I agree with the Life like PA, it has no problem with 30+ cars up a 1.3% oval helix. It is very heavy. However, my Rivarossi Berkshire with Traction tires does equally well. Unfortunately, that is all of the cars that I have now. It is a mixture of freight cars, passenger and cabooses.
Thanks to all for Your comments! As i believe, all (or alnmost all) KATO N-Scale locos have Traction Tires. This improove pulling force up to tripple times! But, as we already know, these tires are unconductive. Does traction tires prevent good current pickup? If we compare the quality of current pickup fully american locos (Like Walters, InterMountain... ) which are without traction tires, with KATO locos with ones - will we differ qualities of curent pickups? ---- Vadim.
Most of my Kato engines run smoothly and pull well even the older ones like the SD45, U30C and the C44-9W. The beauty of it is that ALL Kato diesels do not have traction tires. Cheers,
Excellent! Thanks, But how about P42 (from KATO)? How we are forgetting the famous AmTrack Locomotive??? Is it robust? How about Current Pickup, Traction Tires, couplings, strong radiuses? --- Vadim
It is pretty good, but not as good as the SD90/80 or the PA units from Kato. It has the same current pick ups as the rest of the Kato line so there are no issues there. None of the Kato diesels have traction tires, they only put those on the steam locomotives.
Thanks! Recently I d ordered a couple of P42 in green-blue , in aim to use of back-to-back couple to pull passenger trains. I think, that these diesels will be beautiful, robust and as good as all KATO! --- Vadim
Priv'yat Vadim, Ya dumaio shto tvoi zelenye-sinye P42 budet VIA (Kanada), nyet Amtrak (CWA). Mike D. I think my most robust locomotive is an Atlas GP-9. My three year old (Daniel) recently picked it up and threw it across the room. The sill and couplers are toast, but the danged engine (and its digitrax decoder) still runs silky smooth. Other contenders are a MP metal FP7 that I gave my five year old (Victor) to run on a circle of unitrack alongside his wooden Thomas set and a 25 year old Atlas FA1 that hadn't run for 23 years that he somehow got to run again.
Yes, It's a Canadian color! The Couple of P42 at this color looks like more harmonical in aggregate with blue-green "Bettendorf" west-german passenger cars. On the other way as i visited USA, it was fantastish to look on arriving Amtrak train at Baltimores station (even i made some photos! ) And P42 well known for Americans and prima facie associated with AmTrak! --- Vadim
Lou, I have no traction tires on any of my Kato RS-2's or RSC-2's. I have no others so I can not comment on them.
David,I'll hafta check my RS2's,not sure if they do or not,mine are pretty new.The RSC2 and RSD12's don't have them..
Здравствуйте, Vadimav! I think you will be very happy with the Kato P42s. A clubmate owns four of these and they are excellent pullers for his passenger consists, reliable, and durable, and they look nice, too. Good choice.
All Kato's Japanese trains have traction tires but not the US ones, except the GS4 and 2-8-2, the Americans don't seem to like traction tires as much.
Thanks, Now i understood. I m also interested in KATO suburb train N 10543, http://www.some train store.com/v/vspfiles/photos/KAT-10543-1.jpg but now i understood about traction tires on it - this is all because it indended for japan. This train has 6 cars and only one motor car, and, in addition to all, this car has traction tires :mhissyfit:!!! ( I also think that without ones this train cannot rise up at 2 degree slope:tb-hissyfit:, pulling all 5 coaches) I think this train originally havent good current pickup, although looks like nice for buying in my collection at building layout. Therefore i still thinking.... If i ll buy it, i ll make current pickup in all coaches and ll connect it together(as i already made in 2 commuter passenger trains like it), resulning in dependable riding, but it's too and too fiddly:mnerd: --- Vadim
