As CEO of the Staten Island West Railway, I have concluded that Standard Line Bachmann Locomotives are no longer good enough for the SIW.
I have one sound value s-4 and 2 GP-38’s that work well for now but I want to pick up one more switcher type loco and I am thinking of going with an Atlas or an Athearn but my budget is very tight say around $100 to $150. Sound does not matter.
Anyway I was thinking of getting another S-4 but not in Bachmann Any thoughts as to what I should be looking for?
I guess my first question would be what scale?
Atlas makes a great product…and they are affordable. Thats usually the first place I turn
I’m a small fry in this hobby, I have BLI, Proto, BS and Atlas Loco’s. The Atlas ones are the best performers hands down in my opinion. In fact I think all Atlas products I have come across are good quality and value for the money.
Sorry HO Scale and the locos must run on 18" curves. Just like Staten Island in real life space is tight.
If you’re not running DCC, the Kato NW1 is a great performer and available at reasonable cost via ebay, etc, despite not currently being in production AFAIK. Conversion to DCC takes a trick or two, but nothing major.
Would you be opposed to buying an Atlas YB or Athearn BB (no sound) in NIB condition for half of your budget of $100 to $150 or less?
I would suggest one of the Athearn SW models if your in the mood for a switcher. Hard to tell exactly what “YOU” are looking for. Is it a better running loco? Better pulling loco? Better looking loco? Give us some more info on why you want to switch from Bachmann to Atlas or Athearn.
The Athearn SW handles small areas and tight turns very well.
More Info I am running DCC Whan I have a little time I will try to post a pic
OK, the Kato NW2 is often called difficult to convert, but it’s not. You need a small decoder, as it must usually go in the cab as that’s the only free space unless you mill a spot for it in the weights.
The chassis itself is a lot like an N scale chassis, with a split down the middle between the two sets of weights. To convert to DCC, you take it apart down to to motor, which sits enclosed by the two massive weights, then isolate the motor. Finally, you cut a grove with a Dremel to accomodate bringing in the orange and gray wires to attach to the now-isolated motor.
If need, instructions in more detail can be found with Google.
BTW, the EMD NW series locos were the predecessor to the later SW series and very similar in terms of appearance and size. The great thing about the Kato model is that it’s so heavy because of those massive weights. It take them and convert to HOn3 and they are just about my most powerful HOn3 locos.
Wife wants me to clean the train room before zip post any pics so that is not happening soon.
I would suggest one of the Athearn SW models if your in the mood for a switcher. Hard to tell exactly what “YOU” are looking for. Is it a better running loco? Better pulling loco? Better looking loco? Give us some more info on why you want to switch from Bachmann to Atlas or Athearn.
The Athearn SW handles small areas and tight turns very well.
Ok I will answer I have 2 bachmann 70 tom Switchers that just do not pull well anymore perhaps thay need a good cleaning or whatever but even when they pulled well the decoders were not smooth. I have been reading here and elsewhere that other manufacturers put better decoders in there units. It looked to me when opened one of them that the decoder was hard wired and that replacing it would not be a plug and play thing.
I have the sound value which is a good runner and the 2 Geeps MU’d If i had a fourth loco my operating roster (for now) would be complete.Then I would like to thin the herd by selling or giving away the others including several low end non dcc shelf queens to help defray the cost.
I’m also gonna throw into the mix the NEW version of Walthers’ SW1. I’ve got one. It run really nicely and it’s EASY to convert to DCC. It only costs $100 retail. It’s got a nice heavy metal frame. A sweet little loco.
Ed
No. NW locos were not predessors of the SW locos. They were contemporary. Pre WW2 the "S’ locos were six hunded horsepower and the “N” locos were nine hundred horsepower. The primary difference was engine under the hood. Initially Winton 8-201A engines in the “S”. Winton 12-201A engines in the “N”
Latter models have EMD 567 engines . There are 6-567 engines (600 hp), 8-567 (800 hp latter 1000 hp) and 12-567 (1200 hp). The loco model is determined by the engine.
Eventually when higher hp switchers were made "S’ came to mean switcher and the “N” designation eventually disappeared.
There were also SC and NC models. The "C’ designated cast frame. “W” designated welded frame. The welded frame versions outsold the cast frame versions and cast frames were discontinued.
The various models and their engines are listed here:
Atlas, Kato, Proto are in my experience the best runners for the money for a switcher. The Athearn RTR are a good value too. I find that there are many places cheaper than ebay buy it now sellers. ebay used is another story.
Richard
All depends on how you split your hairs. I wasn’t writing a thesis on the relationship, just locating the timing in general. The NW1 rolled off the first in Nov. 1937 (but it was powered by the 201A engine, rather the the 567s that powered the early EMD switchers for the most part after that).
