squeaky Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I fancy a dabble into American N, I currently model American HO and have mainly Atlas and Athearn modern Diesels. Can anyone tell how the different manufacturers stack up in N for locos and freight cars, Kato, Atlas, Athearn, Fox etc. Which would be a good smooth runner to go for ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium cnw6847 Posted January 3, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 3, 2012 I am an HO modeller myself but my brother models N. he has excellent models from the following. Kato, Atlas, Athearn, Intermountain all produce excellent locos. Katos probably run the best. Microtrains, Athearn, Intermountain, Fox, BLMA, top notch freight cars I'm sure n gaugers will add more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 3, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2012 Having run N scale locos from just about all manufacturers I have generally found Kato and Atlas locos to be the smoothest and most reliable. Some of the earlier Athearn N scale such a the original F5his were not so good at low speeds but the more recent releases have a revised mechanism and run very nicely. Intermountain Tunnel motors are generally fine but I have had one or two that have taken a lot of running in and fettlng to get them working smoothly. If you intend to fit DCC decoders at someoint then older Locos from all manufacturers wil not be a straight forward installation. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_redrooster Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I'd have to agree with CNW6847 about Kato. They are indeed very smooth runners with good pulling power. Our exhibition layout has some steep hidden gradients and Kato locos romp up the grade! Closely followed is Atlas which have always perform faultlessly. I personally dont have any Athearn or Intermountain locos however they do struggle on gradients and often slip to a stand. Detail on all are excellent, however Atlas are my favourite - but that could be down to the variety of choice in smaller GP locos :-) One thing to watch is not to mix and match manufacturers when running a consist. They all have slightly different gear ratios / starting voltages and can play havoc when operating. The problem with N gauge is you can get a LOT stored into a very small space. The problem I found is a small space soon became a large space....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeaky Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 I've gone an ordered a Kato GE C44-9W BNSF Warbonnet livery and an Atlas tank car. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Here is a great resource for an honest evaluation of locos and a good idea of what rolling stock is available: http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/trainstuff.html My stock of N-scale locos is quite extensive, and I have done DCC conversions to a lot of them. This allows relatively easy running of consists - one of the things that makes N so nice is that you can sensibly run consists and long trains. I take it (from your purchase) that you are looking at quite modern stock. In that case I'd say Kato and Atlas are the best bets, with FVM (Fox Valley Models) and Intermountain coming next. Athearn is a bit hit and miss, although their SD70/75 is quite nice (but be careful of which release you get if you are intending to run DCC). Bachmann has managed a few gems among their otherwise uninspiring product line. The advantage of the newer Kato and Atlas locos is that they are designed to take circuit-board replacement DCC decoders which makes going DCC simple. Some of the other manufacturers are not so thoughtful (although most now acknowledge that a significant percentage of their customer base do run DCC). For rolling stock, Atlas, FVM, BLMA, Athearn, Microtrains, Intermountain,... It is sometimes useful to know the history of the models to determine which are new and which are rehashed old dogs (e.g. a fair amount of Athearn cars were originally Roundhouse products - not necessarily a bad thing), and Spookshow's website does have most of that information. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted January 4, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2012 You won't find many better locos than those made by Kato (except perhaps their Japanses range). Atlas aren't far behind. I've been happy with the Atlas and Microtrains frieght stock I have (I only dabble in American), but the Kato passenger cars I have seen are very nice. Many American locos are available off the shelf with DCC fitted (some with DCC sound). Others require a tough hardwire job (involving major chassis surgery), others just need a PCB swapping which involves un-doing a few screws. I've not come across any that have 6 pin decoders. Some of the Bachmann stuff is very roppy but their newer models appear to me much improved. Happy modelling. Steven B. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 You won't find many better locos than those made by Kato (except perhaps their Japanses range). Atlas aren't far behind. I've been happy with the Atlas and Microtrains frieght stock I have (I only dabble in American), but the Kato passenger cars I have seen are very nice. For passenger cars it is Kato, Rapido, Intermountain/Centralia (newer releases), and MicroTrains (heavyweights). The rest are a step behind, or maybe only half a step for the Athearn Bombardier cars and the Bachmann Amfleets (later release). Many American locos are available off the shelf with DCC fitted (some with DCC sound). Others require a tough hardwire job (involving major chassis surgery), others just need a PCB swapping which involves un-doing a few screws. I've not come across any that have 6 pin decoders. The FVM ES44AC/DC uses a six-pin decoder. It is one of the few models that do. Most recent locos are fairly simple to add DCC to. Even the older locos aren't so bad with the advent of the TCS CN/CN-GP decoders that replace the split light boards in older locos. Also, DCC-ready replacement frames are available for some of the DCC-unfriendly locos. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 4, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2012 One area to be aware of is the couplings. These days Microtrains couplers or equivalaent are the norm. Kato use a type which does just about couple to Microtrains couplers. Many other manufacturers now fit either Microtrains or a similar compatible (but in my opinion not as good) couplers. Older stock comes with the Rapido style coupler. However, you can buy Microtrains trucks with their coupler prefitted. If I am running Kato locos with set rakes of rolling stock such as coal hoppers or passenger cars then I do not generally change the Kato coupler. If you are going to be switching on the layout then you will need to change these with either a Microtrains 1015 or in some cases a 1004 coupler. