Best buy for sound-equipped locomotive

[Texas Zepher]

Walthers has a bunch of Proto 2000 sound equipped engines on sale this month.

Unfortunately the road name selection is very limited.  Do you, or does anyone for that matter, know if the E8 sound unit chassis will fit under earlier E8 bodies?

[gmpullman]

 

Walthers has a bunch of Proto 2000 sound equipped engines on sale this month. I'm personally going to jump on some E-8s for $110. That's cheaper than if I bought separate decoders and installed them myself!

Looks like some great deals on PCI/BLI engines at www.factorydirecttrains.com  too. (MR Feb. 07 Pg. 62)

[dadret]

Take a look at 1st Place Hobbies (www.1stplacehobbies.com) or Standard Hobby Supply (www.standardhobby.com).  They usuallly have the lowest prices.

[rrlcommish]

Joe, great blog!  I should have noted that I already have a Proto 1000 EMD F3 A-B set w/o sound.  I was looking for a road switcher, like an RS-3, Geep, SD, etc.  Just running freight right now.  To the other poster who mentioned Trainworld, I saw their ad in MR, and I intend on checking them out tonight.  Thanks, everyone!

[joe-daddy]

 

I have several diesels of this era, a BLI RSD15, a Proto2000 E-6, and a Soundtrax equipped Proto 1000 F3.  It is a mixed bag, these three and my E-6 is the litter pick.  See my Blog entry on this very topic by clicking here.

If you are intent upon remaining DC, the QSI sound equipped loco is a good choice.  I have also ranked my sound locomotives, steam and diesel on my blog.

Your price range is right on.

Good luck,

 Joe

 

[wjstix]

I guess the answer depends on what you're going to use it for - are you looking for a passenger engine, or a switcher, or a roadswitcher...or one that could fill in doing all three??

[SpaceMouse]

Check out Trainworld.com. They often have end of runs and closeouts at really good prices. Don't forget Broadway locos.

[rrlcommish]

Currently running a DC HO model railroad.  Would like to purchase a good diesel locomotive circa late 50's - early '60's that has sound onboard that I can use with DC.  (Eventually I'll upgrade to DCC, but probably not for a couple more years when I have more space).  There are many choices such as Walthers Proto 2000, Athearn Genesis, Bachmann, Atlas, etc.  Looks like a sound-equipped loco will run me anywhere from $159-$300+ depending.  I also saw that Atlas has the Quantum system to work with their Quantum-equipped locos.  I assume this system controls a decoder onboard their locos and the sound comes from the loco and not from the Quantum "box".  My question is...what is the "best buy" to start me off with a sound-equipped loco?