The first SW1? Not until Jan. 1939. The first NW2 came in Feb. 1939, so if that’s the hair you’re splitting here, being off by a month on a date 75 years ago isn’t bad from working from memory (the stuff I’m citing here is pulled from the original Diesel Spotter’s Guide), with the last one in Dec. 1949. The last SW? I’m not really sure as I don’t pay much attention to anything past the mid-70s. They may still be in the catalog, but very few switchers built by EMD after the 1980s. Way, way more SWs were built after the NW was a done deal, than the handful of SW1s that came off the line before the first NW2 did.
The “contemporary” thing would be more relevant if the OP was worried about era – and I might have pulled out my hair-splitting references if that had been the case. As far as I can see, that’s not much of a concern for the OP, though. If I’m going to make a general reference on the subject, what I stated is close – and accurate – enough.
[quote user=“mlehman”]
DSchmitt
DSchmitt wrote the following post 1 hours ago: mlehman BTW, the EMD NW series locos were the predecessor to the later SW series and very similar in terms of appearance and size. No. NW locos were not predessors of the SW locos. They were contemporary. Pre WW2 the "S’ locos were six hunded horsepower and the “N” locos were nine hundred horsepower. The primary difference was engine under the hood. Initially Winton 8-201A engines in the “S”. Winton 12-201A engines in the “N”
All depends on how you split your hairs. I wasn’t writing a thesis on the relationship, just locating the timing in general. The NW1 rolled off the first in Nov. 1937 (but it was powered by the 201A engine, rather the the 567s that powered the early EMD switchers for the most part after that).
The first SW1? Not until Jan. 1939. The first NW2 came in Feb. 1939, so if that’s the hair you’re splitting here, being off by a month on a date 75 years ago isn’t bad from working from memory (the stuff I’m citing here is pulled from the original Diesel Spotter’s Guide), with the last one in Dec. 1949. The last SW? I’m not really sure as I don’t pay much attention to anything past the mid-70s. They may still be in the catalog, but very few switchers built by EMD after the 1980s. Way, way more SWs were built after the NW was a done deal, than the handful of SW1s that came off the line before the first NW2 did.
The “contemporary” thing would be more relevant if the OP was worried about era – and I might have pulled out my hair-splitting references if that had been the case. As far as I can see, that’s not much of a concern for the OP, though. If I’m going to make a general reference on the subject, wha
Im sure some maintenance on your models would not hurt them a bit. Never does. That may bring back some performance. I still model in ADC, though I am quite sure there is nothing that is truely hard wired. They got it in there somehow, it can come back out.
Im sure it is also true there are other, better decoders out there than what you have. Which I summize will cost some $$ too. I defer most of your DCC and sound questions to the other readers in this forum with experience in those areas. Do know, what you want to do can be done.
Hate to hear you will be thinning the herd. Those still serve, who only sit on a shelf looking pretty! I would rather see a model than a picture if i were to look at the poster child for model railroading. Besides, i can pretty much garauntee one day you will say 'Dam, I wish I still had that one!".
So if i am reading you right, you have 2 GE 70tonners, an S-4, and 2 GP-38s, correct? And you want a new switcher. Im still gonna recommend an Athearn BB SW type, to which if your going to change the decoder in the locos above, you can add one to this model too and make it DCC if you want. Even the Walthers SW-1 isnt a bad choice. Though I have one, it is still in t
I was talking in generalities. You wanted some answer that’s more about specifics. Two somewhat different conversations. The Venn diagrams overlap to a certain extent, but not entirely.
This is one aspect of rail-oriented conversations I find discouraging. A general answer is picked apart by recasting it as an answer to a different question. The OP had no real concern about era and my answer didn’t address that in detail either.
You want detail, fine, but no need to create conflict where it doesn’t really exist. It might be helpful to offer an elaboration in such circumstances. Jumping in to say, “Nah, it wasn’t that way…” isn’t really helpful when the answer recasts the question into a Trivial Pursuit Ordeal of who has the more obscure knowledge. If I intend to do that, I’ll go to my library and look up specifics to suit a specifoc question. But I was answering his question, not your somewhat different take on what was important in this discussion.
If you want to parse my statement in ways I really didn’t intend to address, that’s fine. My point was that most of the ~5000 S series switchers were built after the last of the ~1100 N series came off the line. Of the roughly dozen S series variants, only the SW1 was built “contemporaneuosly” (it’s late, I can’t spell are you gonna dock me points for that too?[;)]),
Here’s my suggestion for the Atlas S4…I have several of the older yellow box S4s with the Roco drive and the best thing was the price I paid…I average $40.00 each at various train shows.The engines is a smooth runner and very quiet.
The Atlas Classic S4 can be found for around $80.00 new and cheaper if you don’t mind buying use…
Another thought to mull over is the Atlas/Kato RS1…Going price around $50-60.00 and IMHO worth every penny.
good loco type as well, popular in local service and yard switching. all 6 SP&S RS1’s spanned the entire system at one time in the yards, transfer service, or locals. I’d second Brakie’s reccomendation.
For the best value, I’d watch BLI’s factory refurbished page on their site. They often sell SW-900 locos with DCC and sound for $117.00 with full warranty. I’ve bought refurbished steam locos there with no complaints.