# Favorite Locomotive Brands



## Dr Bob (Dec 31, 2013)

I am a returning model railroader from 26 years ago. I have been building my shelf layout (DC) and I am at the stage where I am breaking out my locomotives I purchased in the late 70s and early to mid 80s. 95% of my locos are Atheran blue box. I plan on doing maintenance on them as they have been in storage since 1988. I recently purchased a new DC locomotive and find it far superior to my older locos. I wondering what modern brands of HO locomotives do you prefer in terms of running qualities such as smooth low speed operation and good detail. The loco I recently purchased is a Bowser. I understand Atlas, Walthers Proto, Kato are also very good. I would appreciate any comments based on your experience.

Thanks.

Dr Bob


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I started my current layout in the mid 80's after changing from N scale to HO. At the time, Athearn locomotives were probably the most common and best. I had a few of them but ended up replacing the Athearn motors with can motors from NWSL. In the mid 80, Atlas came out with their Alco locomotives which were impressive and I picked up a number of them, which aare still running like new. 

Now, there are more manufacturers on the market. Atlas is still among the best. You also have Kato, Stewart and Athearn Genisis. Walthers Proto 2000 are also good running locomotives. I can't speak for DCC locomotives as I am still in the stone ages operating DC only.


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## ssgt (Jan 8, 2013)

I have had good experience with BLI,Proto,atlas and newer rivarossi locomotives.The older atlas and both older and newer Athearn locomotives run well too,Granted I don't have alot of time on them yet,though most of my non BlI locomotives are used,I haven't had any trouble with them.I have had trouble with my Brass locomotives,mostly from sitting.


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

for a switching layout I love the older Atlas that are not made in China. The newer locos have great sound but lack the weight to get the job done.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

I personally like the Walthers / Proto 2000, and current Bachmann with DCC are good value, much quieter and better running than the old Athearn, especially the sintered wheel units ...


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## oldsarge218 (May 23, 2011)

If you are willing to spend a little money, check out BLI's DC/DCC sound equipped locomotives. With a $50.00 purchase of a DCMaster device, you can get the sound running them in DC. Since I don't want to invest in DCC, I am very seriously considering going this route.
God Bless
Bob


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## Sasha (Jul 8, 2012)

We have sort of a boutique of HO manufacturers here. So far, we like the Intermountain, the Broadway Limited, the M.T.H., the Athearns and the KATO. We even have some older Bachmann Spectrums that run great.

- Dad


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Here's part of my herd of Alcos. There are a few others somewhere on the layout. These Atlas Alcos came out in the mid 80's and are still fantastic running locomotives, still running like brand new. I managed to get them undecorated and custom painted them and added details for my freelance railroad. Wish I would have bought a few more. The ALCO FA unit is an Athearn I think that was remotored with a can motor. Sort of ahve a thing for Alcos.


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## Shadowplayer (Oct 31, 2014)

Atlas is nice. I personally like Bachmann the best, particularly Spectrum. The ones I have are at least 12 years old and have not been cleaned since, but they still run damn near perfect.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Chet said:


> The ALCO FA unit is an Athearn I think that was remotored with a can motor


I don't think Athearn ever made an FA unit....could that be an old Model Power unit?


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

You could be right. I'm old and remembering little things like this isn't easy. :laugh: This was done over 25 years ago, but the drive looked exactly like an Athearn drive before things were changed. Ine thing it is, is that it's extremely smooth and quiet, and with the motor change, the speeds are almost exactly the same as the Atlas locomotives and can be used in multiple service with no problems.

There is one Athearn GP-7 in the photo also. I did two of these, remotoring them and installing constant and reverse lighting before Atlas brought out their Alcos. The one thing that I didn't like about the geeps was the excessive width of the hood because of the size of the Atheran motors. Once the Alco's came out, I stayed with Atlas. I also had a couple of Athearn F-7's which were also custom painted and remotored. There really wasn't a lot of choice back in the early 80's.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

HI Gang,
I am looking for an inexpensive DCC ready or RTR DCC loco that can run on my DC layout when I finally get finished putting it together, I like steamers that smoke but will consider a diesel
I was or am curious about that one model that has sound on a dc setup, can you tell me more?
I need a loco with some pulling power since I have a 3 degree incline up to 3.5 inch's
Did I mention inexpensive?????


