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Hello Everyone, I have been noticing recently that alot of newcomers have visited this site recently. I felt the time was right to dust this thing off, tweak it a little, and let it out for another spin. Well without further interuption my locomotive rankings. Note this ranking is soley my personal opinion based on experiences with these brands though my own personal modeling, membership in three model railroad clubs, and my custom painting business. My ranking of locomotive manufactures in according to performance and detail. 1. Broadway Limited. Move over Overland. The king has been overthrown. Broadway Limited simply makes the best model locomotives money can buy. And they cost one fifth the price of their closest competitor, Overland Models. By comparison, Overland is now overpriced scrap metal. I would also like to announce that thanks to Broadway Limited, The souls of many a legendary steam locomotive have been saved from certain doom granting a gloryous opprotunity for those who missed out. Through careful planning and reasearch, the Age of Steam now lives on in the glorious time machine of Model Railroading. All models come with Built in Dual mode DCC and Sound. 2. Proto 2000/1000. The second best a modeler can buy. Ruged, dependable, well detailed, and any model can be configured to match specific prototype. Easy on the pocket book to. All Models DCC Ready. 3. Atlas. Before any loco manufacturor did anything, Atlas did it first. First with can motors. first with flywheels, first with the now standard split frame chassis. First to be DCC ready, and the first to be DCC equiped. (Though Broadway Limited beat them to the puch with sound) A very good buy for any modeler. Atlas locomotives are built like a rock, and with the precicion of a swiss watch thanks to the exellent engineering of Roco of Austria. Though being the pioneers that have shown the way ahead so many times, their models compared to BLI and Proto have a few minor kinks to work out. But when it comes down to it, your just splitting hairs. 4. Athearn Genesis. Great running models, solidly built and very well detailed. However compromised by still using a dirivitive of the "Super Drive" frame and chassis pioneered by them in the early 60s. Not as much traction and pulling power as their competitors. DCC Ready 5. Kato. Great running mechinisms, and they finally after many years have started making a pretty decent paint job. In terms of mechanical performance and detail, they are equal to any of the above. But their fairly high prices force me to drop them down a peg. DCC Ready 6. Stewart Hobbies. Very good running and nicely detailed locomotives. However their older models while cutting edge in their day, have been surpassed by newer technology and thus their detail looks a bit dated. But still good. Newer Models known to be DCC ready. Unkown on older models like F-Units. 7. Spectrum. Very nice smooth running locomotives. Constantly upgrades line so a ready comparison is not easily given. Though consistently has smooth running and good detailing. Their steamers are amung the best to be had. DCC ready 8. Walthers Trainline. Smooth running locomotive with nice paint and detail. Ready to run. Engineered for Walthers by ROCO of Austria, and produced at Walthers plant in China under ROCO supervision. Not DCC ready but upgrading to is is easily achieved. 9. Athearn. Nice running locomotive with a rugged drive train and study instillation. My #1 recommendation for beginners. Nice detail and paint. Not DCC ready and conversion can be tricky if your not careful. Best bargain for detail, performance, and price. 10. Every Pre-Spectrum Bachmann and Non-Proto 2000 Life Like. These two brands are junk. Bachmann has done a good job of upgrading their standard line of locomotives and freight cars to a par with Walthers Trainline. But this is a fairly recent develpment and there are still lots of unsold pre upgraded locos sitting on the shelves Not to mention the scads of used items avialable. At this point the only Bachmann Non-Spectrum Locomotive I can readily garuntee is the FT. as for the rest as well as all non-proto 2000/1000 life likes. Should you be the unfortunate chap to end up with these I reccomend iether make it a dummy unit, or consign it to your model of a locomotive dead line as thats about all they are good for. 11. Lionel. This is more a feeling of personal anger than a technicle assessment. On a technicle level it would be up their with Genisis and Kato, but I feel any model company that has to steal their competitors plans to use them against them deserves to be cast down to the bottom of the heap. I would also like to mention the offerings by Intermountain. I hear this is also a quality brand, but I have no first hand experience from which I can verify these claims. I would also like to mention Overland Models. These people are a close second to Broadway Limited. And owners that can afford them will be happy as they make a very nice model. But their price is such that few modelers can afford them. I hope you all have found this useful. Thank you, James R. Mitich
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