feedback on Stewart Hobbies locos & rolling stock

[FloridaPanhandler]

Hi all,

I'm starting to plan my engine & car fleet (I'm starting almost from scratch after several years out of the hobby).  I've noticed that Stewart Hobbies offers a nice range of models and road names at reasonable prices, but I've never owned anything from them.  How do their products compare to others in the market?  Specifically, how do their engines compare to, say, Athearn & Atlas?  And how do their cars compare to Athearn BB or Roundhouse?  Thanks...

[tstage]

FP,

Ohhhh, Stewart locomotives are terrific!   They may not as nicely detailed as the Athearn or Atlas but the new ones run like a Swiss watch.  (You can always purchase the super detailing kits from Bowser if you want to spruce them up.)  They're still look good.

I have a Baldwin VO-660 switcher and an EMD FT A-B unit.  Go to either Empire Northern Models or M.B. Klein.  You can find some very nice deals at both places.  If you are looking for recommendations, talk to Tim Smith @ Empire Northern.  Tim's a good guy and knows his stuff.

Tom

[ndbprr]

Sewart is now owned by Bowser.  When sold one of Steve Stewarts desires was the quality be maintained.  His original engine was an RS-3 in kit form that had an Athearn drive.  His early F units were made by Kato and are top rate.  I'm not sure of the later engines but I would rate them better than Atlas, much higher quality than Athearn and I know no one who isn't happy to own his engines.  I would rate them higher than  P2K also but you are asking for subjective answers and some may not rate them that highly.

[wjstix]

For running ability, I would say Kato and Stewart are the best (and as noted, some Stewart engines use / used Kato motors etc.) with Atlas a very close second. Life-Like engines as of late have great detail, but the running ability - while good - gererally isn't as good as Kato et al (although I do like their E units !!).

Of course, with decoders with Back EMF etc., a good engine can be made to run really well. I have an Athearn F-7 with a Digitrax decoder with BEMF that runs very quietly and smoothly, maintains steady speed up and down grades.

(Athearn Genesis is supposed to be very good, but I haven't bought any yet !!)

[philo426]

I have a Stewart Hobbies U-25 B that runs great and is well-detailed.It has Atherarn running gear and can pull whatever I put behind it on my 4 by 8 layout.

[tstage]

The newer Stewarts use Buehler motors and they run VERY smoothly.

Tom

[tankertoad70]

I have three Stewart Fs, and they run superbly.  I would have more 'cept my motive power fleet "runneth over" with units.  Had Stewart produced those units starting around say 1982, I would definitely have more of 'em.
I also own a pair of the 40' open hoppers.  The paint scheme isn't very good, but weathering takes care o' that.  The cars themselves are nicely executed.

[bogp40]

Stewart Fs, especially the earlier Kato drives, run fantastic. I have over 20 locos, some af my first ones ABBA F3s, are 12 years old and must have over 80 hours of run time in a club setting. Not one has given me any problems to date. I don't even know of any problems from other members locos except a few worn drives a member had with his B&M ABBA set that was run to death at the Conway Scenic club layout. Who knows how many hours they ran in the 4-5 years they were used.

The new Stewart drive is not as good as the Kato, a few of mine were slighty noisey until a break-in, but they did smooth out and run very good. The pickup wires to the trucks are very stiff but because of the massive weight of the unit, they don't cause trouble. I like the headlight in the Kato with the polished light tube over the newer LED that just hangs there.

The units are lacking in detail as mentioned, but the DA detail kits and Details West or Overland horns take care of that. Kadee #450s for couplers give you the option to close couple (3ft) if your radius allows and the use of American Ltd operating diaphams completes the units. The shells still are not as great as the Highliners. I am a happy coustomer of Stewarts and if a company had to buy them, I'm glad it was Bowser. I know that they will continue in the tradition of Steve Stewart with quality and true to prototype.