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

Just checked on that BLI site, they are a little too rich for me at this time but they are sure nice


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## TA462 (Oct 17, 2014)

Nobody really makes a bad locomotive anymore. My loco's are mostly Atlas, Proto2000 and Kato with some Intermountain, Athearn Genesis and Rapido loco's thrown in. I've never been a fan of Bachmann but their newer stuff is far better then what it use to be.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

TA462 said:


> Nobody really makes a bad locomotive anymore. My loco's are mostly Atlas, Proto2000 and Kato with some Intermountain, Athearn Genesis and Rapido loco's thrown in. I've never been a fan of Bachmann but their newer stuff is far better then what it use to be.


I just bought a Life like, Scene Master, Mikado 2-8-2 with operating smoke that is Brand New in the box for 50 bucks on Ebay, I assume it is NOS, anyone have any idea how old it is. There is a bar code on the box I can see in the pictures.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Bkubiak -- that loco is at least 10 years old, since Walthers acquired LifeLike to get the Proto 1000 / 2000 lines, but didn't have any interest in the Scenemaster because they already had their own "budget" line in the Trainline series and discontinued the Scenemaster line.

Just to avoid any confusion, Proto 2000 and 1000 product lines went away 2 years ago. Walthers calls them Proto and Mainline (respectively).

For my favorites, Bachmann Spectrum, any of the Walthers lines (Proto, Mainline, and Trainline), Rapido, and Mehano / IHC -- they were making excellent locos under the Command XXV line, but went out of busineess about 5 years ago. I understand that Mehano is back under it's own name, but don't have any basis for comparison to see if the quality is the same.

And since the term "inexpensive" has come up, I will note that Walthers Proto and Rapido generally don't fit in that category, but their detailing and running is superb.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

CTValleyRR said:


> Bkubiak -- that loco is at least 10 years old, since Walthers acquired LifeLike to get the Proto 1000 / 2000 lines, but didn't have any interest in the Scenemaster because they already had their own "budget" line in the Trainline series and discontinued the Scenemaster line.
> 
> Just to avoid any confusion, Proto 2000 and 1000 product lines went away 2 years ago. Walthers calls them Proto and Mainline (respectively).
> 
> ...


If the Loco runs well and it smokes too that is a big plus for me, the one I have is missing the headlight and the front bell or whistle and some of the linkage on the right side and the trailing wheels barely touch the track and those copper power strips that take power from the wheels to the motor are broken and only the rear wheels get power, getting a loco new in a box even if it is old stock is huge for me.

Also I found a deal on an Athern GP 40X diesel another NIB deal that is DCC ready, got both locos for 50.00 each.

I was at the "Ready to Run" train store in North Miami and saw a demo of a Bachman DCC Sound train set they are pushing for 249.00 and I did not like the sound, it was very weak.

I finally finished the tracks on my layout, I gotta clean up all my stuff off the table and get some pictures, I think it turned out pretty nice with all the info and suggestion I got here, I picked up some Woodland Scenics stuff at RTR and am about to start the scenery part.


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## ggnlars (Aug 6, 2013)

Based on my recent testing, I would vote for Atlas China and anything Kato. The later Athearn offerings including RTR are good, better than the BB. 

The earlier BB round motor with Grey fly wheels or not are OK for DC with large power packs. They are current hogs. They are generally brutes when it come to pulling. The problem is if your going to go to DCC their stall currents are around 3.0 amps. 

The later BB with the retangular open frame motor and brass fly wheels are a good intermediate choice. They generally do not pull as well as the round units. Their stall currents are still just under 2 amps so you have to be careful with the decoder selection if you go DCC. 

The Atlas China and Kato units have stall currents in the neighborhood of 1.0 amps and their max load current is around 0.5 amps. vary favorable for DC or DCC.
Larry
Check out my blog: www.llxlocomotives.com


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I will have to agree with you about the early BB Athearn locomotives being current hogs. As I mention, I have replaced all the original BB motors with NWSL can motors, and what a difference. At 9 volts, the old motors would draw up to 2 amps. After repowering them with can motors, they drew less than a quarter amp, about what the Atlas units draw, and perform almost as good as the Atlas units. 

Operating on grades, the original motors slowed quite a but with a load behind them, and would surge going down grade with a load. After remotoring them, the speed upgrade was a lot better and they went down grade very smoothly. 

