DC Only?

  Most manufacturers make ,DCC Ready' or DCC locomotives.  The plug/socket is the only thing different than a DC Only engine.  This makes sense since the same basic chassis/wiring harness can be used.  There may be some 'train set' quality locomotive out there, but they have go to be rare.

• Walthers offers their 'Trainline' series of HO diesel locomotives - about $60 MSRP.  They are good runners, just do not have lots of detail.  They also market the Proto 1000/Mainline series in the $100 range.
•  Atlas has their Trainman series - excellent runners and also in the $100+ MSRP range.  These units have the same basic drive as the Silver/Gold line engines.
• Bachmann engines(Standard Line) are all over the place on pricing.

  Of course you can pick up most models with a 20-25% discount through many vendors.

Jim

Thanks

Thanks, Jim. Athearn RTR diesels are now list-priced at over $100, so the lines you mention are a good alternative. As you mention, it's not hard to find models for a discount off list price with a little bit of careful searching.

As you point out, "DCC Ready" just means there's a socket to plug in a decoder, and the engines will work perfectly on a layout wired for standard 12-volt DC.

Lower price diesels

   Bachmann has some nice lower price diesels that are dc and dcc ready    ron  netti

How Low Is Low?

That really is the question. And compared to what?

Athearn sells its RTR SW1500 for right around $125 MSRP (Model Train Stuff has them for around $94). The SW1500 has prototype specific details. That's a relatively recent (within the last 10-15 years) phenomenon. For SP modelers, those details include:

• “Headknocker” SP light package with single signal red lens, twin Gyralight, and twin sealed beam headlight
• SP numberboards
• Pilot grab iron
• High mount windshield wiper
• Arm rests
• Sunshades
• Nathan P3 air horn
• Whip antenna with round base
• Flexicoil trucks
• Speed recorder
• Era: 1967-1996+

Had this model been available 50 years ago, it would have sold for around $16.25 (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator). The hood would be oversized to accommodate the motor, which wasn't all that good. The trucks would be cast metal and would only vaguely resemble a 4 wheel flexicoil truck. The handrails would be unpainted and would have to be installed by the purchaser. The graphics would be rather blurry and spotty. It would come equipped with those god-awful X2F couplers. The overall model would be generic (i.e. it wouldn't have prototype specific details).
 

After nearly 60 years, Athearn is still offering its original F7. MSRP is around $85. IIRC, the gear drive (as opposed to Hi-F rubber band) version was around $9.95 in 1957. Interestingly enough, that's $84.36 in today's dollars. The comments above about trucks and couplers would apply. The motor would fit quite well in the car body, but it left a lot to be desired. Today's version has a nice skew-wound motor, superb looking trucks and Kadee compatible (more or less) couplers and the graphics are at least 1 order of magnitude better. IOW, it's a much better model than it was even if the body molding represents 60+ year old technology.

Here's an engine I consider to be a screaming bargain even at MSRP, an SP SD40T-2 as would have appeared after the SPSF fiasco and after Anschutz bought the railroad:

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH98312

For the $135 MSRP you get

• 123” nose with brake wheel, flush Locotrol compartment door, and blanked over SP light package
• Blanked rear SP light package
• Modified L-window cab
• Cab mounted bell
• Prime PM-8911 Stratolite beacon
• SP tall front snowplow
• Blunt anticlimber
• Intermediate -2 split battery box doors
• Rectangular cab vent on left side
• Air conditioner
• Nathan P3 air horn with bracket
• Round base whip antenna with ground plane and conduit
• Mirror/wind deflectors fore and aft of cab side windows
• Extended range dynamic brake
• Standard turbo exhaust
• Detailed 4,500 gallon fuel tank with double fuel fill
• Era: 1991-1996+
• Three road numbers
• Trainline and MU hoses
• Coupler cut levers with loops
• Separately applied wire grab irons
• Sliding cab side windows
• See through cab windows
• Sunshade with riveted strip and long track unless noted
• 2 ribbed blower housing
• Welded ECAFB
• See-through dynamic brake and radiator fans
• Separately applied air tanks
• HT-C Trucks
• Speed recorder mounted on the front left axle unless noted
• Frame mounted bell (unless noted)
• Fine scale handrails molded in engineering plastic
• Fully assembled and ready-to-run
• McHenry scale knuckle spring couplers
• DCC ready with Quick Plug™ technology
• Highly-detailed, injection molded body
• Painted and printed for realistic decoration
• Bi-directional constant lighting so headlight brightness remains consistent
• All-wheel drive with precision gears for smooth and quiet operation
• All-wheel electrical pickup
• 5-pole skew wound motor with flywheels and multi-link drivetrain for trouble-free operation
• Wheels with RP25 contours operate on Code 70, 75, 83, and 100 rail

