Hi, I’m new here, and rediscovering trains. I’m running HO scale, and I have an Athearn diesel that I’ve been pretty happy with. I’m looking at a Model Power DDT Plymouth Indistrial Deisel switcher. I’d like opinions on this locomotive.
The same shop also has several (larger) Athearn diesels, as well as a Bachmann. The Bachmann looks pretty nice. Is it speed-compatible with the Athearns? And how do they compare for quality with the Athearn?
I have many old Tyco cars (junk, I know, but I am the type who fixes up rather than throws out) and engines, but the engines are mostly broke and I need some new ones
If your talking about the BB Athearns, they are good for starting back up with and are good work horses. As far as Bachmann, make sure its the Spectrum line of loco’s, these are built better and runn good to.
As far as Athearn & Bachmann running together, I think you are talking about the engines if I am not wrong here. They are close in speed but not quite, I never have really tried that to many to many times, but when I did I did not have very good luck at it.
If you are running older Tyco cars, up grade the wheels to the metal Intermountain and the couplers to KADEE’s, you won’t regret doing these updates.
By the way[#welcome] to the forum, good luck to you on your renewed hobby!
If it were me, and knowing what I know about model railroad equipment now, I’d stomp on the Model Power DDT and go out and buy a Life-Like GM switcher .
The Athearn engine is your ‘basic’ good HO engine. That Model Power switcher is on the bottom end - real junk! You will not be able to get parts for it, and the running qualities are poor(I suspect brass wheels, no flywheels, and poor electrical pickup). If you are looking for a small diesel switcher, take a look at the Athearn SW7, SW1000, or SW1500 engines - same quality as that bigger engine.
Bachmann diesels - There are two basic levels here:
Spectrum series - this is their ‘top end’ and most of them run quite good. There are a few ‘ringers’ however. Their quality control is all over the place.
Bachmann or Bachmann Plus - This is their low end ‘train set’ engines and they are all over the place as far as running quality or even ability to stay together after a few hours of operation. There are few ‘gems’ in the line, and the DCC equipped engines seem to have a better track record(but you are paying for a feature you may not use). Being able to run with another brand is real hit or miss, most folks use DCC to ‘speed match’ engines so they run together. I suspect you are not running DCC, and are not ready to spend the bucks for a system or the decoders to install in your engines. So, running on basic DC from a power pack I would stick with something like the Athearns or maybe the Proto 1000(Life-Like) engines - all good value. Be aware that Life-Like also makes cheap ‘train set’ engines and very nice models like their Proto line.
I would suggest that you take a look at some old posts. This topic comes up quite regularly and will likely answer many of your questions.
I think one of the most frequent quotes is “You get what you pay for”
You will find many supporters for Atlas, Kato, Athearn Genysis, Life Like Prote 2000 and Proto 1000. and Bachman Spectum. These tend to fall in the Higher Quality catigory.
Athearn Blue box and the new DCC ready Bachman would be Mid level quality.
Tyco, Old Bachman, others. Lower quality.
For answers on running engines together, you will find many posts on this also.
Also, Welcome to the Forum. There is a lot of info here.
Thanks for the input - I had a feeling the Model Power switcher would be a disappointment. I will look into the other choices.
My head is spinning. I just had my first experience with kadee couplers and installing kadee trucks on an old atlas gondola car… I think a new thread is in order…
