HO Scale Mid-Range Diesels Comparison: 6 Common Brands!
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- čas přidán 24. 10. 2022
- In this video, I compare 6 different HO scale diesel models in the mid-range that can easily be found for an affordable price! These come from all different years and manufacturers, but none of them are what I would consider as a bad choice. I'll show you some of the different details of each one and offer my personal opinions, so next time you're looking for an affordable but decent model for your layout, now you'll know what to expect!
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These are all decent models but as far as running quality goes Atlas takes the cake. I find Athearn locomotives are easier to work on though and their quality for the time is unbeatable. Walthers engines seem solid for the price and the fact they are still in production is also something to give them credit for.
I was just gonna say someting about your channel in the comments so now that you’ve commented I’ll say it here. No model train CZcamsr will surpas your channel but this channel is great
I agree that the Atlas models are very good. Athearn is very good for its simplicty in design. When I got into modeling in the early 1990's I was amazed at how reliable Athearn's were and how easy to kitbash their shells are...wow!
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Great information. Sadly you didn't go into the lower forms of model's, such as the old school brand's that many a youngster might have gotten for Christmas. Such as the go to brand of Tyco. The bargain Model Power, and yes, even the door buster, Life-Like. Yes,they were not of the highest quality, but then they did there job. Getting many younger people interested in following this great hobby. Hindsight is that the sad part of this lower end, also did bring disappointment from the lower weight, in derailing, the wobbly and jerky, shimmy and stalling. Half the excitement got put to bed, to never see light again until the day of thrift stores. But oh! What memories.
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I like how the fascia boards around the sides of your train table are higher than the track. I lost a few locomotives before i finally gave up on edge of the table scenery! Your track looks good and your trains run smooth! Grest video!
Thanks! I wanted to have some sort of guard since my tracks come close to the edge, and the wood boards have done a good job without looking ugly. 🙂
That’s What I love About Model Railroading your Always Learning Something Different. Never Boring.
I just recently picked up three Atlas/Roco locomotives, which I’ve never owned before. All of them are exceptional runners and on two of them, the previous owner added DCC and one has sound as well. I hate the fuel tanks, but love how they run.
The Roco chassis was about the best you could get in the 70”s, and are as Rick solid as they come! I once got to look through a whole collection of Model Railroader magazines, and the ones from that era had a few different projects involving those parts because of how smoothly they ran. The motor currently used in Athearn Genesis diesels is an upgraded version of the old Roco motor and is even a near drop-in fit to the old Atlas models!
Atlas and Athearn are the most reliable units on the market for the mid range market.
One more to add to the mix is Lima. They made some models for the US market. An FP45, a couple of steamers and sweet Alco C420. Great video. Thanks
I have one of Lima’s European sets, and it is a nice runner!
@@DarthSantaFe the Lima pancake motor is incredible. I have Lima locos I bought with my pocket money as a schoolboy which are still running as good as ever on my layout today and I am in my late 50s now.
another thing I forgot to add. Mehano in the old Yugoslavia were subcontractors for Rivarossi in the 70s. But because of all kinds of odd tariffs imposed by the Communists, they had to constantly alter their production methods and hence the constant variations in construction methods. Mehano is still going strong in the now independent Slovenia. However, their models are top quality and expensive. But they do make some inexpensive train sets. They also made a HO Boeing US trolley San Francisco and Boston transit liveries and it was a lovely little model.
@@ArcadiaJunctionModelTrains That makes sense about how they ended up with the C-LINER tooling then!
My favorite "old" locos is Athearn blue box & Atlas yellow/white box(Roco). This both brands is strong and go on forever..
mehano are one of my favorite brands easy to fix and run half decent
I'm always amused when people say "It's not a quiet runner." Has anyone ever been around an actual locomotive? Unless they're battery operated, most diesel's aren't really 'quiet runners' either...lol
True, a real one is of course going to be loud. When you're indoors and have a large layout with a dozen models running though, a lot of noisy models could give a person a headache, and those who like to install sound do better with quiet runners since the mechanical noise won't overpower the speakers.
