N Scale Locomotive Advice...


Exit109GTI

New Member
Hey all,

So I only have two locomotives, and they are both bachmans. I got a diesel for $20, and a steam engine for about $35. As expected they both really suck at slow speeds, especially the diesel.

A couple of months down the road when I've made myself a decent sized layout with DCC I'd like to upgrade to a couple of loco's that will be able to pull a 6+ carload at a realistic speed.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?
 
Stay with Atlas and Kato for DCC right now. Life-like is really good, but not as DCC friendly as the other two. On ebay, you should be able to buy a DCC ready loco for a reasonable price. Look at the description closely to make sure they are DCC ready.
 
Martys is correct, Kato and Atlas make good running and well detailed engines. I would add InterMountain engines to the list, they are just as good.

Cliff
 
Kato and Atlas are the only way to go! My F7's have pulled 77 cars (that was all we had available at the time).
 
I'll have to agree, Atlas and Kato have the best quality locos and are great running.

Stan.
 
Absolutely..Atlas and Kato..BTW..Atlas makes decoder equipped engines which *might* be your best choice.
 
I have Atlas, Kato and LifeLikes. Of the 3 I am most impressed with Atlas on their slow speed crawl, The Kato's are fine runners and steady, but don't do the "creep" nearly as well as Atlas. The LifeLikes, I think are a hit and miss, I have the SD7 which runs slow speeds well but has oversized flanges so it is not as smooth on Atlas Code55 track, the Sw they make is a real slow and smooth runner, but because of the short wheelbase, it has a problem at frogs, but I have a web site that is supposed to help solve that, I guess the power pickups are not up to par with Atlas and Kato.

After getting back into N scale (Normal Scale) after a 20 year break, I was amazed at how the N scale engines run almost if not better then HO engines out now a days.

Just my oberservation.
 



Back
Top