N Scale Locomotive Advice...

[Exit109GTI]

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?

 

[martyscustomn]

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.

 

[ATSFCLIFF]

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

 

[BrandywineBob]

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).

 

[BMRR]

I'll have to agree, Atlas and Kato have the best quality locos and are great running.

Stan.

 

[Brakie]

Absolutely..Atlas and Kato..BTW..Atlas makes decoder equipped engines which *might* be your best choice.

 

[dthurman]

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.