Quality comparison

[Colli]

Hi there all, I have the oportunity to buy someModel Power Diesel Locos,
from an estate sale ( I think they are the older style, no DCC. ) I was wondering how they stack up in quality to Athearn, Atlas and Bachman. I don't have any Model Power stuff at the moment and would also like to know if they are easy or difficult to convert to DCC.

Thanks,  Colli.  Elma & Contour R.R.

[ABC]

If they are made of metal and are very heavy they are good locos. If they are plastic and fairly light then they are not worth buying because they are poor running locomotives and converting them to DCC only makes them worse. But the "metaltrains" line of all metal locos do not surpass Atlas or (most) Athearn, but they are better than the Bachmann standard line. Most of the regular Model Power locos are not very good. The metal ones are made either DCC ready or DCC w/ sound.
I do not think the metal locos have been around too long though and you likely just have the plastic locos. I have found the regular Model Power locos quit running after a while for one reason or another.

[Jim Banner]

I have some older Model Power locomotives that run just fine.  They were made in the 1960's by ROCO for distribution by Model Power.  They were very easy to convert to DCC.

However, experience with a limited number of models from a particular period of time does not mean all the models from a particular supplier are the same.

Jim

[ABC]

My experience has been with Model Power locomotives from 1970 to present. Mantua is pretty good and they are tied in with Model Power. I would wager that the 1960's Model Power offering were much better than those that followed excluding the metal trains. I have a few early 70s locos, a few 80's locos and some 90's-present locos and they are all similar in that they didn't last and did not pull very well at all. I have one metal loco and it is pretty good and pulls well.

[jward]

an easy way to tell if they are decent is to turn them over and look at the wheels. if you see traction tires, or on a diesel one truck is unpowered and the wheels are free rolling, avoid them like the plague.

decent runners would be the metal train f7a, the older e7, e8 and shark nose units. everything else i'd leave alone.

[Woody Elmore]

First run Roco engines included Alco FA and FB (both powered), FP-7s, lettered for Amtrak and I remember an SD-24 that I had lettered for the Southern.

Those were great engines. No traction tires on the original runs.

I gave mine away - last I heard they were still going strong.

Model Power has only recently bought out Mantua and Atlas first offered the HO line of Roco Produucts in the mid seventies.

[Woody Elmore]

After posting my last little missive I remembered that there was one problem with the old Atlas/Roco locomotives: the wheels would somethimes come loose on the axle and go out of gauge. This was a time before CA glue so the wheel set had to be changed.

I would suggest that anyone looking to acquire first run Atlas/Roco diesels check to see that the wheels are not wobbly.