The Atlas (1997+) GP series. I had a brace of GP30/35/40s running on a small layout with 3% grades for 8 hours a day, 6 days straight for the Montana State Fair in 2007-2008, and they ran flawlessly. And the mid-production Kato SD40-2. Flat reliable, smooth and quiet.
The catalog suggests December 2019. https://resources.bachmanntrains.com/2019nmraslc/html5/index.html As with all promise dates, that is a wish.
MK, the new EM-1's are shipping now. A club member got notice of mailing from an e-tailer yesterday. C
Thanks Carl. I took a look at it closely and although it is BEAUTIFUL(!), it might be a bit big to run on T-Trak.
I looked it up the other day, but not modeling N, promptly forgot the name because he doesn't do HO. It's a guy with a 3D printer, basically. I would have linked his site, but I've seen members bitched at for that. It's affordable, and fits the Kato SD45 chassis (which is probably used under several Kato C-Cs) with only modifications to one or both couplers. I searched "N scale Kraus Maffei" to find it...
You can't go by numbers of units. F units only make enough horsepower to pull two carloads of toilet paper. You don't even have a locomotive until you m.u. four or five of them and a few gerbils in wheels.
Though I don't have them here with me in France, I love my Atlas GP15-1's. Yes I converted them to DCC years ago, planing to convert them with sound once I have them in my grasp. Plus I like my other Atlas locomotives, because they are smooth and slow runners.
Hmmm. Well, I still have custom painted Atlas SD9. From the first ever issue of that unit by them. Runs great, looks plenty good enough for me. But then I also enjoy my Kato NW2....
I could wax poetic about steam all day... but I have to admit that my favorite models to run, right now, are my E-R Pennsy sharks and Atlas CNJ H-15-44s. Both handle my compact 2'x4' layout without any trouble, are short enough to not overhang too much on 9-3/4" radius, and both are right at home pulling the 40-50' freight cars which are pretty much the reasonable size limit for that small of a loop.
I only have two N scale standard gauge locomotives. An Atlas 4-4-0 Oldtimer and a Kato SD-70ace. They are my favorites.
The Life Like FA-1's with the split frame are great pullers and can run slow. Have pulled 100 car freights with 4 units for several hours at shows. Were still cool at end of day. Do not have any from Atlas to compare.
While I like my Kato locomotives the best, my favorites are my GP38/38-2s by Atlas and Walthers because thats my favorite prototype locomotive. Ralph
I like all of my locos, of course. But the favorites are the one-off's that I with my limited skills, were able to do the work myself on the shells/mechanisms, with much help/ideas from friends, of course! The URL below the picture leads to each loco's photo documentary on what I did (I document because if I don't document it for myself, I'll never remember what I did (especially as the years go by....), in case I ever get asked "what did you do" or if I ever decide to do another one ). In order of completion: --------- Santa Fe GP7 B unit - Des Plaines GP7/9 B unit kit ( http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/store/product/43003/N-GP7-9-B-CONV-KIT/ ) on a standard Atlas GP7 shell/mechanism, completed in Jan 2008: https://pbase.com/atsf_arizona/gp7b_construction&page=all ------- Southern Pacific Black Widow SD7's - took 8 LifeLike SD-7 mechanisms to arrive at 4 that I was able to tune to run to my standards, in process learned to disassemble/reassemble the LifeLike SD7 shell and tune that particular mechanism (ping me if you have questions about what I learned), did the renumbering/numberboard on #5321. Yes, these prototypically need to install SP barrel headlights which I have acquired but yet to install. Completed in late 2008: https://pbase.com/atsf_arizona/lifelike_n_sd7_shell_removal__renumbering&page=all --------- Santa Fe U30CG's - redone Minitrix shells on Kato U30C / C30-7 mechanism, completed in 2012: https://pbase.com/atsf_arizona/santa_fe_u30cg&page=all ---------- Santa Fe RSD-15 - redone Model Power shell, handrails by Randgust, on a Atlas B40-8 mechanism fitted with Atlas C628 trucks, completed in 2015: https://pbase.com/atsf_arizona/n_scale_rsd15&page=all You can do a faster even better build of your own RSD-15 or RSD-7 nowadays, using Dirk Jan Blikkendaal's (of The Netherlands) ATSF N Scale Models kit for the RSD-15, I have one of his conversion kits and can vouch for the quality, the good instructions, the well thought out method he provides. His kit well worth it: http://atsfnscalemodels.com/projects/rsd-15, rsd-7.html ------------ Happy Holidays, all. Let's build a lot of models in 2020!
@HemiAdda2d My 'favorites' were lost in the fire, (CP FP40s?) you did up. My new favorites are the Great Northern U50s. Beyond that I have the Fox Valley Hiawatha which is beautiful and works well with the Kato sound box.
My semi-local hobby shop has one of the new B-mann EM-1s in stock. It's a beast! My favorite locomotives are my Walthers C-Liners that I converted to ESU LokSound. They look good, run smoothly and silently (when the sound is muted) and pull a ton. I didn't even need to cut any of the frames because Walthers modified the Life-Like frames to accommodate a MRC sound decoder. I did need to hack up the stock circuit board, but that's much easier than milling the frames.