I buy the models that I can like that have acceptable (to me) quality standards. I don’t like handrails that lean excessively or are too weak and flimsy, sloppy glue/assembly fit issues, and motors that fail too often. I like highly detailed models but not at the expense of quality and durability. I’ll accept slightly thicker diecast running boards on a steam engine over plastic “scale” thickness running boards that are breakable.
Please see my post below; I agree with much of what Douglas said above.
“Legacy” just connotes something desirable enough to keep using but not made currently. Usually hasn’t been made for a long time and nobody expects production to resume. Generally in model railroading legacy equipment is DC only.
In the case of any Rapido products, they cannot achieve legacy status as yet because nobody can tell when Jason will build another run of whatever, not even Jason.
Mike basically explained it. It simply means that a company is selling the new engineered product when the old engineered product still works fine.
If you say old, it sounds outdated, or worn out. Legacy generally means that it functions well, its just was designed prior to the new stuff.
Frankly, the legacy motor (the BB motore) and updated drivetrain in the ATH RTR products are smoother and quieter than the new Genesis motor, so I prefer the legacy over the new.
To clarify: I actually agree with much of what Douglas said here.
I’ve searched and tried a whole lot of engines, and I finally found some that I think really make me happy: the Bowser SD40-2 and actually the MTH 2-8-8-4 (pity it’s the last HO offering from MTH).
There are other Bowser engines for sure. Most of them run very well indeed. I simply chose the one unit that most closely meets my needs or desires, and am running with that particular unit, even to the point of acquiring rolling stock that fits well with the SD40-2 Survivors series of videos.
It’s the right model at the right time, for which the right rolling stock became available for me (from multiple manufacturers). I am able to have leaser units, secondhand units like IC&E units and still remaining CP units, and to mix them together, and really nobody can say that I’m doing anything non-prototypical or incorrect, that can’t or wasn’t happening on real railroads in the last few years.
That doesn’t make other Bowser units “inferior” in any way. There are Athearn Genesis units that are just f
If I had to pick a diesel model that I feel is better than all others it would definately be Kato, not that I have had too much bad luck although I did once have an Atlas about 15 years ago that I took the motor from and used as a dummy. For what reason I do not recollect.
I have had steam and diesel from BLI and thank goodness have been OK for me.
MTH likewise which get a bad vibe here and elsewhere at times I find very good.
If I had an observation to make here it is that the manufacturers are very very lucky that this is a game of tinkerers who are usualy pretty good at what they do and so overcome issues themselves without returning locos to the factory quite often. If folk had the issues with their phone or TV that come out of the woodwork with even some of the pretty expensive locomotives they woud be less enamoured.
OK, because I don’t keep close tabs on all this stuff anymore, I was unaware that Athearn seems to have finally stopped producing many or all of the RTR locos that were based on the BlueBox locos.
I guess I can call my garden tractor “legacy”, they have not been made since 2002, and were still based on a core design from 1971, and it will drag around backwards most of the competition, then and now.
As for Mike’s comment about DC being “legacy”, last new loco offerings I did look at, Rapido, Walthers, Athearn and others are still listing DC versions (called DCC ready)?
My old employer had very strict rules where the term “legacy” was to be applied to a product in current production.
Earlier, if the cylinder head capscrew threads in the engine block were SAE sized, and not metric, it was a legacy engine platform.
This caused some concern among customers, because our 60 liter engines had 3/4" Fine Thread on the cylinder head capscrews, thus it was a legacy engine, and that would not fly.
The rules were changed and became so complicated that most of it seemed self-contradictory.
So, I just stopped using the word “legacy” when describing our products.
Oh… the new Walthers flyer came in the mail today… The NW2 is being offered DC and Undecorated. I am going to buy one. And, the Kato GP-38 DC Undecorated has a good sale price right now.
I see it as just another pointless euphemism to water down the facts and confuse definitions.
I have heard it used by Canadians regarding old/historic houses? As if it is a government sanctioned term?
The US architectural/historic preservation community does not use it. We are rather proud of the fact that our old houses are “old”, and some are “historic”.
We don’t need a euphemism for it. The big blue house I just sold is now 120 years “old”, and still doing very well, with its original slate roof and all.
My new spot is not “new”, but not all that old yet at only 57.
They call them DCC ready but they won’t run on DC without a dummy plug to jumper the decoder connections. So, no, they aren’t DC locomotives. They’re DCC locomotives with the decoders removed.
