Hello everyone, I’m a 32 year old guy, seeking advice. Generally, I’m most interested in quality, durability and dependability – I hate when small detail parts fall off a model, or break, bend or otherwise give me problems. I would rather buy a freight car with cast on details, because they are less likely to break off. Also I should mention, I don’t have any permenant layout – I play on the floor with Kato Unitrack. I intend to build a layout soon, a small switching layout. But right now, all I have is my oval of track on the floor. It’s not the best situation, but better then nothing.
Now my questions. I’m interested in your opinions and advice. I’m looking to buy a rugged and durable modern style diesel engine, with can engine and flywheels, and no more then 150-200 dollars. Another requirement is a DCC socket, for future upgrades. But currently all I have is two Tech II 2500 powerpacks from MRC. I know Atlas, Kato, BLI, regular Blue Box Athearn, Athearn Genesis, and P2K are highly regarded in these forums, but how is their ruggedness? I have to handle my equipement a lot, and hate it when I break the small plastic detail parts on the shell. Just 2 days ago, I broke a hand rail on my HO Scale Roundhouse Critter, the 4-wheel EMD Model 40 Diesel they released a couple of years ago. Also don’t want something with gears that are prone to bind or break. I know to use Kadee couplers on my stuff, because their metal couplers are stronger then the plastic clones.
Who makes the most durable diesel engines? Also who makes the most durable freight cars and track? I want high quality equipment that will last many years, without a bunch of fragile parts to fall off, bend or break. Any suggestions? I’m open to any and all suggestions and advice.
You present a conundrum. You want high quality, well today that means in addition to good rolling qualities, you also get a lot of delicate details that are prone to breakage if handled a lot or roughly.
Your best bet would be to look at Athearn Blue Box equipment or some older Kato or Atlas. The older Atearn Blue Box rolling stock had the molded on grabs and were and are in general good runners. Look for the older Athearn Blue Box locos with the metal handrails, their newer RTR stuff now has the acetal handrails. The Kato locos are pretty durable and most have somewhat thicker plastic handrails that are more rugged then a lot of the offerings from some of the other higher end companies. Kato has one of the best drives out there.
I know nothing about Blue Box, so I can’t relate to modelmaker, but I can agree with him that you are placing yourself in a position of having to rebuild older engines with less detail on them from times past. Nowadays, “high quality” and well-detailed engines with delicate parts go hand-in-hand. I have mostly BLI steamers, all but one plastic, and I find them to be remarkably durable…but then I am careful with them and don’t run them quickly as if they were slotcars.
Blueline, Kato, Walther P2k, Atlas, Athearn Genesis…you are going to get pretty darned good details, many of which will break if you have more than two thumbs per hand and tend to be impulsive in your approach to things. So, I would counsel you to buy what appeals to you and treat them carefully…not obsessively, just with a bit of caution if and when you must handle them. As far as I know, all of them come largely prepared for decoder installation.
Handle any models like you would a fragile piece of china or something delicate. Even though I have a home layout a lot of my models are taken to train shows and operated on the LK&R Club layout.
The Athearn Blue Box products from times past are probably the most rugged but one still has to be careful and handle them with care.
As for the rubber handrails I have several models that came with them. The handrails didn’t last long and for the most part have been replaced with either Athearn or Smokey Vally handrails or I have made new one from wire.
Just bought two Athearn GP40X’s in Espee and also bought two Athearn GP40-2 wire handrail sets to replace the rubber ones when they break.
Expensive and high quality = many small and easily breakable detail parts. If you wnat something that’s rugged with a minimum of breakable parts, the Athearn Blue box locos are good. They tend to be noisy but are for the most part good runners and are easy to upgrade to DCC with the Digitrax DH123AT or DH163AT decoder which simply clips on and requires no soldering an donly minor modification of the loco. I’ve found that the new Athearn RTR locos are worth avoiding. The ones I have needed major reworking to get them running properly and both had bad electrical problems, one of which ended in a fire that almost destroyed the loco. The Proto-1000 locos (Life-Like by Walther’s) are a good comprimise between price and detail.
For ruggedness and durabilty the old school Athearn Blue Box kits with the metal hand rails are the way to go.