To paraphrase Larry the Cable Guy: I don't care who you are, that's cheap.

Mike

Economy locos

 MB Klein has locos starting at $35 for Walther's trainline GP9's on sale, and many more choices  in the $50 range. You should be able to get a very nice loco for less than $100 if you want better details. If you ever plan to install sound you might consider buying a sound equipped loco instead as they are selling some for about $150 ready to run which is a good discount for the sound decoder. Most of my HO locos are older models but I have some Atlas Classic series GP-7 and RS-1 that run very well and a couple of Athearn " collector's series"  SW1500's that are fine. I also have a little 44 ton Bachman GE that came with a decoder installed for $39 on sale and surprisingly runs quite well :> ) My favorite locos from a reliability standpoint are still my  old Blue box Athearn's hard wired with Mashima can motors and NWSL wheels as the drive is the same in every loco and I have spare parts for every piece that can ever break and can repair them in a few minutes. I have my doubts about repair parts and continuity of drives in the newer crop of locos, seems like there's little stability in the manufacturing and importing business these days, not like when Uncle Irv cranked them out by the thousands here in the USA .  ....DaveB

If you ask me....

the best bang for the buck out there right now is the Bachmann "Sound Value" line.  I have the Mogul which is a fine running little loco and it's got Tsunami sound to boot.  It all depends on what you want though. As Mike pointed out, it's possible to get some very prototype specific  locos these days but then again, if you're a freelancer, such things may not matter to you.

Michael

Athern sd40t-2

Limited run means higher cost

For some reason model railroad engines is a sellers market.  Really not sure why.  Look at computers and televisions over the last twenty years.  Features continue to go up and prices remain the same or go down.  Yes the market is smaller, but there should be some buyer pressure in play.

Having said that, there is a large supply of used DC locos that can be had for a very small investment.  Some are ,and were always, junk.  Others are surprisingly good and very competitive with the modern units.  No they can't compete cosmetically, but a reasonable modeler can make up for that.

The question is always do you buy something new and have it not meet your expectations or buy something used and have it exceed them.

I see a fair amount of demand in the low cost DC market.  I'm not sure how the current manufacturing strategies can serve it.  Irt would be interesting to see some one try.

Larry

Bachmann Moguls

I just bought two and the run and they sound really great. Very pleased. I paid $213 (£130) in the UK here for one and then got another from $129.99 from MB Klein! Wish I had seen that first. I think that $130 is a brilliant price for a nice steam loco with DCC and sound.

Micro Mark

DCC equipped. DCC ready are a few dollars less. Figure about $20.00 for a non sound decoder. There are a couple other places that are competitive.

RS3 $72.00

70 Ton $57.00

GE 44 ton $65.00

GP7 $110.00

0-6-0T $80.00

They also sell High Rail maintenance vehicles that are DCC ready and DCC on board.

I have the 44 ton and 70 ton.

If you get those three DCC ready, They require soldering the seven decoder wires. No socket.

The Favorite Spot has good prices also. I have bought from both places.

Sound will be a little higher.

There is a Bachmann website will all kinds of info.

Rich

Rich

Also

Hate to promote a non-sponsor, but MB Klein doesn't seem to like to keep dead stock long and will blow out a small number of remaining locos from a run.  I picked up 3 locos with an MSRP of $134.95, for $79 each.  I've seen some sales even better.  I'm sure other places are close to those, too, on occasion.

