Can anyone give me a brief side by side rundown between O & S *SCALE,* (not tinplate): Variety of off the shelf items available- Prices compared between the two scales- My interest is 1960's Milwaukee Road & NP RY. Late 1950's M&St.L. Diesels & mostly freight operations. Boxcab E50 [ 27. June 2003, 01:59: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]
Well, tough deal here BoxcabE50. Both have a lot to offer. What are you after for diesels, EMD, Alco or GE? If you want ready to run, SHS has some great diesels, but not in Milwaukee or NP. If you are willing to paint and decal then there is a good selection. First I will touch on S scale. There are two players with diesels in the S field. The first is American Models and the second is SHS. http://www.americanmodels.com/ http://www.showcaseline.com/ American models has quiet a few diesels. They are along the line of the Athearn models. Basic models but good runners. In fact I think they run better than the Athearn's. They have FP-7’s, GP-9/18’s, GP35’s, E8’s, F40PH’s and SD60’s. For Alco’s they have RS3’s, FA2’s and PA1’s. They have a Baldwin S-12 and a GG-1. Three steam engines that are die-cast and good looking basic engines, 4-6-2, a streamlined PRR 4-6-2 and a Ja3 Hudson. And finally an FM Trainmaster. SHS has some fine diesels too, that sort of fill in the holes for EMD. SHS has diesels that compare to Kato. The switch engines are the SW-1 and SW-9. They have F-3’s and F-7’s. They will have a B&O 2-8-0 out later this year. Now O scale has some good stuff to offer too. Being you are looking for 2 rail as opposed to tinplate there are two players that have goods to offer. Atlas and Weaver both offer 2 and 3 rail engines. I will touch on those since they offer them in 2 rail. Atlas has the SW-9 that is comparable to Kato in detail and running qualities too. Atlas will have out a switch engine with flex coil trucks, IIRC the SW1200. Atlas has the SD35 out and will have a GP35 later this year. They also have an Amtrak electric engine and GE Dash 8-40B. They are planning to bring out the Red Caboose GP-9 in the near future. http://www.atlaso.com/welcome.htm Weaver has a different selection. Starting with the RS-3 and FA-2. They have a GP38-2 and U25B. This fall the VO1000, a Baldwin switcher will be available. For steamers, they have two die cast engines, a PRR 0-8-0 and generic 2-8-0. The 2-8-0 has been likened to the Bachmann engine. Very nice units and good runners from what I’ve heard. http://www.weavermodels.com/ For price, expect to pay more than you would HO. It pays to shop around but even HO engines are going up in price. For cars, There are several options there as well. If you still are interested, I can list what is available there. Greg Elems
Greg- Thanks for the info! If by chance you have any further links you think of value, I'd love to see them! Leaning toward accurate S Scale.... But not a exactly a purist Proto modeler. Diesels, freight cars, decals, detail parts, track..... Era of the 1960's. Boxcab E50
This web page has a passel of info and links. http://www.trainweb.org/crocon/sscale.html Enjoy Greg Elems
Have you come over to our "S"ide of the force yet BoxcabE50? The only short coming of S is the lack of ready to use switches. There are two sizes out there, from Scenery Unlimited made by Shinohara. I don't know what is still offered by Scenery Unlimited, need to get their catalog. Greg Elems