Around here we have Heritage buildings. They’re just old buildings people are fond of so we keep using them. People get upset when we knock them down. Some “Heritage” buildings are kept because it’s just too expensive to knock them down. Some of those old buildings are “preserved” because we have no choice.
We use “legacy” to describe infrastructure that we’d like to replace or upgrade but can’t afford to so we modify the new stuff to work with the old stuff. Same idea as fitting a dummy plug.
I am told by one manufacturer that full dcc locos are outselling “dcc ready” locos by at least a rate of 55% to 45%, with the dcc side generally increasing all the time.
My best running and longest lasting diesels are from Bowser. One, a Baldwin VO1000 is decades old and runs as good as ever. I have added Loksound decoders to all of my Bowsers. It is easy to contact and deal with Bowser service dept. As well. Second favorite is Atlas (Alco S-2 and HH600). The HH came with a QSI decoder–not good. Ii replaced it with a Loksound 5.0. Great sound and excellent low speed range. With Loksound a programmer is important to have if you want to fine tune the CV’s for speed.
Yes. Legacy is not a general PC thing. Its more a corporate-speak term. Designed to distinguish new product lines from “old” product lines that are still being sold side by side. Its just a way to denote current technology from past technology. Once the current technology is in place, the previous generation becomes Legacy, even though products are still being made with previous generation technology.
If Ford still sells its Vulcan based V6, originally engineered in the 1960s I believe, that would considered to be the Legacy motor relative to a 3.5 Litre twin turbo V6 that may have been designed from scratch in the 1990’s (I don’t know the history of Ford engines).
Athearn RTR BB based motor, tweeked with a better armature, would be similar to a Vulcan V6 that has modern heads and fuel delivery system. Both are fine motors, but they are Legacy relative to the brand newly designed motors.
Yes, and the NW2 comes in undecorated and are available on most retail websites. I was going
I don’t know what they do in Canada, but the technology of building houses hasn’t really changed, so there is no Legacy to house building technology. Once the industry flips to where there is a product line of new houses built with recycled foam designed to eventually replace stick built houses, houses that are then s
Its all good for me, I knew where you were coming from. Yes, there is a certain PC bent to a lot of corporate-speak these days. But the words are trying to be precise, eventhough there are plenty of situations where these words that mean similar things overlap at times and can be used interchangeably.
If CSX said that they are painting locomotives in their “old” paint schemes instead of “heritage” paint schemes, it might give the impression they are going to use the gray.yellow.blue scheme or the older gray and blue scheme, instead of the paint schemes of the railroads that merged.
I am amazed at how much better houses are built now than when mine was built. Not really new technology, but certainly better materials and better inspections.
I know my house down to the studs now, and in 1989 when it was built, all corners were cut, and everything was as minimal as possible.
As I watch all these new houses get built in my “trending” neighborhood, everything is built so much better.
I know my point of reference does not include the houses built on the early part of the 1900s, so that might be different.
Automobiles are also infinitely better now than the two horrible cars I bought in the 1980s.
There is a show on HGTV where the couple builds a new house within 100 days. It takes place in FL so I’m interested.
They typically used concrete blocks.
One house they used sort of a thin plywood sheathed foam wafer of sorts. In segments that attached together some how. They said it was lighter, stronger, and higher rated for hurricanes. Probably expensive too.
Kevin, in every era there are well built houses and stuff built as cheap as possible. That is one of the many reasons I have never lived in a cookie cutter development. In addition to HOA’s, neighbors too close, houses like that are generally built to minimum standards.
I don’t have time right now, but I could explain soooooo much.
But the early 70’s was the last modest housing built with any craftsmanship.
Yes, the inspection authorities are now stepping up their game, most everywhere.
Rapido, Scale Trains and Genesis are the top of the line when it comes to HO scale. That is the majority of my roster. I have a few Atlas Gold units, and they are very good, along some BLI stuff. The detail on the BLI models lacks some railroad specific stuff, but no one else makes a Shark or a Centipede worth discussing.
There has been reports of BLI’s Paragon 3 decoder having issues, I have not had any, maybe I am just lucky. BLI just came out with a Paragon 4 decoder, it will be on their new GP20s and SD40-2s. Hopefully it gives people less issues than the 3 did. The GP20s will also have railroad specific details included, so that is an improvement from BLI.
I agree with you on Bachman, mid level at best, even their “high end” stuff. That seems to be an opinion that is apparently hard for some people to grasp. When Stewart first came out with their F units in the 90’s, they were amazing. Compared to the blue box stuff that was common at the time, it truly was a huge leap forward. While the detail level of those models are not on the same level as todays, that drive is still one of the best.