# N Scale Loco Manufacturers



## Walman (Dec 18, 2011)

What brand of loco manufacturers (diesel/electric models) do you like/recommend (or not)? I'll be buying my loco fleet (and cars) over the next weeks-months so would like to clearly focus on the mid-range and better brands. DCC equipped is my preference but DCC-ready will work. My railroad (freelanced) will be current day so 99% of what I will buy will reflect current day or reasonably recent past equipment. For what it is worth BNSF will be my main railroad….my wife worked for them out of college in the 90s so she is insisting 

Walman


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## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

Well I run N scale, my recommendation is Kato. Made in Japan and very high quality, have not had any problems with mine.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Kato and Atlas


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## Russell (Dec 11, 2009)

Like the two fellows before me I have to say Atlas and Kato.

In N-Scale I have four locomotives. Three are Atlas and run well, plus the paint work is excellent. They run so well that one might take it for granted. I did. Then I got an Atherns locomotive with which I am having problems. Also the paint work is not as good. I can see the fuzzy 'straight' line between two colours. It's not crisp. It blurs. Having said this, I am talking about one locomotive and maybe I've just been unlucky.

I don't have a Kato locomotive but do run their Unitrack which is also excellent.

Unless you are very skillful I recommend that you do not get DCC ready. Get DCC equipped. You'll have to pay for that decoder somewhere down the line. Also, once you start with DCC, it will have to all be DCC anyway.

Best of luck.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Russell said:


> Also, once you start with DCC, it will have to all be DCC anyway.


 rofl I say this to myself all the time. You can snag a engine cheap but don't forget to add a decoder  bam not enough money, lol.

warning just another option
I will give the Atlas a another plug. They are better in their smaller detail then Kato. Handrails look more natural, little warning stickers seem closer to the real ones and paint jobs and very well done for being made in China. Atlas seem to run at a more prototypical speed too. They excel at just crimping along at a snails space.
Kato I would say is better running engine though. When the Atlas starts jerking from dirty track the Kato will remain un-phased. The problem with Kato is their handrails, good they are ugly. They really need to work on getting them into portion with the rest of the engine. Katos always run, they have a higher top speed but don't like crawling supper slow. They just love to run and do a fantastic job at it.
If you plan on running consist, I would recommend staying with one brand. It will make your life easier when resetting values. 
I never ran my N scales on dc so this is based on all Digitrax Decoders/ DCC.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

I really can't stand the smaller scales (I'm an O gauge guy ), but my dad bought a Kato F7 set at a train show a few years ago and it is awesome (especially since I can sneak it in my suitcase and take it on vacation so I don't have train withdrawal). A really smooth running engine.

That being said, I would highly recommend Kato.


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Atlas and Kato are great. I have about a hundred locos. Most are Kato, and the older Atlas motors (90s) wore out their bearings. Have some ConCor. Not buying any more ConCor.

Athearn are also good in N scale. I have an F59phi that is very good. Not sure about decoders, though. I run DC.

I almost forgot that I have found the 1993 LifeLike E8 locos useful for pulling lighted Kato passenger cars, because it takes a lot of juice to light up the Kato cars, even with LED lighting kits, and giving the LifeLike E8 a lot of juice results in a sensible speed for the train. Do that to a Kato E8 and it rips along like a NASCAR racer. This is good in DC, and I know that spending a lot of money to upgrade to DCC and upgrading the light kits in the Kato cars to LED will also solve the issue of getting the passenger cars to light up without moving the train too fast, but those LifeLike E8s cost me about $10 apiece, compared to the hundreds for DCC and new Kato LED light kits. The LifeLike E8s are not DCC-ready.


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## Russell (Dec 11, 2009)

PMCGurin wrote,


> I have about a hundred locos.


That's amazing . That's like this many locos .

WOW












I only have a few


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Russell said:


> PMCGurin wrote,
> 
> That's amazing . That's like this many locos .
> 
> ...


Well, it was a waste of money. After all, how many can you run on 4 tracks? I know, with DCC you could run a lot of them.

I did learn a bit about the different makes of model locos. 

I think if you like DCC, go Atlas, seems like more are offered with decoders installed.
Otherwise Athearn, Kato, LifeLike, ConCor, anything else in that order.

I got fired up by this to put my LifeLike E8 Wabash loco on the track with the lighted Kato Wabash passenger cars last night. Derailed madly at the Kato double crossover. When I got it to run, it was pretty.


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## Walman (Dec 18, 2011)

pmcgurin said:


> I got fired up by this to put my LifeLike E8 Wabash loco on the track with the lighted Kato Wabash passenger cars last night. Derailed madly at the Kato double crossover. When I got it to run, it was pretty.


So where did the "Wabash" railroad run? I grew up on the banks of the Wabash (the Indiana <best> side) but don't ever remember a Wabash railroad. I've seen the locos and cars though so might just need to pick up a few over time.

Walman


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## pmcgurin (Sep 7, 2010)

Walman said:


> So where did the "Wabash" railroad run? I grew up on the banks of the Wabash (the Indiana <best> side) but don't ever remember a Wabash railroad. I've seen the locos and cars though so might just need to pick up a few over time.
> 
> Walman


I bought the Wabash set because I liked the blue and silver scheme. Then I researched it and found it ran in Indiana, I think to Indianapolis from ?? Wabash ?? It has been about ten years ++ since I bought that stuff and researched it. It's my favorite set of cars plus locos.


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## Walman (Dec 18, 2011)

Thanks I'll check it out.


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