Well,Don't know about Kato but I believe Athearn's biggest concern should be Atlas..After all Atlas been doing N scale since the 60s and each new product exceeds the last.. :thumb: I have nothing against Kato but IMHO it hard to compete with a old line company like Atlas that has years of experience and went through the growing pains and learn from their mistakes.Athearn is the new kid on the block and IMHO should design a drive similar to the Atlas drive,the Kato drive or even the Life Like drive that is found(say) in the GP20 if they wish to become a serious contender in the N scale market.
Now with Athearn in control of MDC's production all of the ground work has already been done for a nice line of N scale cars.Now they should work on a improve drive base on todays running standards..
Not wanting to start a fuss and IMHO Atlas has far more products in N scale then Kato..So again Atlas should worry Athearn to no end..I know if I was a upstart company in N scale Atlas would be my biggest concern followed by Kato since these two companies are well establish in the N scale market..Then there is Life Like to keep a eye on.No,I don't envy Athearn at all on their N scale adventure.
I do wish them the best of luck.
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Mike,You never know Kato or even Life Like might do the SD70s..If not then perhaps the Kato or Atlas drive could be use to repower the Athearn SD70s IF they are not good? Just a thought..Like you I am taking a wait and see on any up coming Athearn locomotives as I do all manufacturers except Atlas..Kato doesn't make any locomotives I can use for the time being and in that regard I don't bother to look at the Kato engines even as nice as they are.