Being a newbie, I’m seeing lots of choices out there at the hobby shop in the higher-end diesel locos. So what is your preferance and why? Is one brand better than the other? More detailing on one versus the other,etc.? I know to stay away from the $15.00 locos.
Athearn here, especially the Blue Box stuff.
They’re in-expensive, easy to work on, & go forever if taken care of properly.
If you look hard enough, you can find these new for about $15 US.
As much as I know Kato & Atlas are nice models, I don’t own any at this time so I can’t comment on them.
Gordon
I’ve got a few Athearn Genesis Locomotives and a few Atlas Locomotives and really like them. They run smooth and are very well detailed.
I am ‘rediscovering’ Athearn - the non-Genesis line, that is. Their re-tooled RTR models have all the nice features [easy decoder installation, constant-brightness lighting] that their Kato/Atlas counterparts have, but more affordably priced.
LifeLike P2K is my next choice for price-vs-value.
I like the Athearn stuff the best.Take care of them and your great grandchildren will be running them.Kato and Atlas look and run better but the cost of some of thier stuff is $150.00 retail.Proto 2000 also makes some nice stuff that you can find at a good price.It all depends on how much money you want to spend.I find I get as much enjoyment out of my Athearn stuff as I do my Atlas or Kato stuff.Dan
I have my eye on an Athearn RTR Norfolk Southern SD60 that’s going for $74.99 at a local hobby shop. It seems to be pretty well detailed, from what I can see of it inside of its box in the locked glass display case. I am planning on running the NS on my layout and this loco seems to be pretty decent.
I run Atlas, Kato, and just recently purchased a P2K Loco.
Some of my Atlas locomotives go back into the late 80’s and still run well. I also like Atlas’ details and smooth running. They can be pricy, but if you shop around, you can usually find locos cheaper than retail. For example, I bought an Atlas Dash 8-40B for about $100 when retail was up close to $140. The only negative thing with Atlas is I found some of my directional headlights cutting out when the wheels/track are dirty–the locomotive is still running smoothly, just with the lights off.
I also like Kato–especially the lights. The only draw back I have is it took me quite a while to find time to assemble all the detailing parts onto the locomotive shell. The finish product looks excellent.
I like my P2K loco so far. It took only a few hours to place the details on the shell. There was a defect where the front head light didn’t fit up into its housing. I was able to file a little and now the light fits up into the housing nicely.
The following places are where I purchased my Atlas, Kato, and P2K locomotives. I also know they carry Athearn:
www.modelrailwaypo.com has excellent mail order. most of his prices are 20% off retail. He specializes in HO. Go to his website and click on Current Ad.
www.tracksidesales.com was very professional over phone. Gave me a great price. Speedy dilivery of loco. He told me he is partial to NS, and stocks heavy in NS.
I hope this helps.
Steve
I like Athearn, Kato, Atlas, and P2K.
For the money, it’s a battle between Athearn BB and Lifelike Proto 1K. I’d also suggest the Walthers Trainline range - if they offer a loco you want, buy one and you won’t be disappointed. I have an F40PH and a Dash 8-40B, both great locos. Drive systems are up to Proto standards (very quiet and smooth) and the body detailing is pretty good too - they’re a great base for further work if you want to add extra parts. Hope this helps!
Here a radical opinion: I like most of them. They’re all pretty good! For me it comes down to more of a choice of who supplies the loco I want then who makes the best! If you model a specific road, in a specific time frame, your choices of what’s is available, become more of a determining factor, then who made it.
They’re all actually pretty good. Atlas is my personal favorite - they’re pricey sometimes, but run very smoothly and are ultra-reliable. I have many of their “yellow box” locomotives from the mid-late 80s and early 90s and all run just as well now as they did when they were new. One in particular stands out - an Atlas/Roco S2 built in the mid 80s which has been in storage for the past five years. I put it on the track a couple weeks ago and it ran like a champ.
