I’m starting to put my HO scale locomotive roster together and I’m planning to buy a MP15 (or SW1500) and a GP38-2 in Norfolk Southern, Canadian National or CSX colours.
I used to have several Athearn GP38-2 and I always found them to be very reliable, but I don’t have any experience with the newer version of this locomotive. From looking online it seems to be much more detailed than the 1990’s version! The handrails in particular look a lot better!
Obviously this is a very subjective question, but if you were buying a plastic GP38-2 which brand would you go for?
So far I’m thinking Athearn or Atlas, with Bachmann in a close third place. What brand/range would get me the best deail and performance for this type of engine?
Are there any potential pitfalls I need to look out for regarding adding sound or DCC to each brand? I will be using a Bachman EZ Control DCC controller.
I have a couple of the Athearn GP38-2’s, one blue box and the other RTR. They both run well. I have a Bachmann GP38-2 on the way to me so I don’t have any experience with it yet but if it’s like my Bachmann GP30’s and GP7’s I expect it to do well also. The Bachmann EZ-Command DCC system is a good system to give you a taste of DCC but I would recommend upgrading to a better system when you can. I use the Digitrax Zephyr myself and NCE also makes a good system.
I have the older BB and the newer RTR GP38-2s both are equal in operation except the newer one is a tad quieter and superior to the older BB due to the metal grabs,thinner handrails crisper paint and lettering.
The Atlas Trainman GP38-2 is a smooth runner but,lacks grab irons.
The Walthers/LL P2K GP38-2 is still top dog as far as detail and is a smooth runner.
Ah yes the improved SW1500…I have nothing but praise for this locomotive…Its highly detailed and as smooth as a Atlas and I dare say Kato as well.
It’s hard to beat the Atlas drive train and quality–usually very quiet and strong, etc. But, they may have a different paint scheme available than what you want. I have Atlas GP38 and Athearn GP40s. I actually sometimes prefer the old Athearn blue box(just bought a blue box caboose yesterday and was encouraged to find it) due to metal handrails vs new Athearn RTR plastic handrails that are easily broken(Atlas too). Depends on how much you want to handle the loco vs appearance.
I would also consider if the chassis has been manufactured to easily accept speakers. The electrical part of sound/dcc installation is pretty simple. But to develop an installation plan and cut/modify the frame and body can get time consuming to make room for the bigger(or any) speakers. And the bigger the speaker with good baffling(needs well thought out design too) gives you better results. Not that you want sound now, but you may in the future.
I don’t have Bachmann’s GP38-2, but I do have several Bachmann DCC OnBoard Locos. Every one of them is fine and runs great. I do not have any experience with Bachmann’s DCC SOund OnBoard locos, as I don’t care for sound locos, but I imagine they should be great locos too. My entire fleet of locos actually is made up of Bachmann DCC OnBoard locos.
I don’t do any installations as I can fry a bread toaster by plugging it in, so I don’t know installation of decoders or sound speakers either.
I DO know about the Bachmann EZ COmand DCC system. I actually have 2 of them. One for my small regular layout and one for my under-the-table-top-tree layout. They are good basic entry-level DCC systems. I think Next year for Xmas I will get a Digitrax Zephyr Xtra 3 Amp system, though. I want to be able to address more locos than the EZC can without programming/reprograming locos all the time as I have more than 10 locos now- assuming Santa brought me some I asked for!!!. Use it for now, but I think that you will find you will want to upgrade to a better system, especailly if you like to control your loco’s sounds and other features.
As relatively inexpensive as the Bachmann DCC OnBoard locos are {without sound} , they really wouldn’t owe me anything if they failed. But if they did fail, As I understand it from postings here, Bachmann has a great service center here in Philly, PA. They are great at warrantee service and apparently even at out-of-warrantee service. And even if you broke it or “worked on it first”. If they can help, they apparently will as least costly to you as possible.
Just my thoughts, opinions and experiences, others may vary.