Thanks for this very informative video, DSF. While browsing on eBay I often find myself tempted to get one of these locos, so this information is quite helpful to me. However, my track is Code 75 and I need good slow speed operation and these conditions reduce the viable options for me. Looks like a Blue Box Athearn is the safest way to go. Cheers from Wisconsin!
I'm totally an Athearn fan, I was raised in the 70's with all the dads and uncles in the neighborhood using them and was a resident Mechanic for them by age 10 lol. Virtually indestructible and with only minor regular maint. these traines will run forever and no annoying zinc pest from my experience even with the really old rubber band drive units.
Later Bachmann and Life-Like units were okay but the set units were always trash imho. When it comes to DCC stuff Proto and Spectrum series were decent for the price but Kato to me really stands out the best. I still run DC and my old Blue Box locos because I have so many and don't really need DCC for anything. Another great video Darth!
I really appreciate your discursive/comparative videos. For those that are starting on the hobby they are really good guides. Congratulations and keep doing videos like this (please!).
Great video and very well presented. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Your layout is a beautiful "Old School" style layout. Its really a joy to see. Have a wonderful day and keep up the good work!
There's generally aftermarket parts for replacing molded on details, allowing you to show some love to them. It depends on how much you run them in, it's best to clip the traction tires and run them 4 hours forward and 4 hours in reverse when new to you for the quietest running and the fastest running .
Even the lower-quality locomotives are still around 50 years after they were constructed. It is a testament to how they were built. Somewhere good some were better than others and some we're great. It depends on how much money you spend. $25 for a locomotive why is expensive for kid who could make $2 an hour. So you made your train budget accordingly.
Once you start a layout instead of just track on the floor you start running your train at anything less than Lionel speed because you don't want it to fly off the edge of the table. When they are operated at more or less prototypical speeds on a layout you generally don't worry about details getting broken off. The shepherd handrails that athearn had were more realistic but a pain in the ass to put on the locomotive probably why they left it up to us. As you acquire better locomotives the ones that are substandard generally get made into dummy locomotives. At least you could still use them.
OH man , I love these reviews of the past trains.... They hit a spot deep in my childhood. They may have not been perfection but for me back then .. they were awesome and I thought about them when I went to sleep at night about how I was going to make new spurs and industries and all those things to my layout. Although my layout was primitive , I had more excitement then than some have with the top of the line..so Thanks ,man .. Iove it.
Some day I will see you do a presentation on cast Mantua 4/8/2 I think ..or 2/6/4..I think..
I got each on ebay for old times sake( they run good but maybe could run better) ...I couoldnt believe theri price backin the 60s or 70s when adjusted to present .. anyway ..thanks
Atlas locomotive was more expensive t h a n a whole Tycho train set to put it in perspective. Very high-quality locomotive for those days or now.
I love athearn blue box, I have a southern sw1500 (which I will post a video of it running on my channel soon) that I believe was in a flood that I paid $6 for and it runs fine, it takes some negotiation to get going but once it does it runs fine. I also ran it with out oil for a while cuz I didn’t know locos needed oil and I forgot I didn’t lube it
A little fresh oil goes a long way! For sluggish starts, there could be a little tarnish somewhere. I’ve also found a new pair of modern Athearn brushes can make a big difference in some of the older motors.
Nice overview. No surprise Athearn came out on top. I assume P2K ( aka Athearn upgrade) not mentioned since more expensive many moons ago, although very affordable now in second hand market. I've picked up brand new in box for $60 (Canadian) models which I paid $180 twenty years ago!
Thanks! I would compare P2K to Genesis, modern Atlas and others in that range, so I’m sure I’ll have them in a later video.
The Micro Mark HM-5 motor is a drop in replacement for the Mehano GP-18. Needs a drop of rtv to keep it in place.
That's what I love about HO train simple to maintain and to keep running. No electronics no bulshit sound effects like they have now. In the new train to pay for all the sound effects and electronics whether you want them or not. Electronics do not last very long either in service or in storage where they tend to delaminate overtime.