Economy (price) sensitivity

The need for reliable, but perhaps less detailed, locomotives -- and model railroad items in general, has more to do with the ratio between wages and prices than it has to do with prices.  While inflation adjusted prices may seem to be within 10 percent or so of 1960s prices, that 8 fold increase in price has been accompanied by less than a tripling in wages.  So in reality the current equipment costs more than 2.5 times the percentage of income that it cost back then.  That works out OK for necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and basic transportation.  We pay what we have to for those things because we generally cannot do without them.  But it really affects the affordability of hobbies.  That's why most of what I buy is used.  I just can't justify the percentage of income that would be required to buy new, though I would prefer spending money with the manufacturers for new if there were a lower price end of the locomotive market (reliability being the only thing I would not want to lose.) But then I am in N scale so there is only so much detail my eyes can see.

My take on this....................

I know the question stated "current" models but I'll throw this out there anyways! One can still find "brand new unopened Athearn Blue Box locomotives" for most of the time less than $50 or less.  I know as I seek these out!  Having said that, the "current" offerings from Bachmann are a very good starting point.  Another poster stated that the "Sound Value" is hard to beat!  I agree with that as I have a couple myself and they are very good runners although lack detail.  (not an issue as detailing is half the fun!) Walthers Trainline are decent offerings as is the Proto 1000 series.  

Aside from Jim and Nelson

Disagree

The original question asked about manufacturer offerings, which implies new and not clearance.  It specifically said "lower priced" but that has no meaning - as anything that is not the highest price is lower price than something.  But the title qualifies the question - "economy engines".  So in my view an on-point answer would be about current manufacturer offerings of economy engines.  EBay  or stock that is being sold by an aggregator at a discount to clear it out is not the manufacturers offering economy models.  Athearn Blue Box is a perfect example of not current manufacturing, so off point.  The question didn't ask if stuff can be found, it asked about manufacturer offerings.  And it is seems reasonable to me to restrict the answer to stuff that is available, not perpetually out of stock with no projected availability date.

Yes, we can (and I do) go on eBay or discount sites to get refurbished or clearance stuff for under $70, but that's not the manufacturers offering a reasonably broad line of reliable but not very detailed locomotives in the $70 and under range.  The one posts that at least offered an opinion of what constitutes economy (titled "How Low is Low")  suggested $85 to $125 as if that was the answer, but I do not think around $100 constitutes economy when considered relative to current wages in inflation adjusted dollars. If about $10 was economy in 1957 as the example in that response indicated, then since wages have barely tripled since then, $100 would not be economy today. That I count $70 as economy today -- a price increase that is twice the average wage increase in that time -- is a begrudging acceptance of a higher percentage of disposable income as still being counted as economy, so I think I am being pretty accommodating on my use of the term economy. I am not saying that $100 is not a good value - but there is a huge difference between value and economy.  Value is how much you get for a given price, and there are some great values out there.  But if that price is still out of pace with income, it is not economical.

Near as I can find, in my opinion (which is all any of us can offer) the only manufacturers offerings that are close enough to economy to potentially qualify as a direct answer to the question are the lower priced offerings of Bachmann and just a few of the Walthers Trainline.​ It goes to the gist of the discussion in a whole different recent thread, which is that the manufacturers have mostly abandoned the lower end of the market.

-Ed

If your focus is new

Currently in manufacture for under $100, then it appears to be only Bachmann.  Most of the Trainline models are sold out at Walthers with no new availability date.  With Walthers redefining their families, I'll be surprised if you will find a price less than $100.  It is interesting that Marklin and Hornby have both been above that threshold for some time.

Larry

Limited Run vs. Mass Production

Model trains aren't mass produced for the world mass market.

Apple sold over 33 1/2 million iPhones in 2013 alone.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/28/apple-q4-2013-iphone-ipad-mac-sales/

An HO scale SD40-2 doesn't exactly have the same sort of cachet, and that's one of the most common locomotives ever built.

New offerings not at your price point

Then economy = used.  The market of Ebay, Yahoo swap groups, train shows is perfectly viable.  It might take some hunting for particular prototypes, but that alone can be part of the fun. 

Bob Bochenek

Too much info is better than too little.

So what if many of the replies weren't precisely to the point of the original question? It's entirely possible that Bruce wants to know how he can get good but cheap locos NOW, but only asked about current new models.

