Which is your best performing engine?

[mikebonellisr]

I have 43 HO steam engines.Everything from 30 yr. old,repowered mantua & riverossi,bowser & roundhouse kits,L L heritage, athern,spectrum& older bachmann,cheap[$300] & expensive[ $1,200] brass.My best operating loco is my spectrum 2-8-0.It has the best slow speed,smoothest drive train and decent pulling.For all that I've paid in time & money ,trying to get the others to run as well,it's turned out to be a real bargin!

[Anonymous]

I have 2, both n scale, both steamers a thirty year old arnold rapido pacific in Southern colors, (will pull 50 freight cars on level track. I also have a great running 280 spectrum by bachman. (smooth)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mikebonellisr
My best operating loco is my spectrum 2-8-0.It has the best slow speed,smoothest drive train and decent pulling.

I have yet to see a negative comment about the 2-8-0 and it's still a popular seller.

[mike33469]

Proto 2000 0-6-0

[CP5415]

Right now, in steam would have to be a pair, my 35 year old Rivarossi 0-4-0 w/tender & my 4 year old IHC 4-6-2 Pacific.
Diesel would have to be my Athearn VIA P42.

Gordon

[Anonymous]

All of my Katos and P2K locos. I just wi***hey would make more of a variety that was accesible to me. Plus if I had more money that would make things alot easier too[:D].

Jeremy

[Noah Hofrichter]

My best is my Athearn GP-38. I had a walthers up untill I got my athearn, and that ran okay but the athearn is much better.

Noah

[Nieuweboer]

my two best running locomotives (quiet, smooth without hardly any movement of the amp.meter needle) are two Katos and third best believe it or not is a Athearn GP9, it is as quiet as the Katos. Must be a production freak, because I didn't change anything.Then follows my Bachmann 2-8-0. The Atlasses rank after that.

[Eriediamond]

I have eight locos on conventional DC and all eight have performed extremely well for me and so close to equal it would be hard to pick one. However, like Mike, my Spectrum 2-8-0 really impresses me, so much so that a Spectrum "decapod" is soon to be ordered, in ERIE livery, of coarse. I do test run and disassemble and lubricate any loco I purchase, both new and used, before being put into service. I guess I've been pretty lucky as far as not having any "lemons". Happy Easter y'all [:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

Atlas C30-7.

[simon1966]

My Atlas S2 runs really well and is my best running non-steam. I have several IHC steamers and they are suprisingly good for the money. My new BLI Mike turned out to be a lemon and shorts if the tender is connected. Sent back to BLI for repair and they "lost" it! Sent me an un-decorated unit instead of my CB&Q. To give them their due, they have promised to replace the undecorated with a Q unit when the next production run comes along. I have always stayed away from Bachman due to negetive press from friends, but it sounds like the Spectrum's may be worth looking at.

[Anonymous]

My best running is my HO Rivarossi UP FEF-3. Smooth, quiet, and with the traction tire equipped it can pull the bumper off a chevy.[:D][;)] Yes, if anyone is thinking about getting this loco, don't hesitate. The headlight has a nice, bright, white glow and it's almost blinding! My second best would be my Spectrum 4-8-2 Light Mountain.

[Anonymous]

I only run diesels, and in HO my best runners are Stewart/Kato F7A's and a B. I am curious about Atlas these days as they seem to have improved in the last while - I just haven't bought one recently.

In N, the Kato F's (again) come out on top for me; perhaps because of the Kato quality conbined with the ability to put a lot of weight under the cowl. I'm curious about Atlas these days in this scale as well.

[METRO]

Kato REALLY needs to get a larger HO-scale lineup going. My best locos are my Kato-powered Stewart Hobbies F-7s. They run whisper quiet and have the smoothest acceleration and slow-speed running of anything I have.

[dand200]

I have a Stewart DS-44-1000 that is my best runner and I must be in the minority because I bought a Spectrum Baby Trainmaster and it is a piece of junk.

[Anonymous]

My Walthers GP9M

DOGGY
GO CUBS

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 4884bigboy

My best running is my HO Rivarossi UP FEF-3. Smooth, quiet, and with the traction tire equipped it can pull the bumper off a chevy.[:D][;)] Yes, if anyone is thinking about getting this loco, don't hesitate. The headlight has a nice, bright, white glow and it's almost blinding!

I'll second that, an excellent engine bar none, in close second would be the Allegheny where as at the bottom of the heap would be my Rivarossi Big Boy, Coming to a scrap heap near you[:(]

[mikebonellisr]

Almost all of my diesels run much better than my steam locos. I'm a little jealouse of you guys that operate diesel layouts, but we are closing the gap.I can't figure out why the enginers/designers of steam models took so long to get it right...and yet they still mess up a little,as with athearns genisus mike. you would think that with thier good name, experience and marketing skills,that they would produce a benchmark product.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: [i]Originally posted by Fergmiester[/i

I'll second that, an excellent engine bar none, in close second would be the Allegheny where as at the bottom of the heap would be my Rivarossi Big Boy, Coming to a scrap heap near you[:(]

[:0][:0][:0] I hope you're talking about the older AHM/Rivarossi BB's. I don't see anything wrongwith the new re-tooled versions (except that all the stores are sold out, GRRRR!!![:(!][:p][;)]).