I would Second Atlas as well. All my locos are Atlas other than one Athearn Dash 9. The Trainman is a great value and you can get the detail parts to upgrade it… Also atlas does have some Silver and Gold moldels in the GP-38, but not sure if they fit your paint scheme you are looking for.
I wanted to run something modern on occasion so I picked up a couple of Proto 2000 GP38-2s in the NS scheme. VERY smooth runners, great paint scheme, and the detailing is quite nice, too.
The only issue I know with the Proto 2000 GP38-2s is the light board. Here’s a couple links from Tony’s Train Exchange site on how to remedy the problem:
I have several GP38-2’s in Athearn & Atlas. I have had very good luck with both types, the Atlas is a quieter locomotive. I had a Bachmann newer run 38-2 and I must say it was a very good runner. The details and paint were a little less than perfect but that can be fixed. The only reason I dont have it anymore is because somone wanted to trade an Athearn RTR for it.
I own only a single GP38-2, an Atlas Trainman CN one. I put a TCS T1P-MH (couldn’t find a T1P-SH in stock anywhere last year) decoder in it. It runs fine, nice and slow, and a great puller. I’ll be putting grabs on it at some point in the future. And I’ll pick up another one to mount an Atlas GP38 NECR painted body on that I got from the Atlas site last year.
I have had a couple of Athearn and Bachmann locos GP-38-2 GP-40 etc The only trouble with athearn is that the details are a fragile. The Bachmann have less detail but have proven to be good runner as well.
Thanks for all the replies. I have my eye on a couple of nice Atlas GP38’s which my local secondhand model shop has in stock, and I just picked up a Chicago Belt RTR Athearn like this http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH79975 very cheaply on ebay (only £25 which is about what I paid for these engines twenty years ago!)
I plan to repaint it as a Norfolk Southern locomotive.
So, next question… how do I go about adding DCC and sound to that style of RTR Athearn? It dates from 2005 so is it the same as the current models in the range?
I’ve played with different brands of GP38s - Athearn blue box, Life-Like Proto 2000, Atlas, and Atlas Trainman.
The Atlas and Atlas Trainman GP38s are the best running locos hands down. The only diff between the two is that the Trainman doesn’t have the metal grab irons.
Ok, I recently bought an Atlas Canadian Pacific GP40 back in Sept. Up until this time, I’ve been reluctant to buy Atlas or Kato due to the many breakable detail parts. I’m still on the fence about that. Remember, I have a 5 yr old train freak in my house. Basically a junior version of me! However,having seen it run, I’m in love. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my Athearn locos, always will. In fact, I bought my first Genesis SD70 at the same time, LOVE IT too!! & will always love the racket the BB’s make.
Ok, back to the Atlas, I put the thing on the track, slowly cranked the power up & it eased from a stop so quietly, I was amazed.
I have the Atlas Geep, a P2K Geep & a crap load of Athearn BB Geeps, I love them all for different reasons.
Athearn BB for the noise, durability & simplicity of them
P2K for the paint & details
Atlas for the quietness & the details on the loco
Many people will probably will disagree with me, but Atlas, P2K & Athearn BB & RTR all have there good & bad points, it’s up to the individual what is right for him/her.
As far as a GP38-2, I have an Athearn. It is currently in pieces awaiting some detail parts on the fuel tank and some paint, a sound decoder lighting and will be operating shortly, hopefully.
I have two Atlas Trainman GP39-2s and wouldn’t trade them for the world. I installed Tsunamis in them and will be adding detail parts to the shells and ditch lights and they will look even greater than they already do.
The Proto 2000 GP38-2 is by far the best available ready to run. The Atlas Trainman version will take a fair bit of detailing to bring it up to the Proto 2000 level. The Athearn RTR as well needs a ton of detail to bring it up to the Proto standard. For durability and performance the Proto and Atlas are equal with the Athearn version a noisy second. I own examples of all three and that is how I would rate them. If detail and performance is important to you then choose the Proto version. If your only interested in performance and don’t care about missing detail then choose the Trainman. If your looking for a cheap reliable version thats a little noisy then get the Athearn RTR version.