Thank you shay, I'm moving from N scale to HO, and want to get a couple of nice loco's to start my empire, I'll give them a shot.....thanks for the welcome, look forward to meeting everyone
I have a couple of them but they don't get used as much now as they used to. I have acquired some more $$$ locomotives which are really nice and they tend to see all of the action now. Also I am converting to DCC and the IHCs are not converted as of now but will be some time. As far as running goes I have no complaints, they may not be as smooth as some others but they are not a expensive either. Now that you asked I think I will get them out and knock of the dust and run them some.
Les
All of my big steam, Big Boy, Challenger, etc., are IHC. I am very happy with them. The Challenger pulled 102 NMRA weighted freight cars. A few more and it may have grunted, or started slipping. All are DC, and if that's the way you're going, I recommend them.
All my HO steam (plus 1 diesel) is either IHC or an IHC OEM. I have no complaints, they have all been reliable and smooth runners although the 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 especially could benifit from some extra weight as they spin their wheels when trying to start much more than 10 cars.