Walthers Mainline Locomotives-Detail level?

[mager]

Hi everyone. Does anyone know if the new Walthers Mainline locomotive series will have seperatly applied grab irons, molded grab irons, or none? What about other details? I'm very interested in the upcomming Milwaukee Road SW1 as it fits my Railroad, Era, and most importantly budget.

Thanks for your input.

[Rico]

First I've heard of them so can't help there.
Just looked them up on ebay and the boxcars have cast on detail.

[Charles Smiley]

I sure hope so. I really want a correctly detailed SW-1 for the SP - even if I have to buy a brass one and build a new chassis for it.

[diburning]

Walthers MainLine is their new in-between line between TrainLine (borderline junk) and Proto. Proto 1000 has been re-named MainLine.

Proto 1000 had cast on grabs, but the SW1 doesn't really have any grabs at all.

[Charles Smiley]

That would be OK. I bought a Bachman S4 diesel that had no grabs - not even those ugly moded on ones. I don't mind adding them but I hate it when you have to scrape off molded on details and spoil the paint.

[diburning]

Bachmann did that on purpose. No grabs = lower cost. People who just buy them to run trains won't miss them, and people who do railroad modeling will put the grabs in themselves.

[Charles Smiley]

Yeah exactly. It makes better sense. I wish Athearn Blue Box kits had left the ugly molded ones off -- back in the day. Nobody would have missed them. I used to file them down even on the ends to put real ladders and grab irons on. Photo below.

[Espeefan]

Walthers MainLine is their new in-between line between TrainLine (borderline junk) and Proto. Proto 1000 has been re-named MainLine.

Kind of harsh don't you think? Trainline is actually pretty good value for the money. They have a nice drive, pull well, and are smooth runners. I bought one for my son when he was still young enough to play trains with dad. Rugged and survivable (they can take abuse from small or unskilled hands), as well as upgradable. Good entry level stuff, which we're short on these days. Too bad all they offer is that low nose Geep and the F-40 PH

[diburning]

The F40 is OK, but lacks detail and is a pain to upgrade. The GP9 is just plain wrong (it's former Cox/Lionel tooling)

The Trainline freight cars are of 1970s Bachmann quality.

Hence, borderline junk,

[psychobeagle12]

I disagree with the borderline junk thing as well. Maybe the detail is not up to scratch with some higher-end locos but I can tell you that when I run my trainline gp9m i can't even hear it moving and it can pull 40+ cars (not all weighted but still) by itself. I really like it, even if it isn't exact. I definitely wouldn't call the drive system crap. It is smooth and pulls very hard.