If this is a struggling startup in modern times, I’d second the suggestion of looking for a GP7 or GP9. These venerable workhorses are still in service on shortlines, and they have the power necessary to push around the heavy loads of steel mills. Again, I have a pair of them from Proto, and they are solid, reliable engines.
I’d go with an Atlas S unit…but then again, I’m an Alco-holic, and own nothing but Atlas units. Although, the majority of my units have TCS decoders, my I used NCE’s special S unit decoder for ease of conversion.
Nick
I’d recommend maybe using EMD SW1000/1500 or an ALCO S-2/S-4. These models are all very good, pull alot and are great to have for any switching duties.
The early Atlas S-2 and S-4 were good runners and decent pullers, too, and would be suitable steel mill power.
Here are a couple of other possibilities (as far as I know, all acquired new):
Wayne
you will get a lot of input on this but since you mentioned the kato nw-2 i will tell you that i have had 4 of them running for many years and they are with out a doubt the best little yard engines i have seen. smooth, slow. never stall, and outpull athearn, p2k, bli, stewart, and all the rest.
second choice in my book and it is a very close second would be the early atlas alco s-2. i have a couple of the early ones made in austria with the blunt trucks and they are jewels. they perform as well as the kato’s i mentioned above but for some reason have a little more whine to them when running.
imo stewart and bli are a bit weak in the knees. (i don’t use traction tires or frog snot). the P2K sw’s are well detailed and smooth running but they don’t pull like the kato and atlas i mentioned first.
i never had an athearn that ran to suit me right out of the box and by the time i got done fiddling around with them, i would just as well have popped a little more money and gone with the kato’s or atlas
grizlump.
I absolutely love my little BLI / Paragon2 NW2 switcher w/ sound I picked-up recently. Out of the box, except for the momentum settings, it operates exactly the way I want and sounds fantastic doing it. The only negative I have is that its a little light and so will not haul as many cars as its similar Proto-2000 kin. I have a bunch of those also, alas none with sound, but they will haul a train. Too many cars in fact. And the one of those I use the most is even missing half its weight, which I removed when I installed the DCC decoder.
John
Proto 2k, say no more.
grizlump I assume you have the Kato EMD NW2 phase 1 or 2? Did you have to convert them to DCC from DC? joe
I use the Spectrum 44 ton and Spectrum 70 ton. Not in my road colors yet. Have not messed with the sounds in these videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVr3dcb0gdk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDosTzkQiWg
Rich
“grizlump I assume you have the Kato EMD NW2 phase 1 or 2? Did you have to convert them to DCC from DC? joe”
they are all the phase 1 straight dc. i am one of those Godless heathens that is not a fan of dcc operation. closest i have come it is a couple of dual mode bli’s that i just run now and then to impress visitors but they don’t pull worth squat.
grizlump
one overlooked Switcher I see almost daily are the Geeps. CSX an NS use the gp40’s 38’s and a host of others for road switchers.
P2K Heritage Y3 2882. Best yard worker in the world! Goes thru switches like a SNAKE, and won’t lose electrical pick-up. Stop worrying with those little Diesel things, they’re for gurls!
i know this is a old post but i have to tell ya’ll 53 is still kicken and I run her every day under Martech rail servce 615
