All new to this so many questions. What is good out here and what should I stay away from, as far as manufactures. I know just like everything else people have there favorites. I want to model the modern era with some passenger trains. need advice on track,locos,rolling stock, you name it i need it . Thanks
This could be the beginning of a great flame war... For locomotives, stick to Kato or newer Atlas or Life-Like releases. These engines will run the most reliabily and provide the fewest problems. Renently there has been quite a bit of new equipment released, including SD60 series engines from Atlas, GE C44's from Kato as well as an upcoming release of Amtrak engines from them. There are far many more choices available in freight car manufacturers than in locomotives. Arguably, Micro-Trains makes the most detailed equipment, but newer releases from other manufacturers are catching up. Unfortunately, newer releases command higher prices, sometimes up to $15 for one car.To me that's unacceptable, so I try to build my fleet from more modestly priced MDC kits (which seem to be being phased out in favor of higher priced R-T-R equipment )or older Atlas cars. Modern passenger equipment leaves quite a bit to be desired. Kato and Con-Cor make Superliner cars, Con-Cor has made Viewliners, and Bachmann makes useable Amfleet coaches. Con-Cor makes older style commuter cars that are still in use around Chicago, but not much else. What's missing are the newer style Bombardier commuter cars as well as Amtrak Horizon equipment and California Cars. Unless you're looking for the utmost in prototypical track, stick with the defacto standard Atlas Code 80. It's been around for years and every hobby shop carries it. If you're looking for a more fine scale appearance, look into Code 55 track from Atlas or Micro-Engineering. Structures really don't have a quality factor, IMO, since all they do is sit there, but I suppose ease of assembly comes into play. Walthers used to have a great selection of very realistic N scale buildings, but as of late they've been giving the shaft to N scalers. About any brand will be easy enough to assemble, even the newer wood structures are fairly easy for a newbie to assemble.
N scale, in my opinion, is the best scale for contemporary (today's) model railroading. The equipment in real life is getting longer and higher. As the equipment gets bigger HO layouts - many of them - will become dwarfed. N scale is great for contemporary engines. If you would like to start with one in a good size, pick up a Kato SD90. Unfortunately, there are no "budget" goodies (engines) in N scale (actually I lie, but you had better know what you are doing or that bargain will turn out to be junk). For N scale to run well and look good, you need to pay more than in HO. You don't have the economy of scale, less modeler's in N so the price has to be spread among fewer purchasers. I would tell your local hobby store (hopefully trains only or almost) that you are interested in quality, you want all your loco's to be fly wheel equiped, and then stare at him with that all knowing look and say you only want "good runners."
for locos there's nothing better than Kato. Since Atlas produces in China they made a step backwards (my opinion) because the locos are noisy and jerky runners. Life-Like really progressed on their latest releases. Both companies are still light-years behind Kato. (I own 69 Kato and 27 old Atlas engines, all DCC equipped) As for the cars there's a bigger selection to choose from. Micro-Trains is the leader. No doubt. Intermountain and LBF have really nice cars (LBF are extremely good runners). Atlas has a huge selection but not very detailed. You shouldn't consider buying Life-Like or Model-Power. All of my 800+ cars have Micro-Trains trucks.
I guess the key idea here that you will hear again and again around here is that you get what you pay for. I would have to say that there is a lot of junk out in N-Scale land, and there is some really fine items out there. Go to your local hobby shop, I mean the neighborhood shop ran by MOM & POP, not some corporate ran outlet in the MALL! The local shop will be able to advise you which stuff is the good stuff. They want you to come back as a steady customer. My next idea would be for you to try to find a LOCAL model railroad club in your area. This can be a very good place to get ideas and find out what stuff is okay and what is not. Check around you might be surprised to find several different clubs in your local area.
