Favorite model railroad company

[081440]

My personal favorite is LGB. Quality products that will last a lifetime and the detail and effort put into every model are just some of the qualities I like about LGB. [:)][:D][8D]

[SandyR]

I like LGB because it's reliable and long-lasting. Good selection of prototypes; something for everyone.
SandyR

[powlee]

I voted Aristo. I prefer their rolling stock once they are fitted with metal wheels. They really run well. LGB are great but I do not like `European` locos and American LGB is not so prolific in the UK. If they are, they are quite expensive.
I notice USA Trains is not in the poll. I like their locos but the price of the rolling stock is a bit high especially as bits can fall off and disappear in the garden.
Cheers Ian P

[Anonymous]

I started out with another company in garden rail roads,had nothing but problems with their engines ,I switched to aristo-craft , now 90% of my G.R.R. is aristo-craft .Ben





5

[vsmith]

Cant vote for just one, each has its pluses and minuses.

LGB is bombproof reliability but are expensive, never to scale and toy like.

HLW also bombproof but also toylike, scale questionable, although they are more affordable.

Aristo Craft & USA at 1/29? Good stuff but wacky scale choice.

Bachmann is great, but offers a limited choise of selection when compared to Aristo. They also seem to be segwaying away from LS and into On30. Not much new from them coming out anytime soon.

Accucraft has some amazing live steam engines, but at $1000-$2000 they had better be, and I have heard some very negative things about their electricly powered engines.

MTH is a rising star with some amazing new offerings but at 1/32 I dont use that scale so no comment .

Marklin is too odd for me, tinplate like and expensive.

Lionel? Oh, I wont even go there...

I'm not aware of any large scale offerings from Atlas, Athearn, Broadway LTD, Kato, LifeLike, ConCor, or Microtrains, so I have no opinion.

[081440]

Sorry, I forgot to put USA Trains on the poll. I personally like there stuff, but do agree sometimes things fall off. [banghead]

I know several above companies don't offer large scale, but I am wondering what fellow GR's think of them. (I also model in N-scale.)

[Marty Cozad]

Thats not fair, this is a LS forum, when i was in baby scales I loved Athearn all the way.
More power to them....

[Anonymous]

Hi
my vote was LGB sorry guys but the US companies don't make enough
quality small stock that will get round R! for my liking
regards John

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,
I had to go with Bachmann for the affordability of their products. I bought my Connie when Bachmann where doing special trader deals & it cost me £290-00, brilliant price for the UK. Their rolling stock, whilst a different scale, is again priced really well, average of £26-00 for goods and £38-00 for passenger.
In N I would vote for Kato/Atlas/Microtrains.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[Gary Crawley]

Like a lot of you guys I have a variety of makes (mabe you should have a Heinz option)
Bachman Loco and rolling stock, Arist-Craft track and a couple of AMS flats (Accucraft) they are very well detailed and made.
I have made a decision on scale and stick to it 1:20, (as close as posible)which limits my options
I guess if I was doing standard guage I would have a greater variety.
I selected Accucraft for they are mostly narrow gauge.
Regards
Gary

[Anonymous]

KATO!

[Anonymous]

Bachmann all the way....

LGB- over rated, over priced toys.
When a LGB product is 2 to 3 times the price of a Bachmann product I beleve it should also be 2 to 3 times the quality.....there not.

I don't need a toy that will run FOREVER because I won't last forever.

Grumpy OLD DAD

[Anonymous]

Hi Old Dad
Call me when the other companies make an adiquate variety of small rolling stock.
Thats my reson for going with LGB
I know the US had some small stock like 4wh V&T ore cars but no one makes them and I cannot find any info on them what about the 4 wh DRG box car havent seen any of that one advertised..
I do want quality for my dollar, but none of them are worth the price we have to pay for them, at the prices we have to pay our great grand children should be able to play with them long after we have gone.
regards John

[Anonymous]

Well there is not all the above cause I would consider any that made one that I wanted in G Scale [:D]

Like I have this guy wants to sell me a new LGB Tanker for 75.00 he is in the pond business and I think he wants me abord for the trains and a nother guy wants to sell me a MTH tanker for 86.00.

Oh well.........

