The following three locos are currently listed on e-bay in the roadname I’ll be modeling, and, as I’ve not seen much discussion on other threads about them, thought I’d ask for a quick review:
Roundhouse RS-3
Stewart U25B
Intermountain FP7
The first two are going pretty cheap, the Intermountain’s aren’t, and I’ve already got some Athearn Genesis F3’s so not overly interested in them anyway. I have a Stewart D-S-4-4-1000 that I’ve been happy with. I’m interested in your experiences re: reliability, pulling power, detail, etc. And, for the Roundhouse and Stewart units, how easy a conversion to DCC?
As fate would have it, I was assigned one of these on a train at an operating session last night. I was surprised at the detail on the trucks. I ran fine. I obviously didn’t open it to see the insides but it looked similar to an Athearn frame so I presume one side of the motor would have to be isolated from the frame in order to add DCC.
I do not have this specific unit but all my other stewarts run very nice (probably my favorite drives) and have all been easy to convert to DCC. I like to use the decoders designed for Kato drives, which fit right on top of the motor and have power inputs on both ends.
The Stewart U25B is a nice locomotive. I have one, and I think they are good on detail and they pull quite a bit. I sometimes MU them to my other U-boats. So it does quite well. DCC for this locomotive is quite easy with the right chips. I recommend the NCE DA-SR chip. They slap right in and will work with every DCC system out there.
I have heard that intermountain is a pretty good line. They have some details that other models do not have. I have heard that these locomotives can also pull pretty good. I have a friend with who has a set of FTs and they run very well and can pull pretty good too. I don’t know how they are when adding DCC. I have never tried.
Jim,Let that MDC RS3 go because Athearn has upgraded that RS3…As far as the Stewart U25B some has the Athearn drive while others had a different drive(Kato?).
The best I can tell you is to contact the seller to see which drive the U25B has…
I have 2 Roundhouse RS3’s. The motor setup is identical to Athearn. It would have to be isolated the same way. Make sure that you have extra motor mount pads, as the ones Roundhouse used have a nasty habit of breaking or tearing.
The Roundhouse RS3 had two different variations of the drive. one was pure Athearn, and the other was ‘sorta’ Athean like. The new Athearn version is much better than either of the old Roundhouse drives.
The Stewart U25B also had at least 2 different drives. One has Athearn drive parts, and the other has a Kato drive - Quite nice. I am not sure what the current Bowser/Stewart offering has for a drive.
The Intermountain FP7 is quite good. The drive is very nice(same as the Regal drives in their F units).
I would check out what the seller of those first 2 engines has to say about what is in them. You can buy new Intermountain FP7’s for the following ‘street’ price:
The Roundhouse RS-3 could be one of the later ones with the P2K drive. A better motor, and maybe the best AAR trucks made. They have the proper 9’-4’ wheelbase. Athearn shortened the sideframes a touch to use the EMD 9’-0" wheelbase trucks for the AAR truck applications. Not sure which trucks the later Stewart U25Bs used. The early ones with the Athearn drives would have the short trucks.
Intermountain: I have 2 of the FP7’s with factory installed sound/DCC. They run like swiss watches, sound effects are pretty good. Pulling power is probably as much as I’ll ever need. I was impressed with the detailing.
Roundhouse RS3’s: If these are the OLD RS3’s, I’d keep shopping. I’d rank them close to the old Athearn Blue Box engines all around. I’d look for either the latest Atlas or Athearn (retooled Roundhouse) offerings. I have 2 of the latest Athearn RS3’s, and they are pretty sweet. I haven’t opened the shells yet, so not sure about DCC conversion, but I’m told they’re pretty straightforward. Detailing is pretty good. They aren’t as heavy as some of my F units, but the pulling power is still pretty good.
Stewart: The U25’s are a bit modern for my time frame, but all the Stewarts I have (primarily F units) run like swiss watches. Some say they run better than Kato’s or BLI’s. However, the detailing on the shells is pretty basic. DCC conversion looks easy enough. Pulling power, well, if I use 4 powered F units, they’ll haul nearly anything I hook to them. I expect the U25’s not to be as heavy as the F’s, but they should still pull pretty good.
If a Stewart is going cheap, I’d snatch it up. Be warned, however, that if you start bidding, there may end up a bidding contest. A new RS3 can be had cheaply enough, so I wouldn’t bid too high on it. Chances are, your road name can be found at a discount somewhere, or will be offered soon if it hasn’t been released lately.