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeaky Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Well I've just ordered a Digitrax DN163K1B decoder for the loco, I will have a look at the couplers when the loco and freight car arrive. Thanks for all the advice so far Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 roundhouse beat me to the couplers issue. Basically: Kato uses Kato couplers Atlas, older Athearn, and some smaller suppliers use Accumate couplers Newer Athearn uses McHenry couplers Bachmann uses various variations from Rapidos through fixed knuckles to their new knuckle coupler. Microtrains and some smaller suppliers use Microtrains. Walthers frequently uses Rapidos, although some stock has Accumates. With the exception of Rapidos, all the others can be made to couple to one another. I tend to replace all couplers with Microtrains except where I have a group of cars that run together (e.g. Kato Bethgon coal gons) where I will leave the manufacturer's couplings. With freight cars this usually involves replacing the trucks with Microtrains ones. I am also slowly replacing plastic wheels with metal ones (FVM/BLMA/ExactRail/etc...) The DN163K1B is quite an easy install. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lakeview770 Posted January 5, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2012 Kato hands down but I had about 8 Athearth SD70's whilst not as smooth as Kato they came in (at the time $40 cheaper per unit) My Atlas and Intermountains ran about the same but my older Atlas ex Kato ran as sweet as a nut. Andrew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeaky Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 Well the loco I ordered was out of stock, so i'm now getting this one It's still a Kato C44-9W Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeaky Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Well the loco I ordered was out of stock, so i'm now getting this one It's still a Kato C44-9W Well here it is, the decoder install is a doddle, pull the body off, pull back and lift out the DC board, put a bit of tape on the chassis and then slide the DCC board in, body on then test! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Yes, the Katos like that are some of the simplest DCC installs in N. With Atlas locos you tend to have to loosen the frame screws and spread the frame to swap the circuit board (still not difficult, but not as easy as the one you did). Kato cab units (P42, F40PH, E8/9, F3/7) are a little trickier, but still not a great challenge. FVM ES44s are the simplest since they have 6-pin sockets and the rad fan housing lifts off to expose the socket. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 11, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2012 The only thing to watch is that on the Kato SC70 ACE's that sometimes the board doesn't make a decent contact at one end so the decoder needs packing form underneath. Otherwise Kato are generally pretty good for installing DCC. Intermountain tunnel motors are a mixed bag depending on which batch you have. On some they crimped the locating lugs on the chassis halves making it a hard fit a Digitrax board. Not sure if other makes are any easier as I tend to stick with the Digitrax as they have transponding built in and I intend to make use of this in the near future by adding block sections to work the Surroundtraxx system. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 The only thing to watch is that on the Kato SC70 ACE's that sometimes the board doesn't make a decent contact at one end so the decoder needs packing form underneath. This is actually an issue with the newer Digitrax boards, due to the board being a bit thinner. The way to deal with it is to tin the contact patches to make them a bit thicker. This appears to have been a side effect of making the boards RoHS compliant. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 11, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 11, 2012 Adrian I must admit I hadnt thought of tinning the contact patches but that certainly will be a better method than packing under the decoder for hthose happy to put a soldering iron to the board. I certainly will on any future boards or where currently installed ones cause a problem. Thanks for that idea. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT3 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Interesting stuff, I have also just made the move to modelling US N scale and have been going through the same exercise to decided what is good to buy and how well things work. I did decide just to buy a loco and a few wagons to test things out but went abit overboard.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Connell Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I hope no one minds if I ask a vaguely related question to the OP. I've read this thread with interest and am also tempted to dabble in the North American scene, but specifically Mexico. I see that Fox Valley Models do a Ferromex ES44AC but as these don't appear to be available anywhere this side of the pond I wondered if anyone could recommend a supplier that they have used. Thanks Gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Gordon - don't know if they will have it in stock but you might like to read this, which HAS to be the fastest USA-UK delivery EVER. Start at the top of that page http://www.the-gauge...&p=91745#p91745 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 You could also look at this thread http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/39723-favourite-one-stop-suppliers-in-the-usa-or-anywhere/ I've seen the Ferromex ES44ACs at Credit Valley and they do look nice. I have a pair of NS ES44DCs which run well but are, annoyingly, not well matched. I have yet to delve into why. The DCC conversion is a simple six-pin decoder install - you can lift off the radiator fan housing to do it. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Connell Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Thanks both. I should have searched first. Gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Gordon - don't know if they will have it in stock but you might like to read this, which HAS to be the fastest USA-UK delivery EVER. Start at the top of that page http://www.the-gauge...&p=91745#p91745 Mmm..... fast, yes... I note Chris hasn't had the Bill, yet...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Her had when I spoke to him today - but I can't remember the cost - less than postage for the one that still hasn't arrived from elsewhere though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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