What's a good reliable American diesel model.

garrymartin

garrymartin

My Family,Railways, Beer and the Seaside
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I have finally decided the directions I want my railway to go in. I will stick with my UK narrow guage , live steam, battery & track power, but also over time add US diesel at 1/29 , & appropriate infrastructure , which can be removed when running my UK stuff.
The trouble is I know nothing about US 1/29th stuff , are USAT & Aristocraft coupler heights compatible?
Looking for east coast operating companies as well, circa 1960.
Cheers Garry
 
Any make is pretty good the best runner tht I have are the Aristo RS3, and they look smart in New York Central, plus a lot of them are made with plugs fro battery and some ready with radio control in them, two on ebay now but they are sante fe,​
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Atlantic coast lines best looking paint scheme on a GP7 is really nice USAT, couplers are a mixed bag they will all mix with some coaxing USAT couplings dont like undulating track, ​
 
Out of Aristo and USAT I have come to prefer USAT.
The USAT locos run better on dirty track and have the extra pickup points for power.
They have excellent detail for price as well.

You can couple USAT to other couplers, they are the same height but it gets a bit fiddlely.
You can modify couplers a bit........there is a thread a few weeks back explaining how to.
 
You should read this thread http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?m=96253

Some of the earlier Aristo locos are lacking in detail but the later ones (SD45 onwards) are as good as USAT IMHO. The Aristo GP40 is very hard to fault. Both makes seem to be very reliable and extremely good pullers but my USAT locos are quieter than my Aristos. I would go for whatever takes your fancy. My U25B finds faults in my track which other locos and stock don't.

One word of warning - just because a model is in a certain livery doesn't mean that there was ever a real one in that livery. If this is important to you then you need to check photo and loco roster web sites first.

I use USAT and Bachmann couplers and they seem to work fine together. Aristo and USAT couplers are just a pain to get together so I have converted my Aristo locos to USAT couplers and generally speaking don't buy Aristo rolling stock. I stick to the USAT Ultimate series stock as this has metal wheels as standard whereas the Aristo has plastic. So if I buy a slightly cheaper Aristo wagon it costs me extra to buy four sets of metal wheels and a pair of USAT couplers (if you can find any in the UK).

USAT and Aristo (to a lesser degree) have some nice fine detail but they will shed some of this around your railway. I often finds bits and then just glue them back on.

My favourite East Coast livery is Chessie - as shown on my avatar
 
If you are after circa 1960s Loco,s a nice USA trains S4 switcher should do it! superb runner and available in some east coast liveries as well ! Merv modelling the WP on the south Wales coast....
 
Took a long time for me to decide what direction to go in too, finally decided on US standard gauge, only because it has the most stuff available to buy for it. European narrow gauge is easy, but only really LGB makes stuff for it,so been a millionaire is essential. European Standard gauge too hard, firms make the locos then dont provide a good selection of rolling stock to run with said locos. Lilliput make some nice wagons, but WOW, i would have the choice of one loco from them.
 
Just over four years ago I bought my first 1:29 diesel outiline loco.  It was an Aristo-Craft  RS3.

I found it a great loco.  It is easy to handle, not too heavy and is a decent length which does fit well on 8ft. dia. curves.   I now have three RS3's and an FA-1.

Another Arsito-Craft attribute is the battery connector plugs which are fitted to most Aristo-Craft  locos.   This feature is what 'sold' me on Aristo locos.    

I mainly operate using track power but the battery option, using trailing battery cars, is a real boon enabling running when weather conditions (i.e. damp) makes track cleaning difficult.   Also there are occasions when a short running time - less that one hour for instance - is permissable: time spent cleaning track would lessen the operating time.

