shopping

A very tough question indeed,

The 2-10-0 range you have the:

Roco : BR 50 , BR 44 all mounted with silent running can motors. All DCC ready with 8 pole sockets.
Fleischmann : BR 50 . mounted with noisey vertical flywheel motor. Fitted with 6 pole socket of what its worth.

Both have superb detailing quality, tender driven and good runners. All need min 2nd radius curves.

Trix : The new Br 44 , I do not know for sure if it comes with a new Sinus motor, if it does, it certainly will be a good bonus, weathered and according to your preference with a 21 pin plug or 8 pin plug. Loco is full metal jacket and is loco driven.Room available for a sound decoder in tender.

My choice would be the Trix.

Of course there is also the BR 57 ( Kriegslok ). Liliput & Gützold produces them. I have a Liliput one as seen below. (Between you and me stay clear away from it ) Go for the Gützold one if you fancy it.

I am not sure if I left out any 2-10-0 's out, if I did certainly someone will fill in.

Can't help you on the Maerklin tough.

Cheers
Baykal

Did not even realise about the Gutzold version but after searching there seems a 2-10-0 out next year.
I'll take your advice and cross off Fleischmann
Have a look here
http://www.gaugemaster.co.uk/item_details....strType=Marklin

http://www.gaugemaster.co.uk/item_details....e=Trix/Minitrix

QUOTE (ebaykal @ 6 Oct 2007, 12:46) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A very tough question indeed,

The 2-10-0 range you have the:

Roco : BR 50 , BR 44 all mounted with silent running can motors. All DCC ready with 8 pole sockets.
Fleischmann : BR 50 . mounted with noisey vertical flywheel motor. Fitted with 6 pole socket of what its worth.

Both have superb detailing quality, tender driven and good runners. All need min 2nd radius curves.

Trix : The new Br 44 , I do not know for sure if it comes with a new Sinus motor, if it does, it certainly will be a good bonus, weathered and according to your preference with a 21 pin plug or 8 pin plug. Loco is full metal jacket and is loco driven.Room available for a sound decoder in tender.

My choice would be the Trix.

Of course there is also the BR 57 ( Kriegslok ). Liliput & Gützold produces them. I have a Liliput one as seen below. (Between you and me stay clear away from it ) Go for the Gützold one if you fancy it.

I am not sure if I left out any 2-10-0 's out, if I did certainly someone will fill in.

Can't help you on the Maerklin tough.

Cheers
Baykal

My vote goes for the Trix BR44, it really looks awesome!

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 7 Oct 2007, 06:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>My vote goes for the Trix BR44, it really looks awesome!

Liliput class 42 for me, please, when it comes to 2-10-0s.

QUOTE (Smokeyone @ 7 Oct 2007, 16:42) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>In general what are Gutzold loco's like please!

Hornby engines are way better.

No, honestly, which engine are you talking about? The 2-10-0 is a 1990s construction, but is better imho than the Liliput offering, particuarly the running characteristics are superb. Which class 52 (let´s name German engines by their German designation, and not pretend it´s a US loco) exactly are you talking about though, the grey war engine, the DB, or the DR version? Tub tender, or the boxy one?

The class 19, the class 75, the 155, 156 and 219 and 98 are all newer constructions that easily! top any Roco or Fleischmann offering. The older 118 diesel, or the 56 lack some luster imho; there are remnants of when Gützold was still producing for VEB Plasticart and vintage East German Piko.

QUOTE Roco : BR 50 , BR 44 all mounted with silent running can motors. All DCC ready with 8 pole sockets.
Fleischmann : BR 50 . mounted with noisey vertical flywheel motor. Fitted with 6 pole socket of what its worth.

Both have superb detailing quality, tender driven and good runners. All need min 2nd radius curves.

Trix : The new Br 44 , I do not know for sure if it comes with a new Sinus motor, if it does, it certainly will be a good bonus, weathered and according to your preference with a 21 pin plug or 8 pin plug. Loco is full metal jacket and is loco driven.Room available for a sound decoder in tender.

My choice would be the Trix.

Of course there is also the BR 57 ( Kriegslok ). Liliput & Gützold produces them. I have a Liliput one as seen below. (Between you and me stay clear away from it ) Go for the Gützold one if you fancy it.

Based on personal experience and reports on German forums, a few comments need to be added:

1. Roco's 50 and now the 44 can both suffer from manufacturing defects-the cast loco chassis can be warped- reports of up to 3mm vertical displacement on the front buffers. However close inspection of the model prior to purchase will show which model has the problem and which does not. The BR44 is also still widely available in its pre-facelift with tender power only and it is relatively inexpensive. The best version is the brown-wheeled which was their line run-out model before the tender-loco powered versions arrived.

2. Fleischmann's model is a very old 1:82nd model and really should be either withdrawn or replaced (as they did with the BR70) but as Roco have introduced the BR50, the latter is unlikely.

3. The Trix BR44 model fails in a number of places in terms of accuracy and has not managed to improve upon the Roco version despite its fearsome cost.

4. Jouef at one stage offered a BR44 and a 150X, nicely detailed, it was typical for the 80's but with rubber band drive. This has effectively become a collector's item and rather costly.

5. Gutzold offer three major variants of 2-10-0, the BR52 with wannen (tube) tender and steifrahntender (which was common amongst Austrian built locos), their BR52.80 and soon to be on sale, the BR58.30. The latter were DR rebuilds of the effective BR58 three cylinder 2-10-0 which eventually developed into the BR44 family. All Gutzold locos are very accurate and correct the errors of the Liliput BR52 (more, later), they are very well made and demand a place in anyone's collection of post-war locos. Those who do not own a Gutzold loco will try to comment about the plastic valve gear but it is robust and works perfectly.

6. Was the Roco BR58 mentioned? If not it deserves to be as it was a ground breaking model that established Roco as a major manufacturer. Well made and reliable, the only defecit is that the prototype was not used by the DB beyond the early 50's but saw sterling service on the DR. Two decapods worth mentioning are the Roco BR57- recently revised with 8-pole motor and better profile wheels. It was superb when introduced and still remains the best pre-DRG goods loco for the cost. And of course Brawa's Wuerrtemburg BR57 which is rather a specialist purchase, one word of caution Brawa valve gear can and does fail, reports of other forums in Germany and the UK confirm this issue but Brawa's service department is superb.

7. Liliput- a real problem. Either you loathe the modern Chinese version or you don't. As an accurate model it has its problems, the cab is too long but can be reduced, the tender bogies sit too low. However their BR52.80 preceded Gutzold's version by five years and works very well whilst there were early reports of problems with Gutzold's early production of the BR52.80. As the cab is common to both BR52 and 42, the accuracy is comprised on both versions but they are still good enough to be used and currently sell on EBay.de for approx. 50% of Gutzold prices. Whilst the BR42, really is the only good version.

I have ignored mentioning Maerklin as any effort to provide an honest opinion on this forum is nugatory.

QUOTE (Robert Sands @ 9 Oct 2007, 13:30) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...Those who do not own a Gutzold loco will try to comment about the plastic valve gear but it is robust and works perfectly.
...

It is actually made of metal, on the "inside", with plastic encasing the metal rod. Gützold has patented this method; you do no see the rod, the gear is very fine, and works as advertised.

My Gützold engines have never failed me once.

QUOTE (Robert Sands @ 10 Oct 2007, 09:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>That is something that I did not know, a plastic/metal composite? Very interesting and as you say, very reliable. I am about to purchase their BR75 and I look forward to its arrival.

I have the Ep. I version, it is one of my neatest steamers!