hey guys im wanting to purchase a deisel locomotive. here are the three im looking at 1 atlas dash 8-40cw 2 broadway limited ac6000cw 3 athearn either their sd60m or sd70ace i am looking at all of these with dcc and sound. which is the better engine to get thanks zach.
They are all good, and all have good warranties. You are as likely to get a lemon in any of those locomotives. Pick the one that gets under your skin the most and try it out. If it were me, I would go with the Atlas first, BLI second, Athearn third. Just a preference, nothing in the way of experience to back it up, except that the Athearn Genesis SD75M's I have are finnicky about the tracks. There were widespread reports of warped truck frames in the SD70's from Genesis, and I believe it applied to the SD75 as well.
well depends on what company you want.. for the genesis ACes only the first batch had warped trucks... i bought 4 undec UP style and trucks were [erfect my brother bought one KCS undec and the trucks were messed up... the newer ones like the NS units will not have these problems athearn claims... i love my BLI AC6000s so i highly reccommend them too
okay so they are releasing a ns in the ace from athearn where is the cheapest place to get any of thease at thanks.
They're all about equally good. I like the prime mover sound of the Tsunami-equipped Athearns better than the QSI-equipped Atlas and BLI units. The motor (speed) control is slightly better on the QSI and Paragon2 (late model BLI). I have at least one of each of these engines, so I speak from experience.
well i reall like the athearn sd70ace and if they are going to release a norfolk southern unit ill get me one of those but my bday is in two months and my mom said she would get me a locomotive with sound for my bday so i think im gonna get the bli ac6000cw for my bday in csx and ill get a sd70ace when they come out unless they are already out if they are i havent seen them on any of the net retail stores ive been tool. thanks LFB.
I'd have to say that my broadway limited ac6000cw is one of (if not) the best diesel I own. It has a lot of track time and I've never had an issue, I do oil it from time to time though. Everything is right there. the radiator is actually the cover to the dcc plug so you don't have to rip into it. I can't speak for its dcc stock capability since I'm running DC, but for what I have set up, it runs (and sounds) good. It sounds better than my other Broadway and the lighting is better than my Athearn from the same price range. Josh
the NS units are due early july well idk where you live so i cant reccomend a place my brother bought one from DCC Train (visit their website DCCtrain.com) he got a dcc sound SD70ACe and it cost him 215 after tax youd have to pay shipping on top of that but thats stil like 60 bucks off the list price. plus NS units are SD70M-2s which are the DC version of the SD70ACe the 6000s are weighted really good so they can handle grades easy im guessen not sure on atlas (never bought one) but i have heard that the Genesis units are not weighted good so they cant haul too much up a grade without struggling if you don't have any grades on your layout it should be fine though
alright thanks for the info on the ns unit's im most liley getting the ac6000 for my bday then ill save up and get a ns sd70m-2 when they come out thanks for all the help Zacn.
If you like long trains the BLI AC6000CW will do. Of the lot you have listed My fav is the Atlas 8-40CW.
well i like the atlas unit as well so it's between the atlas in norfolk southern and the bli unit in csxtranspotaion. i like both of these railwys and im also concidering a loop of atlas code 83 track with 24 inch curve's to be able to go ahead and run the engine i get cause all i have right now is the bachman wgh set which only has 18 inch curves would this be a wise decision because my layout track plan is not set in stone and i can always incorerate the track i get cause im gonna use atlas code 83 thank's zach.
I have QSI, Blueline, and MRC units and when i got my Broadway Ac6000 it has become my favorite. Lots of extra functions also. Bob
okay thanks now my question is would it be a good idea to get some of the atlas code 83 track that is 24 inch radius to run on till i get my layout going thanks LFB.
If you are going to use the 24in on your layout then go for it. The engines in question will run on 22in with no problems but look better on 24. Bob