[johncolley]

I ran my 4 Stewart FT units (all powered) on DC for about eight years on a club layout (since demo'd) that had 24" radius curves and 2% grades, some both together. The FT's dug in like the prototype and I typically ran 50 to 65 car freights. 2 years ago when I converted to DCC I swapped one B unit back to a dummy and filled it with sound. The power units have Digitrax DH163D decoders and are running on a speed table to give me the notches. The sound unit , with 2 speakers, is a Soundtraxx DSX150. The only difference is the power units are programmed with acceleration and deceleration at CV's set at 10. The sound unit is set at 0 so there is a lag between the throttle change and the resulting movement change. Very realistic! If Stewart put out F3's and GP7's in Great Northern I would jump on them! Happy railroading, enjoy your Stewarts! jc5729

[Soo Line fan]

I have 4 of the Stewart Fs and I think they are outstanding. You don’t hear as much about them as Kato or Atlas but they look and run great.

 

Jim

[rrinker]

 My Stewart F's and the DRS4-4-1000 are my smoothest runners by far. The F7 has a Buhler motor, the Baldwin has a Canon - same motor Overland uses in their brass - and it draws about 0.02 amps running - half that is the LED headlight! The F7 is a dummy, but is has a cast chassis so it has good weight, plus the trucks are exactly the same as the powered unit minus the gears - thus it was easy for me to add power wires to run the sound decoder and BIG speaker I plan to put in it. Kadee has a coupelr conversion kit for them that gives close couplign between the A and B unit and looks great.

 I have tons of Stewart 55-ton hoppers, since I need a ton of them. Easy to put together, P2K wheels fit in their trucks if you want metal wheels, and Kadees drop right in (they supply Accumates now..blech. I have bags full of those things I plan to sell on eBay one of these days).

                              --Randy

[tstage]

The new Stewart drive is not as good as the Kato, a few of mine were slighty noisey until a break-in, but they did smooth out and run very good. The pickup wires to the trucks are very stiff but because of the massive weight of the unit, they don't cause trouble. I like the headlight in the Kato with the polished light tube over the newer LED that just hangs there.

Bob,

Well, if the newer Buehler and Canon Stewart motors aren't as good as the Kato ones, then the Katos must have been phenomenal because my Stewart FT (Buehler) and VO-660 switcher (Canon) are as smooth as glass and quiet.  I did have to finagle around with the LED headlight on my FT though.

The original light harness that came with the FT was too short and was stuck underneath the front part of the frame, so the light didn't pass through much of the lens.  I replaced the LED that came with the unit with a golden-white one, bored out the lens about 1/2 way so that the LED just fit up inside it, placed black heatshrink around the base of the LED to help focus the headlight beam out through the lens better, and pushed it into the nose cone.  Now, that same headlight and LED lights up the back wall and is quite impressive to see.

Tom

[simon1966]

I have a few of them.  VO1000, FT's and some F's.  I think that they are excellent value.  They run well and have a reasonable level of detail.  I would not hesitate to get more of them if I needed anymore locos!

[hd8091]

I have( 4) vo 1000's ,(2) 660's and several sets of the various "F's".

The one thing they all have in common is that they run GREAT..

IMHO it is hard to go wrong with them.

I think Stewart and Intermountian make some of the best running engines I have had the pleasure of owning.

Not that LL Ptoto, Atlas ,and Kato are bad I just think that Stewart is the best deal for the price. Thay can be had reasonably on E-bait most of the time.

Tom

 

[Virginian]

Canon motors have not been available since some time after the earthquake that leveled their plant in Japan.  More's the pity.

[CP5415]

I bought a C628 a few years ago. It sat in my LHS for years.

The thing ran worse than a BB Athearn. After some tlc, & an email to Bowser, the driveshafts were replaced & it runs better.

Gordon

[jbloch]

Nice to hear Tom's comments about the VO switchers, as I plan on modelling Frisco 50's-60's era.  Stewart makes both the VO 660's/1000's and also the DS-4-4-1000 in the black/yellow Frisco logo that would be in my era.  Atlas has come out with the MP15 in the orange/white Frisco scheme, but it was originally produced in 1977 (?) and is thus outside of  the era that I plan on modelling.  Great to hear most of you think they're good quality runners; seems like they're more reasonably priced than some other mfg's as well.

Jim

[NS2591]

I own a C628 Its a great engine running wise, But it has to be detailed, and its not like a kato, A kato the holes are already drilled, Stewarts have to have the holes drilled. I don't run mine often becuase it won't run with anything I own.

