OK, this is a general question, so I’m hoping this is the correct forum, although, it could go in DCC, so bear with me…
I am building my first “real” layout and am about to purchase a 2nd loco. I am modeling Seaboard Coast Line in the mid- 60s, so that may narrow down who I buy from (b/c I’m not good enough to re-model a loco with new paint, decals, etc…that is, not YET), but I was wondering if there is a “best” manufacturer or not? My 1st one is an Atlas Master Series and I seem to be happy with that, but I don’t know if there are other features with other ones that I’m not even aware of?
I know, as with everything else in mrr, it boils down to personal preference, and each one has their pluses and minuses, but, if my system is DCC and I want as much realism as possible, which loco manufacturer do you prefer?
Factoring in:
Cost
Detail
Ease of programming
Availability of replacement parts
Warranty
With the layout I’m doing (Rancocas Harbor Belt #10034), I will only have 2 locos going and, probably not at the same time (most of the time), due to only 1 mainline.
As always, thanks for the responses ahead of time!
See if there is a historical society for the railroad you are modelling. You can then do some research into what locomotives would have been on the roster at that time? (There is http://www.aclsal.org/) This will narrow your search even more because you may find a very limited selection of appropriate locomotives in your scale that fit your era/scheme.
Remind us again what Atlas locomotive you bought? If it’s not a switcher, are you wanting to do or are you planning on doing any switching on your layout?
Simon suggestion is a good one. You maybe indeed limited on your options. If that is the case then you can buy undecorated locomotives (w/sound) and paint and detail them for your railroad.
Sorry, I thought I did answer some of those questions, and didn’t know to ask the others:
Era- I said Seaboard Coastline in the mid 60’s. Doesn’t that answer that? I thought it did.
Scale- HO (sorry, I did forget to mention that, but I thought the Rancocas Harbor Belt only came in HO)
Geographic location would have only been Southeast, since it was Seaboard, right?
Logging? No
Short-line, mainline, branch? I’m guessing mainline, since the layout really doesn’t present itself to “operations” and having switchers and secondary lines.
Steam, diesel, electric? Again, sorry, but I thought, since it was mid-60’s Seaboard, diesel was the only thing left around here by then. Might have been an assumption on my part.
For more clarification, I was really looking more for details, reliability, and cost factors. Sorry, but I didn’t know those were questions to ask…I’m a work-in-progress! [*-)]
It is a EMD SD35 (I think), but I’m not home to verify it. I actually bought on EBay about 3 years ago when I started the layout, ran it around temporary track for about a month, and it’s sat in it’s box since then, until about a month ago when I decided to get back into the hobby. That layout only has a couple of tracks for switching, so I don’t think (at this point) that I’ll be getting a dedicated switching loco, but who knows!
To be perfectly honest, the more I learn about the hobby, the more I wish I had a basement to build a benchwork-type layout with dedicated yard, double mainline, operations, etc., but I have to work with this 8 X8 “L” shape layout in my garage. I think this layout will quickly become too boring, but don’t want to tear everything down and start over. I’m just going to continue with this, learn a bunch more, try different scenery techniques on this one, so I’ll be better on the next one…one day, when I’m retired and can devote more time to it!
If you are just starting railroad you have a few things to think about. I see that you show South Carolina for your location. Is there a branch line off of the main line carrier in your area that serves some distinct industries? Choosing something close by allows you easy access to rights of way and other detail clutter ideas.
Check in on local historical libraries for available information.
But before you put any track down…what are you going to do with this.? Are the trains going to only go around or are you going to “Operate”? That is, are you going to make pick ups and deliveries at your industries. This is an important decision as the track plan will look quite different.
Then you can make a choice on what second or third locomotive might be necessary. In the 60’s there were still some differences between freight haulers and passenger locomotives.
SCL was established on July 1, 1967. So, when you say mid-sixties, you’re talking about the start-up time. I don’t know much about SCL, but I’d start by finding out which locos they bought “right away”–like in the first year or so. That’ll be a short list, and will be very defining of your options. Then you might want to find out what locos from the old roads (ACL and SAL) were still around but just re-numbered to SCL. That will provide an additional pool of choices. You can buy the appropriate locos in the old roads and do some decal renumbering.
A bit of research finds what I think is an excellent candidate:
As I say, I’m no SCL guy, but this one looks like an SCL patch job onto an SAL paint scheme. You might find one on an auction site. If I were in your shoes, I’d seriously consider this one. Athearn also shows a Genesis SCL GP9 just recently announced.
