After reading the comments concerning Kato / Concor GS4 it makes me submit this ........... In the process of building our Steam Roster even before the layout is built, which seems to be fairly common amongst us N scalers, we purchased one of almost every N Scale Steamer that is currently available, they are.. Athearn 4-8-8-4 Big Boy Grade A Athearn 4-6-6-4 Challenger A Athearn 2-8-0 Mogul A Bachmann 2-6-6-2 Mallet A Bachmann 4-8-2 Light Mountain C Bachmann 4-8-2 Heavy Mountain A Bachmann 4-8-4 J Class A Bachmann 2-8-0 Consolidated C Con Cor 2-10-2 USRA Heavy C Con Cor 4-6-4 Hudson A InterMtn 4-8-8-2 Cab Fwd A Kato GS-4 4-8-4 Daylight A Kato GS-4 4-8-4 WarBaby A Kato 2-8-2 Mikado A Life Like 2-8-8-2 Mallet A Life Like 2-8-4 Berkshire B ModelPower 4-6-2 Pacific C Rivarossi 4-6-2 Pacific B Now my question is, even though I have put the Grade given by Spookshow, In what order would you rate these 19 locomotives, first to last ? fatalxsunrider43
With the Bachmann 2-8-0 do you mean the Spectrum version? Spookshow rates it 'A'. I'd put the Spectrum 2-8-0 and Heavy Mountain at the top of my list as they are good running, DCC friendly and nicely detailed, but mostly because they are ordinary looking workaday locomotives that don't shout out 'UP', 'SP', or 'N&W' if I letter them for my own road while I'm waiting for someone, anyone, to bring out decent Santa Fe steam.
Hehe, but the USRA Heavy 4-8-2 is correct for N&W , except for some DUMB reason Bachmann put the wrong tender on it (they have the correct tender, but didn't use it). But I see your point. Mark
My Kato steam locomotives (both American and Japanese prototypes) are the best steam that I own but I would include the Model Power 2-6-0, 4-4-0, and 2-8-2 Light Mikado on your list. The Mogel and the American are both pretty good runners.
We can debate until the cows come in(or we convert all these HO guys to the correct scale!) about which steam engine is the BEST. The INDIANA RAILWAY has probably got over 100+ steamers, and to single one particular engine out and say it's the best...............But I'll do some on your list. 1) Kato 2-8-2 Mikado 2) Bachmann 2-8-0 Spectrum ONLY 3) Con-Cor 2-10-2 USRA 4) Kato Gs-4 4-8-4 Daylight or War Baby (Same mechanism under shell) 5) Athearn 4-8-8-4 or 4-6-6-4(Clinchfield Model) Both have had the D**N original decoders replaced! 6) Con-Cor(Kato) 4-6-4 Hudson 2nd edition is BEST. 30+ years old & it still runs like a watch. 7) Athearn 2-8-0 Ones I have seen run smooth and well. 8) Bachmann 4-8-2 Heavy Mtn. The LIGHT mountains were a disappointment with out reworking them. This is about where I stop with the GOOD engines. Several I cannot say anything about because I either haven't seen them run or have any attention of buying one. The Intermountain 4-8-8-2 is one of the latter. Only SP had them and The INDIANA RAILWAY will not. I heard they run very well, but can't say anything about them. The New Life-Like 2-8-8-2's hopefully will run better than the old ones did. Traction issues for me on that one. Same with the Bachmann 2-6-6-2's. On engines that I was VERY DISAPPOINTED with, a couple come to mind: The Life-like 2-8-4 Berkshires. Still will not pull very well, even after adding a bunch of TUNGSTEN for weight. Looks good, but just a poor puller. The other is the Walthers/Life-Like 0-8-0 This engine should pull like all get-out. But it doesn't get the job done. Still messing with it to get the traction improved. Again, it looks good, but just doesn't pull as well as it should.
There is a whole family of awesome 8 coupled steam out there...but sadly, thats about all. LifeLike (Heritage) 0-8-0, Kato heavy 2-8-2, Spectrum's heavy 4-8-2 and their outstanding 2-8-0. Far and away the best of the bunch, especially the connie and mike. I have heard nothing but good things about the athearn locos as well as the heritage 2-8-8-2. Good sign, hopefully we get some more good N steam soon (maybe a PRR prototype, finally...or god help my checking acct, an NYC 2-8-2 or 4-8-2?? I would be all over these) But, the way the last 10 years or so have gone, I am sure we will get a lot of wonderful new stuff in the next 5-10! Amanda
