I have been away from n-gauge for a few good years. I was recently researching small locomotives for my planned coffee table layout and I cannot find i.e. Kato NW2 switchers or some of other ones like Bachmann 44 or 70 tonners. Did the stock dried up, was affected by covid or some of those locos are no longer being made? I am just curious. I was only able to find used Kato NW2s (or new ones on Ebay) for what appears to be close to 3x the MSRP. Sorry if that's something obvious that I should know but my last n-gauge purchase was probably over 7 years ago.
I hadn't noticed it, but you seem to be correct. I see that Broadway Limited's EMD NW2s and SW7s are available. I don't know anything about their quality though. Atlas S2s and S4s can be found here and there.
For years the Bachmann 44 & 70 tonners were listed on a online retailer site for $49.99 as well as their F&'s which was a great price for DCC Equipped for someone to get into the hobby. I had 2 used Bachmann F7's and they were great to learn about DCC with along with the Bachmann EZ Command Controller. Only bad thing is they were wired but still as an introduction the prices were great for brand new. But I haven't seen them in over a year or so. I know some people hate Bachmann, but I was very happy with them and the controller. I have since moved onto the NCE PowerCab and got my first Kato unit's and set's several months back. But happy I started cheaper to see if I would like DCC, and I did and do, a lot Good luck with finder a switcher for your coffee table layout.
The Broadway Limited units can have very spotty performance. I have had no luck with mine - I very nearly swore off Broadway Limited entirely based on my experience with them. I have unfortunately also had even less luck with the Bachmann 44 tonner. I love the Atlas S-2, it is one of my favorite locomotives. If you can find that in a road name you like, I highly recommend it!
The last iteration of the LifeLike SW9/1200 was DCC ready but as you observed they are gone. Atlas bought the LifeLike N scale locomotive molds from Walthers but hasn't done anything with them. The SW9 was a sweet little switcher despite only having only one operating headlight.
Sadly, most manufacturers have gone to limited production run operations. This method guarantees their "profits". But it also discourages many participants in the scale. (Which apparently few people are capable of realizing.) It then stymies growth/hinders increased interest in the scale and WILL limit future profits. Get it ordered ASAP, or you must hunt for it later. Usually, if found, at a significantly higher cost.
Thanks for replying. It does look like the budget engines that most of the newcomers want to start with are gone from the stores. Kato does list few NW2s as still available (with MSRP of $119) but the cheapest I found was $200 on Ebay. Wish I kept the engines and rolling stock I had. Will have to look for used locos as I am most likely going to go with DC for simplicity.
The lack of small engines is why I'm considering staying with HO. I do have two small engines and 10 smaller cars. Of course they are already DCC which is difficult with small N engines.
I have had good luck with my BLI locos.....better than my Katos in fact.......but I know people who have had poor luck as well. I have 10 BLIs and the only issue I've had is a couple of them lost their programing and had to be reset. I guess the first question would be if you are going DC or DCC? The BLIs are great little engines, having DCC and sound out of the box. When running on DCC, they also have a keep alive in the Paragon 4 version, which solves most of the "stalling on turnouts" issues, but if you are going DC, you pay for a lot of features you can't use. As much as I like the LL/Walthers SWs, if you are going DCC I'd avoid them......only the last run was DCC ready, and the poor design of the pickup makes it a headache. I had to tear mine apart multiple times before it worked properly, and every time I took the shell off, I managed to tear off one of the little metal tabs that transfer power from the trucks to the chassis. I ended up with 3 of the 4 being held in place with glue. And you HAVE to put the shell back on to be able to test it. There are a few VO-1000s out there in the $100-110 range..........I've had good luck with mine, the only issue being the older ones can be a little noisy.
I can't believe I forgot about these! I have one that is not just a good runner, it might seriously be the best running locomotive I have. I bought one of the B&O units, DCC equipped. It runs so good, it will even handle an unpowered frog, the ONLY switcher I have that can do that. I still kick myself for not having purchased both road numbers. Be careful with any from the most recent run (2017ish or so), the ones I purchased from this run were pretty poor performers, a quality control issue I suspect. But if you can find ones from the earlier runs, they are great locomotives.
In my experience the Life-Like SW8/9/1200's are great running engines and there are usually several listed on ebay, often for less then $100. There are some Atlas S-2's in the $100 range, and also some Arnold S-2's, which I understand to be pretty good but not as good as the Atlas versions. If you're really wanting new, Atlas is supposed to be coming out with an S-4 this quarter: https://shop.atlasrr.com/t-ordership.aspx
Another good one if you can find it is the Atlas MP15 (Con-Cor also did an MP15 that is supposed to be good also).
The thing too about pre-orders is the risk of poor quality, spending a pile of money on a poorly running design that you can't possibly know of ahead of time. We unwittingly become beta testers for some releases.
Not to mention the special pleasure of pre-ordering and then waiting FIVE YEARS or MORE for the product to be produced.
Very true. And even after the long years waiting, some never happen- earning the honorific "vaporware". Which does a manufacturer's reputation some significant damage as well.
It looks like I will have to result to a used market. Definitely don't want to be on a waiting list for months waiting for a product that may or not be produced. I have to say that the current market scheme doesn't work for me and I can see that this can be deterring to a newcomers. The good old days were definitely better when you could browse items in stock, add to cart and just purchase.