Proto 2000 is usually pretty good - and represents a good value for the money. Same is true for Athearn. One I will avoid is Stewart - I have three of the “big Alcos”(I have two C630s and one C628) and only one is operable. The other two have universals that went bad. Stewart sent me the parts, but I really don’t have the time or desire to repair these units at this time. And they were NOT cheap either, which is why I’m turned off by the whole experience.
Kevin
Well, everybody’s answer so far is restricted to HO scale. I can’t offer any help with the larger scales, they seem to have HO covered fairly well, so I’ll dive into N Scale, which is where I model.
Kato and Atlas are the tops. Kato does more modern locos, Atlas the transition and 2nd generation. Atlas’s “fit and finish” is just a tad better than Kato’s, and Kato’s run just a tad better than Atlas. Atlas is doing a much wider spectrum of roadnames. Basically you can’t go wrong with either.
Athearn - With only two releases in N, both are resoundingly below the standards set by Kato and Atlas.
Answer to your questions: Of Course!
For a ‘Newbie’, I’d recommend PROTO 2000 and working your way UP to STEWART,
For the money, I too, will have to recommend Proto 2K. The others are all pretty good from my experiences with them, but they seem to be a little pricier (except Athearn). My experience with Athearn is with their older stuff (10-15 years old). They still run well, and have held up well. Price wise they compare to Proto 2K, but do not have the level of detail that P2K has. My understanding is that the newer Athearn stuff is more detailed, but is also more expensive. I don’t think you’d be going in the wrong direction with any of the choices you’ve mentioned, as long as you get the level of detail you’re looking for while staying within your price range. Happy Railroading!
Athearn stuff is always good. Just be prepared to bend the brass pickups on thier genesis SD70MACs. maybe some of the other genesis stuff too, im not sure. My first loco was an athearn ble box and its still going strong, all it asks is a little oil every now and then. Heck, that loco fell off my old layout on to a concrete floor. I was able to bend the frame back into shape and put all the pieces back together. Those things are indestructible!
Yeah, I’d go with the majority on this one. For newbie’s go Athearn. Go to your local swap meet and see what you can find. I went to one Saturday and found a guy selling new SD 40-2’s for $20 each! I also found an Atlas S4 for $35 so I snatched it up also.
As they guys say those Athearn locomotive are pretty tough to beat. They are super easy to maintain and just about as easy to modify for DCC or better lights or whatever your heart desires. You can detail 'em up for a few bucks or run ‘em right out of the box. The hand rails and stanchons are a little out of scale, but hey thery are WIRE! They don’t break! The only draw back to the Athearn is that strap of metal that connects the trucks to the motor. Get rid of that thing and hard wire the contacts to the pick up on top of the motor! Just be sure to pull the clip off BEFORE hitting it with a soldering iron! Be careful about losing the brush spring when you take the pick up off the top of the motor.
I have a mixed fleet that includes a lot of stuff I found at swap meets and estate sales. I do like the P2K stuff when I can catch it at a good price! As time goes on and your tastes begin to run towards the more expensive stuff I’d say go for Atlas or P2K. I’ve seen a lot of guys have a lot of problems with the super expensive brass stuff while my poor ol’ Athearns just chug on by!
Have fun!
Larry Pursell
I’ll send you a picture of that hard wiring job on and Athearn loco if you like. Just let me know!
LP
Here’s a link to help out Athearn locos-
http://www.horailroading.net/athearn-tune.htm
Running on my layout, in my order of preference, are Kato, Atlas, Athearn, P2K.
Primarily Stewart and Atlas here (most with Kato drives), though I’ve just added 2 P2K GP7s I picked up off eBay for a good price. Haven’t run them extensively yet, though.
I had a bunch of Athearn BB locos in the past, and they were good, solid runners, but once I decided to backdate my layout to the 50s I ended up selling them. They were either post-1960 models, or in the wrong color scheme (ATSF blue & yellow, rather than the zebra stripes). Alas, Athearn hasn’t made many (if any) Santa Fe zebra locos.