’s my opinion on what I have experience with:
Steam:
Bachmann Spectrum - excellent. DISAGREE
Standard Bachmann - OK to very good. DISAGREE
Old Rivarossi - good to very good with some simple fine tuning.
New Rivarossi - excellent.
Old Athearn Genesis (2-8-2 and 4-6-2) - very good, but many have bad gears.
Standard Life-Like - OK to very bad.DISAGREE
Mantua - good to very good. Usually came as kits.
Bowser - very good to excellent. Almost always kits.
MDC/Roundhouse - good to very good. Usually came as kits, and have poor screws.
IHC - very good. DISAGREE
Tyco - very bad to very good. Very good ones are former Mantuas.
Samhongsa brass - excellent. Excellent drive and detail, but motors are a little weak.
Diesel:
Bachmann Spectrum - good to excellent. Newer ones are much better than older ones.DISAGREE
Standard Bachmann - bad to very good. Many have poor drives, and many now are former Spectrums.DISAGREE
Athearn - good to very good. Always came as partial kits, and often needed adjustment.
Athearn RTR - good to excellent. First ones were assembled standard Athearns, and latest ones are amazing.
Athearn Genesis - very good to excellent. First runs had OK drives with issues. Latest ones are fantastic.
Kato - excellent. Just about the best runners all around, but often only pretty good detail.
Rivarossi - good+. Often need fine tuning, but nice detail and smooth running for their age.
New Atlas - excellent. Kato smoothness, and incredible detail.
Old Atlas (Roco) - good+. Very smooth running (a little noisy) and good detail.
Stewart - excellent.
Walthers Trainline - ve
I would add the Bachmann blue boxed diesels and steam engines in what was the Plus line up that now is the DCC Onboard series. Seen and have run the Baldwin Sharks, smooth and quiet running, excellent pullers, I own the NKP Berkshire and it compares well with my Spectrum K4, the lines between the Spectrum and DCC Onboard line are getting pretty blurry. Quality problems can plague any lineup made overseas these days. Even high doller PCM, BLI and MTH have had issues. Best bet is to buy it at a hobby shop were you can see your model run before the cash leaves your wallet. The first Berkshire I took out to test run would die in the curves, looked to be a power pickup issue on the locomotive drives, second one out of the box ran like a watch and is the one I took home. The other engine the shop owner sent back to Bachmann. Granted I could have fixed the issue, but why should I on a model I havent even paid for yet. Bachmann has really come a long ways in recent years. Thier UK line up in OO scale is one of the best on the market over there, and long before we got the higher quality stuff. Older Athearn diesels are about bullet proof, along with the yellow box Atlas diesels with the Kato drive in them. Less detailed but excellent runners. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
When it comes to passenger equipment, don’t forget Rapido Trains. Their selection is more limited (best of course if you’re modelling interest is Canadian). Their stuff is a bit more expensive, but worth every penny when it comes to quality. Just check out their website to see for yourself. They are always expanding their product line, so check up on them.
True Line Trains, also up here in Canada, is also well worth checking out if you want quality stuff.
And welcome to the forum! Cheers, and happy modelling!
[quote user=“Driline”]
[quote user=“Darth Santa Fe”]
Here’s my opinion on what I have experience with:
Steam:
Bachmann Spectrum - excellent. DISAGREE
Standard Bachmann - OK to very good. DISAGREE
Old Rivarossi - good to very good with some simple fine tuning.
New Rivarossi - excellent.
Old Athearn Genesis (2-8-2 and 4-6-2) - very good, but many have bad gears.
Standard Life-Like - OK to very bad.DISAGREE
Mantua - good to very good. Usually came as kits.
Bowser - very good to excellent. Almost always kits.
MDC/Roundhouse - good to very good. Usually came as kits, and have poor screws.
IHC - very good. DISAGREE
Tyco - very bad to very good. Very good ones are former Mantuas.
Samhongsa brass - excellent. Excellent drive and detail, but motors are a little weak.
Diesel:
Bachmann Spectrum - good to excellent. Newer ones are much better than older ones.DISAGREE
Standard Bachmann - bad to very good. Many have poor drives, and many now are former Spectrums.DISAGREE
Athearn - good to very good. Always came as partial kits, and often needed adjustment.
Athearn RTR - good to excellent. First ones were assembled standard Athearns, and latest ones are amazing.
Athearn Genesis - very good to excellent. First runs had OK drives with issues. Latest ones are fantastic.
Kato - excellent. Just about the best runners all around, but often only pretty good detail.
Rivarossi - good+. Often need fine tuning, but nice detail and smooth running for their age.
New Atlas - excellent. Kato smoothness, and incredible detail.
Old Atlas (Roco) - good+. Very smooth running (a little noisy) and good detail.
Stewart - excellent.
W
DISAGREE
First off fng…
[#welcome]!
As for terms of locomotive brands (all I know is diesel HO)
Athearn - Stay away from the RTR geeps (GP38-2,40-2, etc) and if you really want a good deal, go with the Genesis, although i think Athearn could be better
Atlas - I have to GPs made by them and I havent had a single complaint! Excelent detail, running qualities, and overall a good bang for your buck
Kato - Top of the line models. Kato did make drives for Atlas so expect roughly the same running qualities: smooth, whisper quiet, and low maintenece.
Walthers’ P1K/P2K (Proto 1000/2000) - While I dont have any Protos currently, I do love them. Great detail, good running qualities (I believe - cant be worse than Atlas’) and a fairly medium price
STAY AWAY FROM: Bachmann, (unless its spectrum), Life-Like (NOT the Proto 1000/2000 series they make), and manly all the other manufactures.
I dont know ALOT, but I know Steward, BLI (Broadway Limited Imports), and OMI (Overland Models Inc., high quality brass) are decent.
Hope that helps!
Yes, actually. Everything I mentioned is based off something that I have (except for a couple old Bachmann steam engines, which I fixed for my uncle, and the Genesis 4-6-2, which I’m assuming is very similar to the 2-8-2)), so I have quite a bit of experience with the different brands.[:D] What is it you disagree on, exactly?
I’ll give a little more detail on the ones you disagreed on, so you can see my side of things a little better.
Bachmann Spectrum steam: I have the 2-8-0, 0-6-0T, 2-10-0, and Shay. All of them have very good to fantastic detail, with lots of separate parts (many of which are metal), and have excellent paint jobs. The Shay took some work to get it running w
When I was in law school many years ago, we had a professor who taught a class on Evidence.
His opening words which stay with me all of these years later were, “He knew that he did not know whether or not he knew”.
This may be the case here. The point that our professor was making what that an assertion alone unsupported by evidence cannot refute the original contention.
The initial post made clear that the poster was new to model railroading. Darth Santa Fe, in responding to the question, made it clear that it was his opinion on what he had experience with. So, to simply disagree with his assessment would be fine, but I see no reason to challenge him by suggesting that he had no basis for offering his opinions.
As I read Darth Santa Fe’s list of manufacturers and his assessment of their quality based on his experience, he has provided valuable subjective advice. If someone DISAGREES with this advice, why so? That would be more helpful to the forumite who started the thread.
Rich
Okay, why? Does your disagreement mean better or worse? A lot better or a lot worse. “Disagree” is not a help to the OP.