[Budliner]

I have some old atlas motive power and after one hit the floor it still the bad boy on the block I have some ols athern and some new I like the new one its a sothern 1500
I have two buchmann Spectrum 2-8-0 and the Spectrum 2-8-8-2's make it around my bumpy 18's way better
I have the rivarossi 0-8-0 with the engin in the boiler wow I love the two I have, one is mint. one is old and both run and pull great ( they look cool too) my rr cab foward needs lubed (its the old one I think) but it also runs awsome well the proto 2000's I have 2 diesel and some boxcars are the best


till I get some kato's

K-

[AggroJones]

Proto Y3 2-8-8-2 or Proto F3AB. Run about the same.

[Anonymous]

Best running steamer? My Bachmann 2-8-0 is hard to beat except by heavily reworked brass models[;)]. Best diesel is my Kato 8-40CW. Thing pulls everything effortlessly and dead quiet![:D]

My kid has a P1K FM Eire built. Its like a brick with 12 wheels. Pulls like the Kato, just uglier![:0]

[AntonioFP45]

This is a good post though it would have been an interesting idea to have put: BEST RUNNING LOCO, and WORST RUNNING LOCO.

My top performing locomotive without a doubt: My Stewart Hobbies New York Central F7A. Incredibly smooth and quiet. Will move steadily at 2 scale mph with my TECH II 2500 powerpack. Wish all of my locos ran like this!

Worst runner: I have a Rivorrossi E8 with a truck motor. It's a a junker but ironically the body is pretty decent! I'm going to try and give it a complete mechanical makeover with an A-LIne kit later down the road. BLI

[sparkingbolt]

LL P2K GP9 Smooth, Quiet.

[Anonymous]

My Graham Farrish 0-6-0 switcher. Even though I model the present day, it was a present and it is smoooooooth. I have 3 Bachmann 8-40CWs and i think the roadname does affect its performance. (Voodoo? Witchcraft? Luck?)

[timthechef]

my best engine is a IHC consolidation. It has a flywheel and will creep along at exceptionally slow speeds. It's not the most prototypically correct engine but it sure runs nice.

[orsonroy]

Virtually all of my new-generation HO steam operates very well. They're smooth, quiet and have very good throttle responce and low-end speed. I'm really impressed with my BLI 2-8-2s and anything in the Life Like Heritage line.

That said, none of them really pull for poo, so my favorite PERFORMANCE engine is a 1960s vintace Mantua Mikado that I've remotored with an Alco Helix Humper can motor and idler gear. This engine pulled well with it's stock five pole open frame motor, but is now a superb puller, able to drag 105 cars on the flat. Up hills and 2.25% curvy grades it can lug over 30 cars. It's the single most powerful non-articulated HO engine I've ever seen. Too bad it's not a prototype for anything...

[Anonymous]

Like many modelers, I have many more locomotives than I should. I also have some older locos from my late-teens c.-19th century layout that do not fit my current transition-era period. And of course, one reason for choosing transition era was to be able to play with early diesel as well as steam (which remains my true love).

In diesel, I concur with several posts above - the Stewart/Kato F7 A/B HO diesels are awesome and definitely my best runners, period. But all but one of my diesels run very, very well - the exception being the Walthers GP9M that some others have praised.

In steam, its the Proto2K 2-8-8-2. That would be followed by my Powerhouse 2-8-8-2 semi-brass and a few truly brass engines, mostly from SKI and Samhongsa. The Spectrum 2-8-0 is very smooth but draws more current and is noisier. Spectrum 2-10-0 is a decent runner but not up to the 2-8-0. Referring to my literally and figuratively older steam, I have several Rivarossi purchased in the mid-Sixties: two of their 4-4-0 Americans, a 2-4-0 and the 4-6-0 Casey Jones. All of these are still outstanding runners after 40 years (15 of them in storage in a dry but non-temperature or humidity-controlled environment) and many, many hours of operation; this company at the time was far ahead of the curve. Curiously, the Americans are now offered by IHC and, based on test-running at my LHS, are pale shadows of the originals in terms of running quality.

[jfugate]

Kato and the newer Atlas engines. The Proto 2000 diesels start out running okay (they have slop in the worm gear, so will buck on hills without adding some washer shims) but they don't age well. The problem with the P2K's is mostly power pickup issues.

Adding track wipers to the P2K's seems to solve the problem, but it's too bad they don't hold up like the Katos and Atlases. With a DCC back EMF decoder and a gentle speed curve, I can set the Katos to just above a crawl with a 20 car train in tow and they'll just roll along, smooth as silk, through turnouts, around curves ... what a blast to run.

Here's some video footage of Katos and Atlas locos in action ...

http://my-memoirs.com/preview.asp

... it's harder to get the P2Ks to run this smooth on video!

[Roadtrp]

Well, keep in mind that I drive poor man's locos (though I'm more cheap than poor...), and that I only have two of them. One is a standard Life Like F40PH and one is a standard Life Like GP38-2. Now before you laugh me off the board, please remember that I'm in 'N' scale. And in 'N' scale, even standard Life Like comes with all wheel pickup / all wheel drive and a 5-pole skewed armature motor.

I think that both of my locomotives operate pretty nicely, but I would have to give the nod to the GP38-2 for quietness and excellent low speed operation.