I'll call myself a "moderately experienced beginner" and don't want to learn everything by trial and error. How would each of you rate the various manufactureres of diesel locomotives? Lets say rated from 1 to 10, where 1 stinks and 10 is fabulous? My own experiences is: Bachman -5 (boo hiss) Athearn 5 Athearn Genesis Steam 9 Proto 2000 9 What's been your experience? Mark
I've got a variety of engines, for pulling power I give my Hobbytowns FA's a 10, for all around performance my KATO GP-35 "9", my Atlas engines "8" while Athearn checks in around "5" (good value for the dollar)
<font color="336633"> Atlas = 9 Athearn = 6 Athearn Genesis = 8 Bachmann = 2 Concor = 3 Kato = 8 (just by the skin of its teeth) Lifelike P2k = 8.5 Stewart = 8 (if they do a C636 one day they will get 10 ) Walthers = 7 Walthers Trainline = 5 </font> ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery TrainBoard member #257
Quality (relibilty), Detail, Service ,Price Atlas 9,9,7,8 Athearn 7,6,10,8 Athearn Genesis 9,9,10,7 Bachmann 3,6,3,5 Concor 5,5,?,5 (never heard any service storys) Kato 6,9,6 (sometimes a 7),7 LifeLike 3,3,3,3 LifeLike P1K 8,7,8,8 LifeLike P2K 8,9,8,8 Stewart 7,8,7,6 Walthers 7,8,8,8 Walthers Trainline (toyish stuff) 5,5,8,5 Walthers Trainline (revised stuff) 7,7,8,8 ------------------ Theres no such thing as having to many coal hoppers or GP40-2 when you model Chessie System LONG LIVE THE KITTEN!!! LONG LIVE BIG BLUE!!! LONG LIVE THE TIGER STRIPE!!! (I am one of those wierd Chessie,CR,BN Fans) I looked at DCC... and stayed DC!
My ratings from the makes I've had experience with, in terms of overall looks and performance: Athearn - 7 Athearn Genesis - 9 Atlas - 8 Kato - 8 Life-Like P2k - 9 ( the SD60 problems has me inching towards an 8 with them) Bachmann Spectrum - 1 Walthers - 6 Paul #3 ------------------ Have A Nice Day!
Whats wrong with the SD60? ------------------ Theres no such thing as having to many coal hoppers or GP40-2 when you model Chessie System LONG LIVE THE KITTEN!!! LONG LIVE BIG BLUE!!! LONG LIVE THE TIGER STRIPE!!! (I am one of those wierd Chessie,CR,BN Fans) I looked at DCC... and stayed DC!
I guess the summary of all this is..... Athearn is good for the money, but don't expect perfection. Bachman and Bachman Spectrum are to be avoided. Atlas, Kato, P2K, and Athearn Genesis are all three very good to excellent.. Stewart and Walthers are both good. I just got my first Athearn, a C44-9W for $29.95. I did the recommended break.in I've heard about, run it with soft scrub in the grears, clean it out, grease it up, glue one end of the drive axle, and shim the worm gear and that really quieted it down. I didn't "hot wire" it, but I may down the road. It's still noticably noisey, but a lot better. It pulls good, and while not perfect for me, it is great for my 2 boys. I'll have to try Kato or Athearn Genesis for my next diesel engines, maybe through eBay? Mark
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chessie_SD50_8563: Whats wrong with the SD60? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It's got minor detail problems, just like any diesel (and they're nothing Cannon or A-Line can't fix! ). My main problem with the SD60 is that the gearing is just too slow! I can't m.u. it with any of my Genesis, repowered Athearn, Kato, OMI, or even other P2k units. Speed consistency has been a problem with P2k units. They used a different gearing on the SD60 that makes it run slower. Yanking the circuit board doesn't help, and DCC wouldn't help either, even if it was an option for me (I run at a club). It all has me wondering what to do next with my unit to get it to run with my other equipment; I might do what another member of my club did with his SD60's...keep the shells and mount them on OMI drives, and put the P2k drives on eBay. Paul #3 ------------------ Have A Nice Day!
Did you try to alter the speed curves at all? I have yet to pick one up, but if its not worth it i may never pick one up.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tunnel88: Did you try to alter the speed curves at all? I have yet to pick one up, but if its not worth it i may never pick one up.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> About the only way I knew of altering the speed curve in a P2k unit, or any unit, was to modify the circuit boards to change the starting voltage. But removing the board in the SD60 had no effect on speed...apparently, the board in the SD60 is paralell to the motor. So it's all in the gears! ------------------ Have A Nice Day!
