Kato engines

[peteski]

Kato  models are well engineered, and very well made.  Also, another handy feature is that they do not use glue in any of the assemblies. It is all snap-fit.  Easy to service or custom-paint.  Sometimes Kato shells are a complex puzzles to disassemble, but still, no glue.

Funny how decades ago, "Made in Japan" was synonymous with cheaply made and low-quality  products.  American- and German-made products were considered good quality.  Now you can barely find American-made products, and Germany (like USA) outsourced most of their manufacturing to other countries (with the quality suffering).

[brokemoto]

You could ask me how long Katos last, but I really can't say, since I have yet to wear one out.

I have managed to wear out one.  It was the first Hudson that Kato made for C-C.  This was the model with the electrically neutral tender.  They do have a nasty habit of locking up after many hours of running.  I bought one used in the early 1990s.  About 1999 it locked up.

 

they are incredibly forgiving of mediocre trackwork (a reasonably accurate description of my last layout).  They roll right over minor faults that will de-rail most other equipment.

Correctamundo.  You do not use Kato equipment to test your trackwork.  It will run on the some of the worst.  I have run Kato equipment over misaligned rail joiners and never knew it until I ran a B-mann or MP over it.

[greenwizard88]

You could ask me how long Katos last, but I really can't say, since I have yet to wear one out.

I have a Kato AC4400CW that has seen too many miles. The motor starts off at one speed, but the top speed is noticeably different once it warms up. I bought it used off eBay, and can only imagine that it was spent its life on a store's demo layout or something similar.

But, it still runs like a champ. 

[cjm413]

The biggest difference I see between Kato HO releases and Kato N release is the shells.

Kato's HO releases have scale width hoods and separate grab irons.  The Kato plastic grabs are somewhat crappy, but are easier to replace than if they were molded on.

Kato's N releases of the same models have molded-on grabs (typical for N), and some of their early releases don't have scale-width hoods (also typical for other N scale locomotives released around the same time)

[SkipGear]

I am by no means a Kato fanboy but they do make very good mechanisms. Painting and detail have started to match Atlas and Intermountain recently. They are generally butter smooth runners with some minor exceptions but everybody has klunkers in their lineup.

My clunkers in Kato that some may not agree with....

NW2, beautiful running loco until the gears crack and the trucks wear out. Most people run these in limited switching service and will never experience this. We ran one on our display layout at the urging of one of the Kato executives after they stopped by the store. They were in town for the NMRA convention just after the NW2 had come out. The loco lasted about 3 weeks. Typical Bachmann or Atlas loco will last 3 months or more. The needle points on the axles wore through the pickups and about the same time, I am guessing from the added drag the lower gear started slipping on the shaft.

PA - use it to test track work. It will find even the slightest flaw.

Kato in general, geared too fast. I wish they would adopt slow speed motors like the rest of the industry.