chris m01
Registered

In a certain other recent thread a question was asked about the quality of Newd coaches. Although quality is a rather subjective thing - what is important to one might not be to another I thought it might be interesting to start an honest, constructive and polite review of various locos. So here goes, based purely on what is important to me. Others may have had different experinces.
USA Trains - all BoBo locos. I have 5 different locos within this category. Its fair to say that they get used a lot and give sterling service. They pull incredibly well and are very quiet and smooth runners. They have given me no grief at all but they do need a clean of the electric pick ups inside the bogie once a year. They are pretty good to scale and the detail is quite fine. The down side of this is that they are a little fragile and have left a few bits of detail behind in the garden on occasions. Overall I love em.
USA Trains - CoCo locos. I have an SD70 and an SD40. Both are well detailed, close to scale and pull extremely well. Both have a tendency to throw the first wagon off the track on anything less than 12 foot diameter curves. In my limited experience I would say the bogies are not rock solid. I have had one gear strip and another one can sometimes be heard to slip so is probably on its way out. This could be down to me taking them apart and not putting them back together perfectly but they don't seem to be as strong as the Bo units. They have both done plenty of running and are very smooth and quiet. I can't rate these so highly as the BoBo s because I am not 100% sure about the power blocks.
Aristo locos. I have found the USAT locos to be pretty consistant across the range but not the Aristos. The later designs are far better than the earlier ones.
FA1 - can't bring myself to buy one - they look wrong
U25B - This looks Ok but the detailing is clunky compared to today's standards. Although a strong puller and a smooth runner it has a perculiar bogie mounting and is the only loco which falls of my track.
RS3 - I like these. The detailing isn't as fine as USAT but again they tend to be strong pullers and smooth quiet runners
SD45 & E8 - Both good looking and better detailed than the ewarlier stuff. Once again the CoCo bogie does not appear to be as good as the BoBo. Both of these are quite noisy compared to the USAT locos but they don't throw wagons off the track.
GP40 - I can't find any way to criticise this loco. Best detailed, very smooth, brilliant puller.
RDC1 - It works well although it wobbles a bit on my track. I have rebuilt the under carriage as it is completely wrong as supplied and added an interior. The new RDC3 does not have either of these problems.
Bachmann Locos
Davenport - Cute and well built. Detailing not great, lamp rather big. RUns nicely but, due to short wheelbase, can stall on points
Small 2-6-0 - Cute but could not pull the skin off a rice pudding. Also the connectors between loco and tender have fallen apart.
Connie 2-8-0 - Nice and meaty. Not a bad puller although well short of USAT diesel standards. Very smooth and quiet. Well detailed but rather big for my stock. This has shed quit a few parts across the garden so design / buld quality could be better.
LGB I have only ever owned one LGB loco and that has now gone. They all seem to run smoothly and quietly and of course are renowned for longevity. I just wish they were built to a constant scale. ALso, for me, the detailing is often a but chunky, but at least it doesn't fall off so easily.
Piko No experience. I do wish they would state a scale for each loco - I suspect they don't because they are approximations. They do seem to be very good value for money but the detail is poor compared to LGB.
USA Trains - all BoBo locos. I have 5 different locos within this category. Its fair to say that they get used a lot and give sterling service. They pull incredibly well and are very quiet and smooth runners. They have given me no grief at all but they do need a clean of the electric pick ups inside the bogie once a year. They are pretty good to scale and the detail is quite fine. The down side of this is that they are a little fragile and have left a few bits of detail behind in the garden on occasions. Overall I love em.
USA Trains - CoCo locos. I have an SD70 and an SD40. Both are well detailed, close to scale and pull extremely well. Both have a tendency to throw the first wagon off the track on anything less than 12 foot diameter curves. In my limited experience I would say the bogies are not rock solid. I have had one gear strip and another one can sometimes be heard to slip so is probably on its way out. This could be down to me taking them apart and not putting them back together perfectly but they don't seem to be as strong as the Bo units. They have both done plenty of running and are very smooth and quiet. I can't rate these so highly as the BoBo s because I am not 100% sure about the power blocks.
Aristo locos. I have found the USAT locos to be pretty consistant across the range but not the Aristos. The later designs are far better than the earlier ones.
FA1 - can't bring myself to buy one - they look wrong
U25B - This looks Ok but the detailing is clunky compared to today's standards. Although a strong puller and a smooth runner it has a perculiar bogie mounting and is the only loco which falls of my track.
RS3 - I like these. The detailing isn't as fine as USAT but again they tend to be strong pullers and smooth quiet runners
SD45 & E8 - Both good looking and better detailed than the ewarlier stuff. Once again the CoCo bogie does not appear to be as good as the BoBo. Both of these are quite noisy compared to the USAT locos but they don't throw wagons off the track.
GP40 - I can't find any way to criticise this loco. Best detailed, very smooth, brilliant puller.
RDC1 - It works well although it wobbles a bit on my track. I have rebuilt the under carriage as it is completely wrong as supplied and added an interior. The new RDC3 does not have either of these problems.
Bachmann Locos
Davenport - Cute and well built. Detailing not great, lamp rather big. RUns nicely but, due to short wheelbase, can stall on points
Small 2-6-0 - Cute but could not pull the skin off a rice pudding. Also the connectors between loco and tender have fallen apart.
Connie 2-8-0 - Nice and meaty. Not a bad puller although well short of USAT diesel standards. Very smooth and quiet. Well detailed but rather big for my stock. This has shed quit a few parts across the garden so design / buld quality could be better.
LGB I have only ever owned one LGB loco and that has now gone. They all seem to run smoothly and quietly and of course are renowned for longevity. I just wish they were built to a constant scale. ALso, for me, the detailing is often a but chunky, but at least it doesn't fall off so easily.
Piko No experience. I do wish they would state a scale for each loco - I suspect they don't because they are approximations. They do seem to be very good value for money but the detail is poor compared to LGB.