# What are some of your favorite brands of locomotives and rolling stock?



## punchy71 (Dec 1, 2014)

Greetings,
I was wanting to get some opinions, hopefully based upon experience, on what some of you model railroaders think on all the different available brands of locomotives and cars, primarily in HO scale. I'm especially interested in the smaller locomotives and cars and not so much the medium or larger sized ones.
For example let me know what your overall and general impression is on, say, for example; Mantua, Atlas, MTH, Kato, MRC, Bachmann, Athearn, Walthers, etc., etc., etc.... both locomotives and cars.
Feel free to coment about what it is that you think is so great or poor about the ones you've encountered or use and own. Also describe what it is that you personally look for and avoid when selecting both locomotives and rolling stock for your layout.
Thank you


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## little fat buddy (Jan 14, 2011)

for rollingstock ive had good luck with the walthers lineup good middleroad detail and decent price point for what you get for a high end exact rail is very nice but pricey i like the walthers and athearn cars there what id reccomend for locomotives i have only dealt with 2 brands so far and thats mth and broadway limited imports both are god but for detail and sound and lighting performance the bli wins in my opinion hope this help.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Punchy, all I can say to this one is that you're just rephrasing the old "what's the best..." paradigm. Everyone has their own preferences, likes and dislikes, and none of them will match yours.

You're not going to get a bad apple if you stay away from train set stuff. Some models are more detailed, have steel wheels and knuckle couplers, but these are more expensive. You will need to find your sweek spot between detail and price. Let me give you an example. On another forum, I expressed my excitement that Walthers was re-releasing their Alco DL-109 in their Mainline series. I liked the different paint jobs and level of detail, but the thread quickly went sour when a couple of posters complained loudly and often that the details on the model didn't match either the factory configuration or the final New Haven one. I could give a rat's hindquarters personally. They're nicely (if not completely prototypically) detailed, well painted, good runners, and in the right price range. 

So it doesn't really matter what we think. Only you can answer that question. Don't be afraid to try.


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