I have an old IHC HO scale model locomotive: model of EMD SD24 diesel/electric locomotive in 'Presidential' livery: 'United States of America' on both sides along with 'P.O.T.U.S.' and 'George Washington' both sides of cab and the U.S. flag both sides of hood. Found it at an 'antiques emporium' for $25.00 it had a tag on it 'runs well' so I took a chance on it. No idea of the actual manufacturer or how old it is but it is in excellent condition. It does in fact run well but it is a bit light in weight which limits it's pulling power. It does really fly around the track though the fastest locomotive I have. I suspect it may have originally been part of a full themed train set.
I remember seeing those train sets in the 2000’s. It was made for IHC by Mehano (same as the GP18 in this video), and they did gear some of the diesels pretty fast. Good runners overall though!
Athearn used to offer unpainted locomotive so you can paint and detail them to fit your favorite prototype. It is a shame life life did not come out with the Barney F3 diecast locomotive nothing could out pull them. They could have made it a separate sale top-of-the-line type item. It was great the way HobbyTown of Boston would make cast diesel locomotive shells that would fit a athearn Drive.
Varney unfortunately threw out the diecast tooling in favor of a cheaper plastic body a few years before Life-Like bought them. :(
@@DarthSantaFe wow I did not know that I thought they'd simply chose not to make the metal locomotive. D i e s are very expensive I am surprised he did not sell them to another company.
@@frankmarkovcijr5459 Yeah, it’s a shame that some of these things were lost (the metal Dockside body is also long gone). Over the course of a few years, Varney went from top-end to near toy-grade products compared to what Athearn, Mantua and others were bringing out. After Life-Like bought them in 1960, the few remaining metal trains were sold to Bowser.
I bet most of us would love to be able to run 100 car train. Of course if you have a museum size layout you could do that. On a typical HO scale layout you would not have a 5000 horsepower locomotive pulling a 12-car local train. To 1500 horsepower locomotives would be a more realistic lash up. You would never overpower a train in real life.
When I was a beginning Model Railroader I bought just about anything from anybody thought I could afford. While some may have been better than others never really found any horrible locomotive. I might have been disappointed that they only had four wheel drive instead of eight wheel drive. I found most of them acceptable let's face it most of us in the old days had a 4 x 8 layout. You would just run engines until they gave out some you could do maintenance on them like they ahm steam locomotives you could get brushes for. Some you couldn't fix show they got made into a dummy locomotive model railroaders never throw anything away.
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When they are pulling a train their speed becomes more realistic. Anything can run like a bat out of hell if it is not pulling anything. Eh were high-speed passenger locomotives not switchers they were dear to go 110 miles an hour or higher.
I thought the Athearn Blue Box kits were 3-pole motors?
They’ve actually been 5-pole motors going back to the beginning! Some of the train set diesels have a 3-pole motor, but the rest have 5.
Are athearn locomotives still made in America? Weaver oil gauge locomotives were made an America except for the power truck. He sold the tooling for the ALCO 628 diesel to Mike's train house and I think it became a railking engine.
Yeah you look at the locomotive and the ladders don't meet the step on the truck
I am very happy with every Rivarossi I have, However Bachmann has been so very disappointing.
Wow those prices are cheap, i just started getting into HO strains. I went to my first train shop and all the train engines were selling between 200$ to 450$. But almost all were over 300$ not including tax. I honestly couldn’t believe the prices. Plus they didnt sell used train engines, only the box cars with only wheels. I even trying looking at the really small trains thinking they would be much cheap, nope they’re the same price as the larger😮. Im going to try to fine a place that sells lots of used stuff including engine trains. Anyway is this a very expensive? Im thinking of building everything on a table thats about 5feet by 5feet and using the ez tracks.
New models have been expensive for a while. About the cheapest standard diesel you can buy brand new for under $70 is the Walthers GP9M. You can save a lot by getting used and old stock models and still have a reliable train on a full layout. Model train shows and eBay are good sources for that. You can often find Athearn diesels in good running condition for around $30, and decent freight cars for under $10 each. You can save a lot on track by getting old stock in lots instead of piece by piece. Scenery and buildings can also be found in lots or by making some things from scrap supplies and other things, such as grabbing twigs from a tree or bush and wrapping green foam or other material around them.
8:37 🤨
Spelled Cox. ho-scaletrains.com/cox-trains/
What size is your layout?
The finished section is 4' x 7'. I'm working on adding a section that will essentially double the size of it.