My first post

[khier]

Dear All,

I model German railways of thirties and forties in H0 scale. I have always loved the US diesel bulldogs of that period with their powerful, avant grade look and colorful paint schemes. When I started something like 20 years ago, US model trains used to be crude toys rather than models with clunky drives and bad paint and details. Bachmann, Athearn, and even the celebrated LL Proto came way behind Roco, Fleischmann, and other European brands both in terms of finish and running qualities. For years I had the impression Brass is the only option to have decent US models. However, the cost issue was out of the question to me.

When I was surfing in Ebay a couple of weeks ago I came accross a seller who is selling US locomotives and other rolling stocks, where I found beautiful F-units fully equipped with DCC sound at incredibly competetivew prices. This sparked my interest again and I started researching and reading and watching Youtube reviews. I found the lousy crappy toys were gone, and highly detailed models took their places. 

However, I was overwelhmed by the multitude of manufactureres and the wide spectrum of prices. An athearn genesis F-Unit is as expensive as two to three Bachmann counterparts. I have been also confused by the different series from the same manufacturers. Having only internet pictures as reference, it is very hard to judge the locomotives and see the differences. 

I am not a rivets counter. I care more about realism than accuracy. I mean I would rather have wrong, but detailed boogies than a correct crude one. Runnig qualities come before correct roof fans. Again, realism and quality come before accuracy for me.

Given these criteria and preference, which manufacturer for F, E and ALCO PA would you suggest?

Regards 

Walid

[hon30critter]

Hi Walid!

Welcome to the forums!!!    

If you want really detailed F series locomotives I would suggest looking at Rapido. The owner, Jason Shron, puts an incredible amount of effort and detail into his locomotives.

http://rapidotrains.com/

The problem for you might be the limited number of roads that he offers.

Another source for decent F series locomotives is InterMountain:

http://www.intermountain-railway.com/

Proto 2000 produced E series units but they apparently don't meet your standards. I,m not familiar with other sources.

Can't offer any suggestions re PAs. Sorry.

Regards,

Dave

[BigDaddy]

Welcome to the forum.

I going to take a wild guess that you are in Germany.  If that's the case, you might want to contact Sir Mad Dog.  He is in Hamburg and was a very active member of the forum.  Recently life has gotten in the way of his modeling and he has not posted recently but he may respond to a private message from a fellow countryman and share some sources with you. 

Athearn does not have LED lights and has had some quality issues lately. 

I see MTH make PA's and they are notorious for bad customer service.

[cowman]

Welcome to the forums,

As you have found the quality of many brands has come a long way since their toy train days.

Some of the  price difference are due to such things as DC only, DCC ready, DCC equipped and then DCC w/sound, the quality of the decoder installed, including the options available and quality of sound.  Appearance also has variations, the amount of detail molded on or applied.  Just got a couple of the new Atlas RS-1's and the quality of the details just keeping better, notably the hand rails are not as bulky as the older ones.  Quality and power of the motors is another variable.

I  have a couple of the Bachmann Sound locos.  Certainly are well above their predessors in looks and they run finel  The options on the decoder are a little limited, but nothing I am going to worry about.

A friend of mine has an older Intermountain F unit, calls it his best running loco.  I would expect that they have only improved.

As well as the Bachmann, I have Atlas and Athearn, some DC some DCC and DCC w/sound, so far no major problems.  Also have some older rather generic steam locos from IHC, which I understand can be converted to DCC if I choose to do so.  (I'm not ready to tackle that and can't afford the have it done at the moment.)

Have fun,

Richard

[khier]

Thank you all for oyour replies. I am fully aware of the differences in specs. when judging the prices. Bachmann sound locomotives still significantly less expensive than Athearns. Is this because of better quality or just less and/or generic detailes of Bachmann? If yes, is it possible to super detail Bachmann units with a reasonable effort using photo etch and other detail kits? Or is it a major scratch building work that does not justify the lower cost? What about Broadway Limited for E-units? There E6 looks nice, and there is -my all time favourite E- an E1 in the pipeline. Are they worth or simply overpriced?

 

Regards

 

Walid

[G Paine]

Welcome Walid

Just about every manufacturer of North American diesels makes an F unit. They are very popular and sell well; and, as mentioned above, quality and price can vary a lot.

I have a couple of Bowser F units, and they are good runners. They have a good selection of the different models on the F line of locos

http://www.bowser-trains.com/history/locoindex.html

 

[khier]

Thank you all for your replies. For some unknown reason my reply did not appear on the forum. Here is a test.... let us see if it will come out.

 

Regards