Good info. I want to find out more about the history of this local rail line. I’ll check out the mfrs you list...don’t know if they were using steam or diese. Doc
BigDaddyAthearn is the last of the current manufacturers to adopt led's. I am not up to speed in DCC conversion on blue box locos, except I know the motors need to be isolated from the frame.
The Athearn RTR engines comes with a DCC plug.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Your era is 1960 to 1987?
Best is an illusion. The Life Like Proto 2000 locos were more detailed than their peers, when they were introduced. They are good runners, but if you are going to DCC you need to install decoders and led's. Many of them suffered from a cracked gear problem, which is easily fixed with Athearn gears.
Atlas especially older Atlas were/are good runners. As were Stewart locos.
Athearn is the last of the current manufacturers to adopt led's. I am not up to speed in DCC conversion on blue box locos, except I know the motors need to be isolated from the frame.
Bachmann, while the list price is high, the out the door price is not. Older locos had a split frame which complicates DCC conversion. I don't think the detail is quite as good and the sound value DCC decoders have the annoying habit of immediately starting up when the track is powered on.
I forget what thread I saw this, but it is a timeline of locos by model
http://www.urbaneagle.com/data/RRdieselchrono.html
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
IMHO Atlas,Athearn RTR and P2K.
BTW The Chessie roads was never merged under the Chessie banner..The first merger would come in '83 under the CSX banner.B&O merged with the WM..In 1987 the C&O/B&O merged.Then few months later C&O was merged into CSX Transportation.
The Seaboard System was absorbed by CSX Transportation in 86.
I am coming along well with the construction of the benchwork for my first model railroad build. I am focusing on a small rail line here in Eastern Kentucky that has lately been turned into a rail trail after being donated to the state by the estate of R.J. Corman.
What I need to know is, what is the best HO scale manufacturer of locomotives from that era and what might have been used on the Dawkins Rail line to haul timber and coal out of the mountains? I am including a short history of the rail line below. Hope someone can help me with this doc:
"...The railroad derived its name from the Dawkins Lumber Company. In 1912, the Dawkins Lumber Company incorporated the Big Sandy & Kentucky River Railroad (BS&KR) to build thirty one miles of line through three watersheds into Breathitt County. The corporate officers of the BS&KR were W. H. Dawkins, vice president; T. N. Fannin of Ashland, and L. N. Davis treasurer.
The BS&KR railroad office was at Riceville from 1913 to 1920. In 1920 as the tracks were extended to Carver, the railroad office was moved to Royalton. The BS&KR never reached Breathitt County. The stock market crash of 1929 terminated the Company. The C&O railroad acquired the entire stock of the BS&KR on September 22, 1930.
The C&O did not construct the tunnel at Carver (or Tiptop) until 1949. Tracks were finally extended from Carver to Evanston in Breathitt County after construction of this tunnel.
The C&O acquired the B&O and the Western Maryland in 1960. The C&O operated these Companies independently until 1972. In 1972 the C&O merged these entities and formed the Chessie system. In 1982 Chessie merged with Seaboard and became CSX.
In 2002 CSX sold the Dawkins Line to R. J. Corman. R.J. Corman filed to abandon and railbank the thirty six miles of the Dawkins line the week of November 6, 2004.