[Anonymous]

OTHER? Carpenter Matt's rolling stock? It's all I got, no loco's to compare[V]

[Curmudgeon]

You didn't even come close to mentioning my favorite.
ScaleCraft.
Followed by Lobaugh.
Westbrook is in there, but not near the top.
Athearn made some good "0" scale stuff, still have some. Excellent trucks.
Worst, by far, was Walthers.
TOC

[Anonymous]

Get the most for you money with Aristo. Just compare there passenger cars, the Aristo ones are cheaper than the LGB ones and have better detail. Compare the FA-1 and F7 (I think). The quality of the aristo thing is almost as good as the LGB, but you can get a new FA-1 for 170 with a caboose. Its 400 for the FA-1 alone.

[081440]

I have now purchased an Accucraft Live steamer and am quite happy with it, might have to split my vote between LGB and Accucraft.

[Curmudgeon]

Odd that you would choose a company that regards adherence to scale as secondary, and one who chooses 1:20.3 for correct 3 foot narrow gauge.
Very strange.

[vsmith]

Another Lazarus topic, raised from the dead topics grave...

My favorite is which ever one I happen to be running.

[Puckdropper]

While I am partial to Aristocraft track and LGB's service, my favorite model railroad company has to be the little guys running the hobby shops. These are the guys who are most important to my enjoyment of the hobby, as without them I couldn't get that $2 jar of paint, the ONE piece of track I need, or just browse and dream.

[Anonymous]

The one who makes AFFORDABLE 1:20.3 passenger cars first!

[RhB_HJ]

The one(s) who know(s) what IIm (1:22.5 on 45mm track) means i.e. it is "to scale"; as opposed to "approximately to scale". [;)][:)][;)]

[081440]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Curmudgeon

Odd that you would choose a company that regards adherence to scale as secondary, and one who chooses 1:20.3 for correct 3 foot narrow gauge.
Very strange.

1:20.3 for outside all year long. While the LGB is more of a collection and set up through the living room each Christmas. Very Strange indeed, I like to be different.[:)][:D]

[081440]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Puckdropper

While I am partial to Aristocraft track and LGB's service, my favorite model railroad company has to be the little guys running the hobby shops. These are the guys who are most important to my enjoyment of the hobby, as without them I couldn't get that $2 jar of paint, the ONE piece of track I need, or just browse and dream.

Without them I would never have gotten started!!!!

[hobbyfossi201]

I have LGB and Bachmann Locos and cars, and from my point of view LGB´s quality is much better and more reliable for lifetime-runs. OK, there are also some negative points like scale and price, but nevertheless LGB will be the first choice in future, too.
Kind regards
Klaus

[Tom The Brat]

Na... I'm not going to get mixed up in this one[:I]

[RhB_HJ]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Torby

Na... I'm not going to get mixed up in this one[:I]

Isn't it fun how these ancient threads come to life again???[;)][}:)][}:)][;)]

Of course I have a few suggestions as to the companies which should be added to that poll. [:)][:p][:D][:D]

[emipapa]

I voted for LGB because of the quality of there product.
Ron

[Curmudgeon]

Quality nothwithstanding, I have an issue or two with cast-on grabirons, diesels that are 3 different scales, depending upon where you measure them, sound systems installed for sometimes twice what a good aftermarket sound costs, at sometimes 10 times the space volume, and you can't "real-time" them.
Just about every engine I have had seems needs something to take away the gari***oy aspect.
HUGE and brightly brass-plated injector lines. Stainless air lines across the top.
Odd.

My biggest problem with any manufacturer is personnel and management, followed closely by appearance and adherence to scale.

Chalie Ro seems to be willing to work with you to get a problem fixed. I've done a couple of things with him.
Bachmann, while somewhat slow due primarily to their wholly-owned subsidiary status, also get the problems fixed.
There are others that you can lead to water, but boy, you can't even get their noses wet.
There are things I see, people I know, that cause me to not purchase those product lines any longer.
There are two right now I no longer purchase.
I suppose if they had something I really needed, I might, but if the scale is wrong and I see things that I have problems with, then that's it.

For metre gauge in 1:22.5, they're great.
If I was modeling euro lines, I'd probably be in the market.
Prior to deciding on US 3' narrow, I looked at all the possibilities.

I'd guess 1/4 of my rolling stock is LGB, 4 locos out of 17 are LGB, so that's about 1/4 there.
Yes, they are reliable.
But:
Every one has had the motors change at least once.
To their credit, they have parts readily available.

Every manufacturer has their plusses and minuses (like some only do 1:29, which I challenge you to find a way to work in 4' 8-1/2" gauge for), some have nebulous scale fidelity, some have engines in 1:20, but rolling stock in 1:22.5, some have many locomotives, most it seems built on flatcars.