It’s been a few weeks hasn’t it?
Due to a bit of travel – both planned and unplanned I’ve been away from the layout for a bit. One of those planned trips was to the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn. The museum is located in the former Schermerhorn Subway Station, if nothing else this will be the cleanest NY Subway station you’ll ever go into. But in reality the museum is really well done and if you’re in NYC I recommend a visit.
As for the layout, stuff has happened over the last few weeks even if I haven’t been around to post about it, or for that matter haven’t really been around the layout. Most notably are two new additions to the layout, the first is a second Bachmann SC-44, this one is Amtrak Cascades WSDOT 1403.
I admit, I have a soft spot for almost anything Amtrak Cascades related. The line was one of, if not my first ever experience on Amtrak and I love the trip up the Puget Sound to Vancouver. It just kills me that nobody has made a Talgo set in Cascades colors in N scale.
The WSDOT-1403 looks just as good and has all of the detail of Bachmann’s IDXT SC-44s, and as expected sounds just as good.
Now that I have the SC-44s, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of Kato’s ALC-42 Chargers. In my previous post on the SC-44s, I mistakenly referred to the Amtrak ALC-42s as ALC-44s – I was wrong.
The first Kato ALC-42s hit store shelves in February, but I didn’t run out to get them at the time… Those ALC-42s were DC only, and didn’t have the lighting kit, because Kato decided that the lighting kit needed to be a secondary purchase for…. reasons…
But I got word that Duford Model Works who did the DCC/Sound upgrade on the RDCs was going to be doing a run of DCC/Sound ALC-42s for Lombard Hobby – THAT was the ALC-42 that I wanted.
These ALC-42s have a LokSound V5 micro decoder and the engine room lighting kit installed, and as expected, the Duford Model Works installation is terrific.
Overall, I think Kato did a good job with these engines, or at least t first glance I did. I got the 301 in the Amtrak commemorative “Day 1” paint scheme and overall I think it looks sharp. But, if I’m really honest when you compare the Kato to the Bachmann – Bachmann did a better job on the details.
Ok, so here’s a side shot of the nose of the ALC-42. At first glance it looks good. The doors have handles, you can see the detail of the flag and model designation. You can see the simulated suspension on the trucks. Looks good right? Now compare that to the WSDOT-1403 in the first picture in this post, or to the picture below of IDTX-4632
Look at how much better the grab handles and door handles stand out on the Bachmann compared to the Kato. Look at the pivot points for the doors on the Bachmann. Look at the missing mirror on the Katos! And yes, the prototype ALC-42 has those mirrors.
It’s the same problem from the front. The Bachmann has so much more front end detail – MU hoses that the Kato doesn’t have, colored MU caps, just better overall detailing.
Things look to be fairly comparable form the top though… So…. yay?
Now let’s talk about function. Remember, the Bachmann comes with a TCS WowSound decoder standard. You cannot get a DC only or DCC-silent Bachmann SC-44. By comparison, today the only way you’re going to get an ALC-42 with DCC or DCC/Sound is if you either do it yourself or buy one that’s been retrofitted.
Out of the box, that TCS WowSound in the Bachmann controls every single light on the engine – headlights, tail markers, engine room lights, roof top strobes, flashing ditch lights AND roof top emergency beacon.
The Kato by comparison – Headlights (front and rear), illuminated number boards on the front, and static (not flashing) ditch lights. That’s it. Now, some of that is because there are in general fewer lights on the ALC-42s, and unlike the Bachmann the Kato is a DC engine with retrofitted DCC. But again I’m taking Kato to task for not lighting the engine bay by default. That shouldn’t be done with an add-on lighting kit – and a lighting kit that doesn’t look particularly good…
For comparison – this is what the Bachmann SC-44 looks like
And finally, an actual ALC-42
Seriously, Kato…. WHY?
I’ll also say that the TCS WOWSound overall sounds better than the LokSound Micro. This isn’t something I’m going to hold against Kato. But it is something that is noticeable.
Here’s some video of what you get with the LokSound in the ALC-42
By comparison here’s what you get with Bachmann’s SC-44. I freely admit that this isn’t really an apples to apples comparison since Kato doesn’t produce a DCC/Sound version of the ALC-42 and we’re dealing with the sound package that ESU has created for the engine. But, from the documentation that came with the SC-44 it’s a pretty good bet that the sound functions and quality that will come in the Bachmann version of the ALC-42 will be on par with what’s already shipped in the SC-44.
I’d like to get one more ALC-42 Charger, since I have the Day 1 livery, I’d like to get one of the Amtrak Phase VI Chargers like the one in the photo above. Originally, my plan was to get one of the Katos either in DC and retrofit a DCC decoder or in DCC/Silent when they ship. However after putting the Bachmann SC-44 up against the Kato ALC-42, I probably won’t be doing that.
Bachmann is coming out with their own ALC-42s, and they’re coming with the same TCS WowSound decoders. The next ALC-42 I get is going to be from Bachmann’s release.
I’m disappointed in Kato – and that’s something I never thought I’d say before. Just like I never thought I’d ever say that Bachmann has built a better engine than Kato – and yet they have. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t become a Kato hater, but I think they need to start doing better. Over the years, Kato’s been known for rock solid (if really fast) running engines with fairly good details. But now, putting the SC-44 and ALC-42 side by side, I can’t help but think that Kato’s starting to fall behind the rest of the market.