I can recall asking a question that meant one thing to me, and I got answers that were related but off point, and that got me to thinking of other ways to address my problem. This thread could have similar benefits not only for Bruce, but for others with similar concerns.

DrJolS 

Electronics not = mechanical products

Computers/electronics do not follow the same physics as mechanical models. Once an electronic circuit has reached the fab point, you just keep making more with very little additional cost. So you pay for all the startup costs up front, then once you have paid for all the fab production, making more is very cheap because it's almost all automated mass production with robots. As a result, prices plummet.

Building small run mechanical models is not the same thing ... other than a tiny circuit board (which is subject to the electronics price plummet factor) the rest of the model is very fiddly hand assembly - so you get cheap offshore help to keep it affordable, but they're not near as cheap as fully amortized robot fab lines.

Model railroading runs are so small the mass market guys would just laugh - 500 to 1000 units of something, as compared to dozens to hundreds of millions for the robot fab lines.

Catch 22

Here it is,

This fits much of the manufacturing scenario. Less high paying jobs lost to robots and over sea's producers. Less money for the guy that just lost his manufacturing job and can only get a low paying service industry job, MacDonalds and Tim Horton's anyone?

Of course now we'll hear about those other jobs created. Government can not create job's. They can only spend some one else's money. And when that runs out.........then what?

Bernd

It's natural evolution

For fear of driving off into the political weeds, have a look at the recently released beige book. The jobs are there. The skilled people to fill them are not. What we have lost in this country, as any maturing society eventually does, are the low skill good pay jobs i.e. walk in off the street factory jobs. Those are gone in the US by and large.

China will get there too. And likely in less than the 150 years it took the US. If you hang around long enough you will hear the Chinese complain about the Vietnamese taking all their jobs after which the Vietnamese will complain about the sub-saharan Africa countries doing the same to them.

It is the circle of economic life. Just hope people in Kenya are as good at assembling fidgety details as the Chinese!

BTW Bernd, I am not in total disagreement with you. Our government is a disaster. No question about that. Sadly, it is of our own making. But, (you knew there was a but coming) the loss of 20th century style jobs is more a result of a maturing society than it is government control. It happens to every advancing society regardless of what their government does. Or in our case, doesn't do.

Now who's up for a $9.99 super detailed Big Boy made in Rwanda?

Now who's up for a $9.99

(sigh) If it was a SAR Garratt... (another wishful sigh)...

Not to high jack the thread, but at least you get what you pay for, either Chinese built or else. Here in Brazil we can have the same Chinese product for twice its price elsewhere, or grossly out of scale made in Brazil loco for the price you guys pay in a athearn RTR or atlas trainman. Metric gauge & broad gauge in the same 16,5mm track (and no, we can't get anyone to supply parts such as wheel sets or trucks so we can model in HOm, and even if we had it we would have to handlay all the track)...

WHy not bring back kits?

I get the manufacturing realities.  That said, it is interesting that while wages in the US have only about tripled in 50 years, and in the 1960s we weren't getting the engines from China so I doubt they are even now making more than US wages in the 1960s, the cost to buy new engines in that time increased by a factor of 8 to 10.  If wages aren't that much higher, then assembly cost can't be the main driver of the difference in price.  However, even if I am missing something in the math, if assembly cost is a driver, perhaps the low end ought to be served with kits again like they were previously.  With all the scratchbuilding plus the disassembly / detailing / etc that seems to go on with a lot of the RTR items, I am not convinced that the low end of the market would not buy kits.  That would take the assembly cost part mostly out of the equation. Given a choice between a $120 RTR and a $60 kit, I would buy the kit any day.  I need to know how to assemble/disassemble the thing properly anyway to clean and tune it later when it has been used a while or if I want to add LEDs, sound, etc.  So might as well assemble it myself to start with.  They could even be the same models available as RTR, so no extra setup, Just skip the assembly and box the parts for the kits versus putting them through assembly for RTR.  Switch to having the retail end drop-ship from the manufacturer and then stocking a bunch of both becomes unnecessary.  I have no doubt there are details I am not taking totally into account, but I really do believe the bottom end of the market is underserved and need not be.

-Ed