Preferred Brands of HO


K

krn001

Member
Curious what's the preferred manufacturer of HO model trains. I'm sorting, Athearn, Walthers, Kato etc... there are a few other brands but i'd like to know the preferred maker of engines & rolling stock.
 
This becomes a matter of personal preference, gained with experience in the hobby. Just because I like Athearn blue box kits doesn't mean that you will, etc.

I don't like most of what is available now because of the cost and features on them, so I wouldn't recommend them. I know others won't hesitate to recommend what I don't like, because we all have an idea of what we want out of the hobby and my ideas are different than yours and many others.
 
There are numerous past threads on this forum about this subject, but the short-skinny version of it is most are of very good quality although each has some idiosyncrasies in availability, detail, and running qualities; it is also a highly subjective evaluation.

Perennially high ranked:
Atlas: smooth drives, nice detail, not many new releases
Kato: smooth drives, details have to be added by user, limited HO releases, Kato mostly N scale
Athearn Genesis: highly detailed, improved drive over RTR version, somewhat delicate, premium Athearn.
Intermountain: nice detail, drive/pulling ability hit or miss, long announcement to release dates
Bowser: nice detail, I've heard good things all around.
Walthers/Proto/LifeLike: nice drives, some quirks with some older releases, heavy/good pullers.
Broadway Limited: smooth drive, no non-sound option, a lot of steam options, various past model lines/quality.
MTH: smooth drives, O gauge is their mainstay, details reflect O gauge emphasis.
Rapido: mostly Canadian releases.

Mid-Grade:
Athearn RTR: motors can be smooth or rough, some models have improved details in newer releases.
Athearn Blue Box: historically the hobby's most prolific model. Rugged, simple design. Details can be improved by modeler.

Low End:
Bachmann: many are lower/train set quality, but they have improved offerings. Can fit many budgets & needs.
Tyco: Typical of 70s/80s train set releases, low detail, light, plasticky.

I'm leaving quite a few out, but that's a quick overview. Like I said, any evaluation is very subjective by the poster and
will vary based on personal experience.

Prices have gone up over the years, but so has detail level and variety; mostly the quality of what has been released has as well.

Hope this helps,

Brad
 
I'm running a mix of BLI, Intermountain, Kato and Athearn Genesis. As those are the primary power, I can mix in some of the RTR Atearn units without anybody noticing the slightly lesser quality. When ya put a good decoder in them and tune them to run smoothly, they do ok when mixed with a higher quality unit. This video is a couple of Athearn RTR units with an Intermountain unit with sound on point.

[video=youtube;7PAmhZpF5oM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PAmhZpF5oM[/video]
 
BLI is my favorite. Only brand I'll buy sight unseen. Other brands have hits and misses per bigb post above. I've found the proto line was better prior to being acquired by walthers. Would also mention Bachmann spectrum as one in-between mid and high grade. Pretty reliably good-not-great stuff at lower price points than the truly high end stuff, but a notch above athearn rtr and similar imho.
 
I haven't needed to buy any locomotives in years so I am not up to date on some of the newer manufacturers such as MTH and Broadway Limited. I had consider some from these manyfacturers, but being that I am still in the stone ages operating DC only, I can't see payinf for a DCC locomotive when I don't need the DCC

Atlas is one of my favorites. I have some of their Alcos that came out in the mid 80's and they run as good now as then they were new, extremely smoothly. Wish I had got a few more.
Stewart had some extremely good running locomotives. Athearn Genisis are a great upgrade from their blue box locomotives. I bought a few years back and ended up remotoring all of them with can motors and replaced the sintered iron wheels with NS wheels to get them run as good as the Atlas units.
Intermountain also have smooth running locomotives. I only have one old one.
I have a couple of Walters/Lifelike units that are also good running locomotives.

I did pick up a Walthers Trainline switcher which was not the best running I have has, but with some tweaking and tuning, it has also become a good running locomotive.
Bachmann Spectrum locomotives are a toss up for me. I do like steam and have a couple of their 2-8-0's which are excellent running locomotives, but their decapod 2-10-0 was a disappointment. It runs smoothly but keep them off of a grade as they are extremely poor when it comes to pulling power. Mine has become a yard switcher. Standard Bachmann I stay away from.

I have seen some BLI and MTH units running while visiting other layouts out of state and they seem to be some very nice running locomotives, but have heard of some problems with the MTH units operating on DCC. They ran well, but there was some grumbling about getting all of the features operating correctly. Something I don't need to worry about.

I am still very impressed with the way the Atlas units have kept operating so well for over 25 years.
 
montanan said:
I haven't needed to buy any locomotives in years so I am not up to date on some of the newer manufacturers such as MTH and Broadway Limited. I had consider some from these manyfacturers, but being that I am still in the stone ages operating DC only, I can't see payinf for a DCC locomotive when I don't need the DCC

Atlas is one of my favorites. I have some of their Alcos that came out in the mid 80's and they run as good now as then they were new, extremely smoothly. Wish I had got a few more.
Stewart had some extremely good running locomotives. Athearn Genisis are a great upgrade from their blue box locomotives. I bought a few years back and ended up remotoring all of them with can motors and replaced the sintered iron wheels with NS wheels to get them run as good as the Atlas units.
Intermountain also have smooth running locomotives. I only have one old one.
I have a couple of Walters/Lifelike units that are also good running locomotives.

I did pick up a Walthers Trainline switcher which was not the best running I have has, but with some tweaking and tuning, it has also become a good running locomotive.
Bachmann Spectrum locomotives are a toss up for me. I do like steam and have a couple of their 2-8-0's which are excellent running locomotives, but their decapod 2-10-0 was a disappointment. It runs smoothly but keep them off of a grade as they are extremely poor when it comes to pulling power. Mine has become a yard switcher. Standard Bachmann I stay away from.

I have seen some BLI and MTH units running while visiting other layouts out of state and they seem to be some very nice running locomotives, but have heard of some problems with the MTH units operating on DCC. They ran well, but there was some grumbling about getting all of the features operating correctly. Something I don't need to worry about.

I am still very impressed with the way the Atlas units have kept operating so well for over 25 years.
Click to expand...

I should have added the caveat that I am strictly steam, and my comments apply only to that... My perception is that the plus/minus factors are quite different when it comes to diesel.

Also, the spectrum decapod is one of the few spectrum steam locos I don't own, so apparently that was a 'miss' for them.
 
krn001 said:
Curious what's the preferred manufacturer of HO model trains. I'm sorting, Athearn, Walthers, Kato etc... there are a few other brands but i'd like to know the preferred maker of engines & rolling stock.
Click to expand...
Preferred for what? If I'm going to a tractor pull type event I certainly want different brands than if I am trying to win most a most photogenic contest. Plus the list is constantly changing, it is different now than it would have been just a few years ago.

But I suppose, over all, my generally preferred maker of a locomotive would be Diesel - Atlas, Steam - Walther's Proto Heritage (the last 0-8-0 I purchased from them has been exquisite in every way).
Generally I prefer the company that is making a model of the loco that I want.... I am guessing I have more Stewarts in the fleet than anything, but I have not counted in a long long time.

Freight Rolling stock is even harder. For preferred I'm going to go with Intermountain, but once again I am guessing most of my fleet is Proto-2000.

Passenger is easier. I prefer BLI, but they make so few that most of my fleet (by a ratio of at least 10 to 1) is Walther's Proto.
 
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