[Darth Santa Fe]

I don't own any Stewart engines, but I do have one of their HO hopper kits. It only has as many parts as an Athearn BB kit, but the shell and parts are all very finely molded and look great. The paint is smooth and even with sharp lettering. The stock axles are very thick and are poor rollers, so I replaced them with Intermountain 33" metal wheels, which made the car one of my best rollers.

I've heard nothing but good things about their F-unit drives, so I'm guessing they are extremely good runners. The detailing on Stewart's standard engines is about the same as Life-Like Proto 1000, but their new Executive line has much more detail, including grab irons, windshield wipers, MU hoses, and brass horns.

[jimrice4449]

One plus factor w/ Stewart is that they're marketed as AB sets w/ one unit being a dummy.   I run 40-50 car frts and require my road sets to take 50 cars up a 1.5% grade.   This requires 3 powered units and Stewart offers a powered chasis to replace that on a dummy.   In my case that means an ABA set w/ all units powered or an ABBA set w/ 1 dummy.   Flexibility for those who don't need all that pulling power and for those that do.   One problem I ran into with a four unit psgr set for my 17 car (brass) Empire Builder was that 2 powered units couldn't quite manage.   Simple solution...add a powered chasis to one of the dummy Bs.

[bogp40]

The new Stewart drive is not as good as the Kato, a few of mine were slighty noisey until a break-in, but they did smooth out and run very good. The pickup wires to the trucks are very stiff but because of the massive weight of the unit, they don't cause trouble. I like the headlight in the Kato with the polished light tube over the newer LED that just hangs there.

Bob,

Well, if the newer Buehler and Canon Stewart motors aren't as good as the Kato ones, then the Katos must have been phenomenal because my Stewart FT (Buehler) and VO-660 switcher (Canon) are as smooth as glass and quiet.  I did have to finagle around with the LED headlight on my FT though.

The original light harness that came with the FT was too short and was stuck underneath the front part of the frame, so the light didn't pass through much of the lens.  I replaced the LED that came with the unit with a golden-white one, bored out the lens about 1/2 way so that the LED just fit up inside it, placed black heatshrink around the base of the LED to help focus the headlight beam out through the lens better, and pushed it into the nose cone.  Now, that same headlight and LED lights up the back wall and is quite impressive to see.

Tom

Tom,

Have you run any of the Stewart/Kato units for a true comparison? I don't think that the Katos were phenomenal and without any flaws, but this was the beginnings of the Kato drive and it is propably more of a quality control issue. As I mentioned, of the 20 units 1/2 are Kato and the rest the newer drive. The latest purchase was a special run of WM circus offered through Bessimer Hobbies. These were actually the last run of Stewart before Bowser bought them. The order was 5 As and 2 Bs all powered. Of the 7 drives 5 were noisey out of the box. A couple made gear noise regardless of direction. These haven't had any serious run time yet for any break-in. 4 of my other new drives that had been run did quiet down, but they in no way run like the Katos.

Just my experience and observation of running Stewarts for the past 12 years. Not saying that anything is wrong with the new drive. I wonder what others have found over the years.

My Stewart swichers, by the way, run absolutly smooth and flawless. Go figure.

[tstage]

I own a C628 Its a great engine running wise, But it has to be detailed, and its not like a kato, A kato the holes are already drilled, Stewarts have to have the holes drilled.

Yes, but at least Stewart shells come with "indentations" so that you know exactly where you need to drill the hole.

Tom

[FloridaPanhandler]

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone.  Just curious...when you all say detail on Stewart locos is not quite up to Athearn standards--I have been out of the hobby for 20 years so when I think of Athearn I think of their engines from the mid-80s (when they were just beginning to switch to accurate narrow bodies).  Is Stewart at least comparable to that?

[tstage]

FP,

The detailing on the newer Stewarts is good and crisp.  I think when folks are comparing it to Athearn, they are referring to the Athearn "Genesis" series - which is their top-of-the-line model.  I like the detailing on the Stewarts.  The super-detailing kit adds the nice handrails, windshield wipers, and brakeline hoses.

Tom