DCC Atlas and Athearn

[Tjsingle]

Hi

I have had some forums about DCC, and locomotives, but there is still a number of questions. First being that since I'm interested in sound locomotives should i buy Athearn or Atlas?

Second being what is better quality? i heard things such as the decoders in the athearn sound unit to be horrible.

third If this is ture, should that make me apprehensive about buying an athearn locomotive? Atlas is supposed to be one of the best locomotive manufacters in Model railroading

Can anyone help me out?

[simon1966]

Atlas locomotives are superb. The Gold series are the ones that come with installed DCC and sound.  The problem that you may have is finding what you are looking for.  Atlas follows fairly strict build-to-order procedures and popular locomotives will sell out quite quickly.  Athearn locos are a step or two below Atlas.  You might also consider Broadway Limited locomotives.  There seem to be plenty of deals on these on the web, so you might get a bargain.  There are some deals to be had a http://www.factorydirecttrains.com/ which seems to be an outlet store associated with BLI.

[Tjsingle]

Atlas locomotives are superb. The Gold series are the ones that come with installed DCC and sound.  The problem that you may have is finding what you are looking for.  Atlas follows fairly strict build-to-order procedures and popular locomotives will sell out quite quickly.  Athearn locos are a step or two below Atlas.  You might also consider Broadway Limited locomotives.  There seem to be plenty of deals on these on the web, so you might get a bargain.  There are some deals to be had a http://www.factorydirecttrains.com/ which seems to be an outlet store associated with BLI.

 

Hey Simon

By any chance do you think I could find an atlas at a train show? I know what you mean by atlas with there policies, some what annoying if you ask me! I like BLI, but sice I model Conrail In Western PA, BLI just doesnt have what I want or need. Can My Local Hobby shop order locomotive for atlas?

[simon1966]

You might find one at a train show.  I wanted to get an Atlas Gold Trainmaster in Wabash livery. I must have been to 3 of 4 trainshows and never found one. I was finally able to get the Silver (non sound) version off the web and plan to add sound myself.  If there is a specific model that you want put some effort into hunting one down on the web!

[Tjsingle]

You might find one at a train show.  I wanted to get an Atlas Gold Trainmaster in Wabash livery. I must have been to 3 of 4 trainshows and never found one. I was finally able to get the Silver (non sound) version off the web and plan to add sound myself.  If there is a specific model that you want put some effort into hunting one down on the web!

 

Well, I'm finding it easier to find conrail stuff on the internet, i guess there is more demand than Wabash

[Bapou]

Train shows have a lot of Atlas, (at least Springfield does) and it is a good place to look. Ebay helps a lot for me since I do NJT.

And yes the MRC sound is horrible from what I have heard. 

[simon1966]

I agree that a lot of Atlas locos are seen at train-shows.  My contention is that the Atlas Gold (the ones with DCC and sound installed) are in much shorter supply, particularly the more recent models.