Public delivery has pre-order Railking Rutland RS1. Lack of smoke would not be a a show stopper for me but with all Diesels from MTH or Lionel that swinging pilot just kills it for me. I have a friend who modifies all his diesels for Kadee couplers and he showed me what's involved in converting these. Involved process but something I'm not willing to take on at this time. Like others have said, you can't beat Railking scale for the value you are getting.

 

thanks lehigh74, i would'nt use the screws if there was a tight fit, as far as the modifications, i would have to see if i could do it. right now i have 3 mint gp-7 shells from 3 locomotives i've purchased on ebay and became useless after time, and i can not find a good lionel replacement. thanks, really appreciate your response. tim

 

hi, new to the hobby, about 3 years in. all the geeps are beautiful. this may sound like a stupid question, but will a lionel gp-7 shell fit on a railking chasis? thanks, tim

 

It might fit, but it won’t be a direct replacement. Mounting screws are certain to be in different locations. Modifications to handrails and other details would be required.

 

I also purchased the RS3 in Rock island from their last catalog. I have received it, opened it briefly and was delighted with the work. MTH had Gp's in the Premier line in their last 2 catalogs. I am a Milwaukee Road collector, but there was no way I would purchase the Premier Milwaukee Road Geep at $520.

 

Nice looking Geep 7/9's. To date, I have absolutely ZERO MTH loco's - steam, diesel, or otherwise Since I am currently running conventional AC, I really don't want to spend the money on something where I probably couldn't make full use of their capabilities. That being said, if I stumbled across a really good deal on an MTH Rock Island Geep or two (or even Lionel, for that matter), I would undoubtedly go ahead and buy it.

For now, I am quite satisfied with my WbB Rock Island Geep units............................

Strangely enough, as much as I generally appreciate an adequate amount of detail, I am perfectly okay with the stamped handrails and the molded-on details on these WbB units. I spent a little extra time dolling them up by scratch-building new, larger fuel tank/air reservoirs for them, as the stock factory items were distastefully undersized and toy-like looking. I also added white safety striping to the frame sills, as per many of the prototype units.

But back to the MTH Premier/RailKing, observations, I too think the RailKing offers a seriously good bang for the buck, and would be my choice over the two. Actually, I am seriously eyeballing that new Lionel Rock Island LC+ Geep unit shown in one of their latest catalogs. That looks to have a lot of really great features for the price, a number of which should work just fine on conventional control.

 

I have that Rock Island GP. I have all of the Rock Island GP7/9s. As I am between layouts, they are all unavailable. Generally I don't want to spend Premier money on GP7/9S.

When you compare a Railking E though, where I just sold an AA set on ebay, they are 14 inches long vs Premier at 17 + inches, I can't have Railking.

Of course I prefer Railking Scale, but MTHs modern Railkings are still better detailed then a lot of older GP7/9S from all manufacturers. Also, "only" spending $360 or so on a nice running, decent looking Railking allows me to splurge on a Premier.
Finally, how does it look pulling a Consist ? Again for me, I need Premier / Legacy in front of an expensive detailed passenger train but in front of a run of box cars a good sounding GP7/9 will work. Just my opinion.

 

Well, I have a lot of RK Scale locos. My thoughts might now fit other people's situations but:

• Railkind Scale seems just about impossible to beat. The locos are fairly priced - in fact a bargain in mot cases, even at list price. They are scale (very important to me), nicely detailed (important to me), run well and have good sound, smoke, and usually good operated lights (absolutely crucial).
• What's more they are often better to run than Premier, because they look good once on the layout, but have fewer delicate "separately applied parts" that make handling them when putting on the track and setting up a train a difficult and delicate job.
• With diesels, I nearly always went for the RK Scale model when I have a choice, taking it over either Lionel Legacy or Premier model.
• Two things that made me change my mind in the last few years are: a) the shiny real-metal "plating" that MTH put on some diesels (ATSF Warbonnet F3s, etc.), which is not on the RK Scale locos and just catnip to me - so I traded up the Premier ATSF PA/PB, E8s, and F3s, and b) Lionel's new "runs-all" Legacy/Bluetooth/Lionchief+2.0 system, which I greatly perfer over anything else out there. Particularly for switchers, it seems impossible to beat.

 

All these Geeps are really great looking.

I too have a mix of Premier and RailKing GPs. The road name plays the big part in the mix. They are so close, detail wise, they look fine together...

some of my favorites...

Tom

Tom

 

 

One other small difference I noticed. The RailKing steps on either end of the engine have molded plastic risers where the Premier has see-through risers. Also, I notice on your Premier B&O that the figure is facing long-hood forward. My RailKing (and yours) he's facing opposite. My dealer has the Premiers for $439 and the RKs for $309 (free S&H). I was only interested in the Rock Island so I was forced to go RailKing. Given the option, I would've gone Premier. But like you said, for the price, I'm happy.

 

I notice on your Premier B&O that the figure is facing long-hood forward. My RailKing (and yours) he's facing opposite.

Whether it’s long hood or short hood forward depends on what the prototype was, not RK or Premier. The chassis under my Reading shell is from a long hood forward RK P&LE that had to be modified for the Reading short hood forward.

Nice looking Rock Island by the way.

 

That's interesting. I just picked up a RailKing GP-7. I usually only buy Premier but I made an exception because it's a road name I wanted and it is scale size.

I was wondering about the differences between RK & Premier. Thanks for posting.