No Kato Gevo Heritage locos? What don't I know?

[wcfn100]

So despite all attempts to sway him (even threats of grounding), my son wants a PRR heritage locomotive for his b-day.  I would like to make it Kato for durability, but I see they haven't done them.

They make the ES44AC which what the PRR is.  What am I missing in this picture?

Jason

[GaryHinshaw]

My guess is the incorrect headlight placement.   Kato is willing to foob a number of features, but I am not aware of any modern locos they have released (in the last ~10 years) that didn't have the correct headlight location.  Hence, they have never produced an NS GE unit in that time frame (but they have produced an NS SD70M, so they're not outright NS haters). 

It would be great if they did produce some.

[Sokramiketes]

Wouldn't the FVM model be more durable because it doesn't have the delicate truck suspension of the Kato?

[wcfn100]

Wouldn't the FVM model be more durable because it doesn't have the delicate truck suspension of the Kato?

Good point.

Maybe I should put more thought into it.  I'm not up on some of the newer locomotives.  My brain goes instantly to breaking handrails and small details.

Jason

[Sokramiketes]

Good point.

Maybe I should put more thought into it.  I'm not up on some of the newer locomotives.  My brain goes instantly to breaking handrails and small details.

Jason

How do you feel about O gauge?  I'm surprised about all the ways my 3 year old can break trains.

[GaryHinshaw]

Wouldn't the FVM model be more durable because it doesn't have the delicate truck suspension of the Kato?

Minor point: the Kato GE units don't have the same delicate suspension design that the new SD70's have (thankfully!).  I'm keen to see the new FVM SD70ACes hit the street.

[ryan_wilkerson]

How old is your son? Has he handled N scale equipment before? I started my sons handling cars at 3 years old. Now that they are 8 and 9, they can rerail steamers better than anyone I've seen. Even last year, my oldest rerailed a brass cab forward for a gentleman at a show. Made me nervous but he had 5 years of training at that point 

I started them with P42s and F3s and box cars. Not too much to break there. Then the real "learner" was a IM tunnel motor that didn't run. Those are the most delicate handrails I've seen. They would handle them and they broke the handrails and they learned out gentle they needed to be. They haven't broken a handrail since then. Not too bad

[EspeeGoldenState]

Only issue I have with my two FVM GEVOs (NS Conrail Heritage, and IAIS 513 Rock Island Heritage) compared to any Kato I have is the darned dim ditch lights. Other than that, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one. Had planned on buying UP 7400 but the ribbon looked more purple to me than it did pink.

That said, I have a good friend that owns Norfolk & Western, Southern, and Nickel Plate Road heritage versions, we mix and match with Kato units all the time, both run TCS decoders. Have never had an issue.

I'm with Ryan on handrails, worst unit I have on the roster is an IM SD40T-2, those handrail refuse to stay on.

Chris

[wcfn100]

How do you feel about O gauge?  I'm surprised about all the ways my 3 year old can break trains.

We have a little O scale, namely the Polar Express at Christmas.  There's also a few vintage pieces from both grand fathers.  We also have Lego and Playmobile trains.

There's no discrimination on which ones get broke the most. 

The N scale is really for when, god forbid, I build a layout and he can run something.

Jason