Whilst other makes of stock are probably fine the battery option of Aristo-Craft locos is, to my view,  an ideal choice especially for techophobes who aren't happy opening locos and altering wiring.  :thinking:
 
Have several different USA Trains locos and a few of the older Aristo ones . For me i would say the USAT GP38-2 , GP9 run best round my layout with 8ft curves also have SD40-2 and PA's but these are not so good on my curves really need 10ft + . All are very well detailed with metal hand rails etc . The Aristo locos i have are a U25b and a Fa1 both run abit jurkey and have to clean the wheels quite often not so much detail on them as the USAT .

If i had to choose one loco i think it would have to be a USAT GP38-2:bigsmile:

ac8f4cf1555d4d2ea7392cf0f1c992bc.jpg

Two Gp38-2 on a small freight on Rockery Ridge
 
I have appalling trackwork, nearly all of it Peco flexi. That looks wrong, there is nothing wrong with Peco flexi, it's the way I laid it. First of all the site had to be dug out of a slope, walls built, then the soil back filled, so what happens, it subsides. The curves are done to fit the space, no measured radii, and they are tight in places. I have four "big" diesels, one US GP38, three Aristo U25B, one of these being the later, heavier model. I do not think I could use a C-C bogie, never tried. I have very little bad running with these, maybe after a severe spell of weather, e.g. winter, I will have to tamp up the trackwork, but it doesn't happen often, the locos run on. (Thinks, after last nighbt's hard frost, wonder what will happen, only one way to find out)
 
one of my favourite all time is the nw-2 usat---( mad max-- NICKNAME),,,lovely slow running and it over nearly 11 yrs old tht i brought from steve lewis while back ago!!...awesome switcher coz i loves slow running ...
if peoples out there loves quick runnin from any steam and locos tht is fine..........
WILL send u my pictures of my nw-2.....
aslo got sweet little critter and aslo fa1...

 
Thank you all for the advice, pictures, video's & so on. I have spent a few hours drooling over the USAT & Aristo catalogues, I must admit that the New York Central colour scheme is growing on me , I have always liked the Boston & Maine, The Maine Central also looks good. I suspect the market in New Haven stock has already been cornered.
I will be in the market for a GP9 , S4 or NW2 shortly. Now I must find that post about American running practices!
Cheers Garry !
 
garrymartin said:
Thank you all for the advice, pictures, video's & so on. I have spent a few hours drooling over the USAT & Aristo catalogues, I must admit that the New York Central colour scheme is growing on me , I have always liked the Boston & Maine, The Maine Central also looks good. I suspect the market in New Haven stock has already been cornered.
I will be in the market for a GP9 , S4 or NW2 shortly. Now I must find that post about American running practices!
Cheers Garry !
Click to expand...
Hi Garry
If your after a New Haven loco Steve at Back2bay6 has a second hand Aristo RS3


http://www.back2bay6.net/80415/info.php?p=13&cat=227259
 
The Backtobay 6 RS3 is an older model and does not have the battery plugs I mentioned in my earlier post.  I mention this in case it is of importance to Garry.  I know as I saw the loco at the Exeter Show.
 
How about an RDC1 or RDC3 for passenger services.

Here is my RDC1. The RDC1 did not have an interior so I built one for mine. I have just today added lighting courtesy of Ikea Christmas lights at a cost of £1.70. Someone on the forum mentioned these lights a few weeks ago and they seem to work very well. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TtO8VMu9E4 . My camcorder isn't meant for thew dark but you can see the interior lighting is fine, and being batery operated it tays on when the loco stops.
 
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For the smaller type curves the USA Trains GP-30 , and also the NW-2 work very well . They are a shorter wheelbase and length than the others memtioned . And work very well on my 5 foot diameter curves .
And yes I have the other diesels mentioned , so I have the experience with them on 5 foot curves .
The Dash 9s would go around , but it wasnt a pretty sight , and nothing could be coupled to them .
Good luck , and NYC is a good road to model , and Conrail .

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And best of all , the LGB F-7s , with factory sound !


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F-7%20@%20D&H%20Ry%20.JPG
 
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