Another thing is the P2K units have ENORMOUS flywheels, which means they start slower and don't stop as quick. I had one run through a closed switch while it was shorting the layout, since the flywheels kept it going. Try taking out or replacing the flywheels with MUCH smaller ones. Otherwise, it is still very hard to get them to run well with others (even in DCC) at low speeds. Once they get going, no problem. ------------------ Corey Lynch Pres - Rensselaer Model RR Society, NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
Hmmm...I didn't think about the flywheels Harron, I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the heads-up! ------------------ Have A Nice Day!
I have a KATO GP-35, Detail...7.5 A Stewart F-7 Detail...8 Mechanically both are pushing 10, and they run so well together it doesn't matter which is in front. I have two Athearns, a GP7 that I bought unpainted (the price was right) so no detail points, it pulls well, but the gearing gives it a little "race car" attitude so it doesn't run well with the others, call it a7.5 My other Athearn is an SW9/1000, it has details of both so it gets a 7. it also runs well, pulls a string of 6 heavy metal log cars up a 4% grade and doesn't make as much noise as it used to, I give it an 8.5.I guess the lesson I got was keep tinkering till it runs in the 8's then go for correctness if you don't think it's good enough. enjoy, Bobby. ------------------
hmm ranking DIESEL locos: well as I said in the steam ratings, I will rate what I have. Athearn--6 detail, 6 running Atlas--9 quality (RS-3), 9 running P2k--9,9 (PA units, E6A, GP30) P1k--(C-liner)--8,9 Walthers Trainline (FA)--6,6 Stewart FT A--8,8
I may be one of the only people who actually like the low gearing on the SD60's. I like long trains and this makes for great tractive effort. I m.u. my two KCS units and my Oakway unit together and I can run a 100+ car loaded coal train up a 1.2% grade with no problem
P2K stress test At a train show I went to recently A man was runing a P2K SD60 draging 2 Athearn U30B reveresed wired around a layout allmost without any sort of effort. Now thats power.
Hi all. By the way, For all you WP fans , I put the F unit on point as often as I can. It's a passenger job , one of these summers I'll get around to freighting it, right now I got bigger fish to fry.
I must take exception to the low ranking of Bachmann Spectrum. If you exclude the 44-tonners and 70-tonners, I may agree with you. I have two 44-tonners that are well-detailed, run slow, and pull about as many cars as the real ones did. For a Class 1, they're our of their league- for a short line, they're well-matched. The Spectrum GP30 is also decently detailed, but the drive sounds like a coffee grinder. The Plus and regular lines are a total waste of plastic. Athearn is a good starter diesel- decent drive, and while not as superdetailed as, say, Kato, there are enough aftermarket detail parts to dress 'em up. Life-Like P1k and P2K are a step above, and the P2K is sweet. Atlas/Kato is a smooooth runner- I have two RS3s and an RS1, and they're the slowest smoothest runners I have. The S2 has a Roco chassis, but can pull paint off the wall. The earlier Atlas/Roco diesels were OK for running, but a bit clunky for detail. That said, I have four GP38s and two GP40s from that company (the old Roco drive) that I'm not giving up, but I won't buy any more, as the newer 38s and 40s are really nice, inside & out. The Stewarts I have come with the Athearn drive. I keep the two U25Bs together, and I've had to weigh the RS3 (which I've converted to an RS2M) to give it tractive effort. Haven't tested the Stewart/Katos or the pure Katos yet. I have one Walthers Trainline GP9M, and all I can say is that it's the reintroduced Lionel/Cox/Model Power HO shell on a sub-Athearn chassis. It runs all by its little lonesome, or with an Atlas/Roco GP40- both are painted for Kyle Railroad ( a shortline in Kansas & Colorado). The handrails are an improvement over previous offerings, and it makes a fair trainset locomotive (it IS better than toy-like LL or Bachmann), so I could recommend it to a youngster. Tyco? Don't even go there [ 18 February 2001: Message edited by: friscobob ]
Hey, is this what we had in mind when the gripe about MR's reviews came up? There's a thread in the Inspection Pit about this very subject. Perhaps we need to do a review forum here in Trainboard- what about it, Charlie?
I'd give my Athearns a 6 out of the box, after tinkering around with the drivetrain it goes up to a 7. My Atlases get a 9, good detail and solid smooth runners. My recently purchased Atlas, a GP-38 deserves a 9.9 as it's the best running and detailed loco I've ever bought out of the box. I have a couple of Bachmans but I won't rate those as you all know the score...LOL