Anyway, once you’ve done your research, you’ll end up with a very short (I think) list of possibilities. When you’ve got that list, stop on back for opinions on the individual locos.
It doesn’t really matter. Locomotives from all important manufacturers (those with full page ads in Model Railroader) are very good. You can’t go wrong. Taking your points one by one.
Cost: They all cost too much.
Detail: Some have more, some have less. At two feet away they all look pretty good.
Ease of programming: Programming any thing is a PITA. Trust me on this, my day job is programming microprocessors.
Availability of replacement parts: Mediocre at best. It takes a lot of phoning, waiting on hold, and speaking to answering machines. After you get thru the hassle, it will take weeks to months for the part to come in. Fortunately you seldom need spare parts.
Warranty: Bachmann is very good on warranty. You call them, they give you a return authorization, you mail in the defective model, and Bachmann will mail you a replacement. I don’t know just how the other makers handle it, but you can assume it is fairly decent.
Bottom Line: If you like it, buy it. Short four axle diesels can hack 18 inch radius. Long 6 axle diesels, not always.
http://www.thedieselshop.us is a decent place to start to get some ideas about diesel locomotives a railroad had, numbers, when they were built etc. You can then go on to look for more pics of specific locomotives and then look for scale models that appeal to you.
You didn’t mention sound, but if that’s important I would limit what I bought to either an OEM installed Tsunami or no sound version to install a Tsunami decoder. QSI’s new Titan could be good soon.
I have found BLI, MTH, Kato, Atlas, Proto to be excellent–run well, don’t hardly ever derail and priced pretty good for what you get. I’ve had so so luck with Athearn Genesis or new RTR. Intermountain could be good. Bachmann Spectrum aren’t bad, but I can’t remember them making a model for your era/line. Athearn is pretty good with ordering parts as are the others.
E and F units were popular with SCL and Proto 2000 is a good line to consider for those models. Walther’s owns Proto now.
One thing you could do is go to the Walther’s webpage and do an advanced search. Some LHS’s offer discounts from Walther’s price too.
You will get as many recommendations as there are manufacturers. Everyone has their personal preferences.
BUT: here are a few things to consider:
1} not all loco manufacturers make all models of locos. SO if you are looking for a certain loco, it may depend on who is manufacturing that model of loco.
2} not all models of said loco manufactured are listed in every livery {railroad nameplate}. You MAY have to paint your own.
3} there are vary stages of DCC equiped locos. SOme are DCC for lights, direction and speed only, SOme are DCC with sound OnBoard. Some are DCC ready-meaning you have to supply decoder of your choice, or the decoder designed to work with that loco and hard wire {solder} it in. SOme are DCC ready with an 8 or 9 pin decoder “plug and play” decoder made for it. SO getting a DCC loco can be complicated, though once you work it out, you should have little hassle unless you cannot hard wire one in. Wanting as much realism as possible, you probably want SOUND DCC locos- “equiped” or “ready”.
4} You should check to see what loco roster your “real Railroad” had running at the time and see what is available on the market in that roster list, if you want to be prototypical.
5} cost will depend on which brand/equipment it has. There are locos that are diesel at $50 DCC equiped for lights/direction/speed to locos that are $300+ that are sound equiped. If you are on a budget, plan accordingly and SHOP AROUND. {BTW- the more expensive ones people are finding out -and often complain about here- are NOT necessarily better quality and warrantee service can suck with those manufacturers, while the cheaper locos can have great customer service…}
6} Detail varies, but if you want highly detailed locos, you will pay for it, or you can buy detail kits and apply yourself. Many complain the more detailed a loco is, the more likely those extra details are to get broken off with useand wear and tear.
I started to reply to your post, got called away for a while and came back and finished my reply without rereading your post again, so that’s how I screwed up my reply.
You did mention era, railroad etc., etc… Teach me to read more closely next time.
It should have all wheel drive and all wheel pick-up, a can or flat can motor with twin brass flywheels, be DCC ready or come with a Tsunami decoder installed, and be really heavy.
Most good manufacturers locos have these things, but it is always good to check and make sure before buying. If you can see it at a local hobby shop, great. If not, go to the manufacturers web site and do some research on the locomotive you are considering. Most manufacturers will list their specs.
As for weight, my friend just bought an Athearn Genesis GP-9 with a Tsunami sound decoder. It is a nice loco but is a little lighter than other GP-9’s that I have seen. For weight, Atlas seems to be good.