I find the Atlas Classic and Trainman locomotives pretty rugged too. The biggest issue is the engineering plastic handrails. They take a fair amount of abuse but still break if your not careful. The Atlas Silver/Gold locomotives are great, but contain many easily lost/broken detail pieces.
If you’re looking in the $150-$200 range for engines, you’re mostly going to find highly detailed models with some pretty fragile parts. If you want durable details, I would recommend against Proto 2000, since their super-fine detail is almost entirely fragile plastic. Most Proto 1000 diesels have minimal separate detail, so they would be a good choice. The Athearn Ready-To-Roll and Genesis diesels have some fine plastic detail, but they also have a lot of more durable wire parts, so the only thing I would worry about is the handrails. Up until recently, the regular Blue-Box diesels have had metal handrails and minimal separate detail. Bachmann, although a lot of people recommend against them because of their quality control, has some smooth running, rugged diesels with pretty durable detail parts. I have quite a few Bachmann products, both Spectrum and Standard, and except for the old 4-wheel-drive stuff they’re all good runners.
For freight cars, Athearn Blue-Box kits, Accurail, Atlas Trainman, Bachmann Silver, Bowser and Stewart are all good choices. I’ve never had a poor rolling or unreliable car from any of them (except the Stewart, which I had to put better axles on, and was fine afterwards).
Bullet proof? Well on the old Athearn Blue Box locomotives with metal handrails fills that bill…The newer Athearn RTR models have spaghetti thin handrails that is easy to break just like all the newer locomotives regardless of manufacturer…Those are and IMHO the weakest part of today’s models.
Larry, Jeff, & Nick has said it best. For durability, dependibility, and a good level of quality, Athearn’s Blue Box, (called this because the box is blue), would be the place to start. Back in 1974, a friend of mine sold me his used, 1963 Athearn GP-30. I up graded the details in it and ran it until 1982, when I sold it to another friend. That friend still has that loco and it is a staple of his operating locos, which number about 200. I would also like to state that he has only two brands of locos, The Athearn BBs and some, (10) Athearn body’s with a Hobbytown chassis.
Now before everyone says he needs to try the P2K’s, Kato’s, Atlas’s, Walthers, etc. He has, many times. He keeps returning to Athearn BBs. Says he doesn’t have to order any parts for them, they don’t need repair. All he does is upgrade the details.
if I were you I would only purchase the Kato engines where I would have to assemble the railings, grab irons wipers and other items. Leave these detail parts off of the engines until you have a layout where they will not be handled as much. Then put on all the detail parts. Also the Kato and Atlas drive lines are very similar and the tolerances to which they are made are very high. This allows you to DPU the locomotives in a train without having to worry about speed matching in DC.
I want to thank everyone that replied. I kind of figured most people would recommend Athearn Blue Box locomotives, and their freight cars. I have owned a few Athearn diesels in the past, a Hobbytown diesel, an Athearn switcher with a metal body from an aftermarket manufactor; along with a few Atlas engines (2 ALP-44 electrics, and a GE Dash-7 I believe), a Bachmann GP40, Walthers Trainline GP9m, a new Model Power F7 Metal Engine, and some other manufactors products I can’t remember now. I posted because I wanted to see what most people regard as a rugged engine. And I agree with everyone’s opinions. But I was thinking, perhaps I may have overlooked something. I have also owned in the past some N scale stuff, some O scale 3-Rail, and have some G scale trains made by Playmobil.
I always liked the Athearn Geep engines with the metal handrails, and their F7 and other similar models. But I wanted some higher end products, so I decided to try Atlas. All 3 Atlas engines I have owned were new items made in China, not their older products. All were very nice engines, very quiet, strong pullers, and were ready for DCC – but I didn’t enjoy the fragile plastic parts. I’m not sure what I want to do. Is there a way to put a metal body on a new Atlas or Kato drive? Or should I stick with older products – such as Athearn Blue Box, and older Atlas and kato Engines?
If you like quality get BB rolling stock, now a days nice locomotives and small parts are one in the same. you can get for a locomotive, well maybe you can… no… Well be careful with your locomotives? Maybe you can get A blueline loco for cheap?