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Athearn makes the most reliable diesel engines for the price. When you pay $80-$125 as someone previously mentioned for an Atlas or Proto 2000 you will not want to mess with it as a newcomer to model railroading (such as repainting or detailing for fear of messing it up). Athearns are some of the easiest locomotives to repaint, which if you are modeling a railroad that is not as popular as SP or UP is very important. I have around 10-15 athearns that I have repainted into T&P, and since Athearn doesnt have all the little details like plastic handrails and vents you can repaint them fairly quickly and easily. <br /> <br />This is kinda like the Luxury vs Non-Luxury car debate. Atlas, Proto are luxury while athearn is your non-luxury. Athearn is cheaper and more economic and have great pulling power. Atlas and Proto are good pullers but have more things to break and are less durable physically. If you have kids athearn is the way to go as the hand rails are not as easy to mess up and are very easy to repair.
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