Alrighty, so I have a track plan figured out, and I need to buy some more motive power. All I have right now is a Spectrum Dash 8. I need Conrail roadname locomotives. Which brand, in your opinion, is the best to buy?
For modern diesel: Atlas, Athearn, Kato, Proto 2000, and BLI (Broadway Limited). They would be better choices than the Bachmann Spectrum. (The Sprectrum steam, however, is quite good.)
Tom
I agree, although I hasten to add that I am strictly in steam. Before you ask, “Then why in aitch…?”, I still follow the discussions here quite closely, and it seems that of all of them, the Athearn and the Proto 2000 are the most problematic…generally. I forget what the issue is with Athearn, but with the P2K it has been a spate of split plastic gears in the drive. Fortunately, Walther’s knows about this by now, and seems to be willing to supply replacements most often. I just don’t know how quickly it happens.
With Athearn, the most problems are with the noise of the motor and the drive train. I have many Athearns that, though noisy, still pull well. As long as they’re kept clean and lubed, they’ll run for years. Another thing. Most of them are low priced. Most of mine cost below $60
If you are modeling Conrail, then most likely you will be going with diesel locos. That means you got a lot of good brands to choose from.
If you want ready-to-run GE units, check out Atlas. They make some real nice 4-axle and 6-axle GEs.
If you want ready-to-run EMDs, check out Kato, Athearn RTR, Atlas, and P2K.
If you want to detail to a specific Conrail EMD prototype and paint your own, then your best bet is an Athearn Blue-Box undecorated kit as the starting point.
Derrick,
If you are looking for good deals on the above mentioned locomotives, check out these two web sites:
Train World - http://www.trainworld.com
M. B. Klein - http://www.modeltrainstuff.com
You might be able to find some Conrail locomotives for 50% off list or better.
Tom
Derrick,
Here’s a few deals that I cut and pasted from the M. B. Klein site. Some are new; some are older diesels:
150-7211 Atlas - DASH 8-40B ANALOG CONRAIL #5078 $119.95 $59.99
150-7212 Atlas - DASH 8-40B ANALOG CONRAIL #5088 $119.95 $59.99
150-7636 Atlas - DASH 8-40C LOCOMOTIVE WITHOUT DECODER & NO SOUND CONRAIL QUALITY #6028 $134.95 $67.99
150-7638 Atlas - DASH 8-40C LOCOMOTIVE WITHOUT DECODER & NO SOUND CONRAIL QUALITY NO# $134.95 $67.99
150-9036 Atlas - DASH 8-40B with Decoder CONRAIL QUALITY #3372 $139.95 $69.99
150-9220 Atlas - SD35 - CONRAIL #6002 $139.95 $69.99
150-9221 Atlas - SD35 - CONRAIL #6045 $139.95 $69.99
920-31426 Proto 2000 Series - SW8 LOCOMOTIVE CONRAIL #8606 (ANALOG) $105.00 $59.99
920-31427 Proto 2000 Series - SW8 LOCOMOTIVE CONRAIL #8620 (ANALOG) $105.00 $59.99
920-31062 Proto 2000 Series - U28B LOCOMOTIVE CONRAIL #2822 (ANALOG) $140.00 $69.99
920-31046 Proto 2000 Series - GP38-2 LOCOMOTIVE W/88" NOSE CONRAIL #8206 $125.00 $67.99
920-31047 Proto 2000 Series - GP38-2 LOCOMOTIVE W/88" NOSE CONRAIL #8227 $125.00 $67.99
920-30780 Proto 2000 Series - GP38-2 LOCOMOTIVE CONRAIL #7966 $125.00 $67.99
920-30781 Proto 2000 Series - GP38-2 LOCOMOTIVE CONRAIL #7993 $125.00 $67.99
920-30833 Proto 2000 Series - SD50 Locomotive CONRAIL #6811 $140.00 $69.99
920-30834 Proto 2000 Series - SD50 Locomotive CONRAIL #6826 $140.00 $69.99
920-30852 Proto 2000 Series - SD50 LOCOMOTIVE CONRAIL #6814 $140.00 $69.99
920-30853 Proto 2000 Series - SD50 LOCOMOTIVE CONRAIL #6872 $140.00 $69.99
Tom
The newer Athern locomotives run a lot quieter, they are DCC ready, have directional ighting and they have a lot of pulling power. I was recently testing some Athern locomotives to break them in and twek the decoder programming. A single SD60 (Athern) on my layout (level track) is pulling a train of 40 cars weighted to NMRA standards. I usually run with two SD40s or SD50s for a 40 car train. My SD60s are too modern for my time period so I will be back dating them to SD50s. KATO units are nice too but much more expemsive than Athern. I also have some Proto2000 GP units which run great and pull very well.
Jim
The gear problem with the Proto 2000 engines pertains to some of the early releases of the first generation GPs. In particular the GP-7, 9 and 18 also the BL-2 and the Alco FA. The problem has since been corrected, but if you do get one of the early releases the present owner, Walthers will supply a new set of gears. The Athearn wheel gears are also direct substitutes (P2K copied the Athearn drives originally).
I’ll say my opinion on a 1-10 scale.[:D]
Modern diesel manufacturers (that I’ve had experience with)
Atlas, 10
Athearn Genesis, 9
Athearn, 6
Bachmann (old old), 6
Bachmann (old) 3
Bachmann Spectrum (new), 8
Bachmann Spectrum (old), 7
Kato, 9
Life-Like, 4
Life-Like Proto, 8
IHC, 6
Walthers, 6
And that’s about it.[:D]
If you want some interesting Conrail engines…they had just about everything after their 1976 start-up. You name it they had it…and not even in blue either–they’d run Penn Central, Lehigh Valley, Erie Lackawanna, and Reading units together…sometimes on the same train! Most of these engines ran around in their prior owner’s paint schemes before getting overhauled or retired. Usually, they’d have the old name painted over, and a white “CR” decal in its place. For a “quickie” early-CR unit, get a Penn Central diesel, weather it, paint out the PC markings, then slap a “CR” on all sides.
where i live i see alot of sd60 sd70’s and sd40-2 they use the sd-40 as rear helpers as a set of 2 to help trains up the alleghany mountains but ns is slowy repainting them into there style. After csx and ns split most of the com,pany between themselveas
Experience will teach you that a well rounded locomotive and car fleet will involve every brand of locomotive and car available such as Athearn,Atlas,Kato,Walthers(GP15) and Walthers/Life Like.
The biggest hurdle is Atlas since Atlas production is based on orders received with few hundred over production locomotives.