Back in the mid 80's, there really weren't a lot of choices like we have now, but with a bit of tweaking, the Athearn BB units can perform extremely well. After getting my Atlas Alcos, I never bought another BB locomotive. I do have one Genisis F-7 and it performs on par with any good locomotive.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Bkubiak said:


> If the Loco runs well and it smokes too that is a big plus for me, the one I have is missing the headlight and the front bell or whistle and some of the linkage on the right side and the trailing wheels barely touch the track and those copper power strips that take power from the wheels to the motor are broken and only the rear wheels get power, getting a loco new in a box even if it is old stock is huge for me.
> 
> Also I found a deal on an Athern GP 40X diesel another NIB deal that is DCC ready, got both locos for 50.00 each.
> 
> ...


I wasn't trying to imply that there's anything wrong with a 10 year old loco (two of mine are 3x that), but after sitting in the box that long, it likely needs a little TLC to get it up and running.


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## TA462 (Oct 17, 2014)

I've got a few Proto 2000 GP9's, GP7'S and GP 30's that are around ten years old and run like a clock. Nothing wrong with old loco's as long as they are maintained well.


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## Dr Bob (Dec 31, 2013)

Thanks for all the comments. My experiences with older equipment seems to be the same as others. My old Athearns were good for their day, but not up to today's standards. I do own an older Atlas Alco that runs like a high priced sewing machine. It's as good as any newer DC locomotive I have seen so far.

As for my collection of older Athearn loco, I need to decide if I want to use them as is and slowly upgrade my fleet, or spend the time and money to add the necessary wheels, motors, etc. I am leaning towards using them as is and upgrade to new locos over time. Based on comments here, the new Athearn loco seem to be much improved and competitive with others in the market. I will keep that in mind.

I saw the BLI loco with DC/DCC and sound. So are these fully wired to be either DC or DCC?

Dr Bob :smilie_daumenpos:


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## ssgt (Jan 8, 2013)

BLI will run dc or dcc right out of the box.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

Dr Bob said:


> Thanks for all the comments. My experiences with older equipment seems to be the same as others. My old Athearns were good for their day, but not up to today's standards. I do own an older Atlas Alco that runs like a high priced sewing machine. It's as good as any newer DC locomotive I have seen so far.
> 
> As for my collection of older Athearn loco, I need to decide if I want to use them as is and slowly upgrade my fleet, or spend the time and money to add the necessary wheels, motors, etc. I am leaning towards using them as is and upgrade to new locos over time. Based on comments here, the new Athearn loco seem to be much improved and competitive with others in the market. I will keep that in mind.
> 
> ...


I just received my New NOS NIB Athern GP-40X that is DCC Quick Plug Equipped. I ran it on my layout and it runs as smooth and quiet as can be, I want to look inside but I cannot figure how to take the the Body off. The snowplow hits the screws on the turnout motor, any thoughts there?


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Being that I am a DC only operator, I looked at the locomotives available from BLI and after seeing the prices just about had the big one. Wow, they sure are proud of them. I have purchased excellent brass locomotives for less.


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## ssgt (Jan 8, 2013)

Bkubiak said:


> I just received my New NOS NIB Athern GP-40X that is DCC Quick Plug Equipped. I ran it on my layout and it runs as smooth and quiet as can be, I want to look inside but I cannot figure how to take the the Body off. The snowplow hits the screws on the turnout motor, any thoughts there?


Some of those locomotives have a removable cover over the plug location that snaps or slides off.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Bkubiak said:


> I just received my New NOS NIB Athern GP-40X that is DCC Quick Plug Equipped. I ran it on my layout and it runs as smooth and quiet as can be, I want to look inside but I cannot figure how to take the the Body off. The snowplow hits the screws on the turnout motor, any thoughts there?


That should not happen, but it's more likely to be the turnouts than the loco. Are you using remote snap switches? Maybe just tightening them down would work.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

CTValleyRR said:


> That should not happen, but it's more likely to be the turnouts than the loco. Are you using remote snap switches? Maybe just tightening them down would work.


A careful read of my parts list says there are two plows a high plow and a low plow, I am assuming I have the low plow and it strikes the screw heads that hold the motor to the turnout, Gonna see if I can remove the plow or modify it to miss plus I will check those screws

In my steamer parts list there is a part number for those copper contact strips, any idea where I could order a pair????


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Bkubiak said:


> A careful read of my parts list says there are two plows a high plow and a low plow, I am assuming I have the low plow and it strikes the screw heads that hold the motor to the turnout, Gonna see if I can remove the plow or modify it to miss plus I will check those screws
> 
> In my steamer parts list there is a part number for those copper contact strips, any idea where I could order a pair????


Is the loco with the low snow plow one you got on eBay? Those kinds of things are usually in a small bag inside the box.

As for the other, can you contact the manufacturer?


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