Who would win a "Consumer's Reports" train test?

I'll play.  Hands down, the winner is Williams/Bachmann.

Pete

Same as above, WBB and Marx for sure.

It could take a long time to find out How long do you think one could go nonstop? 

Williams/Bachmann

Marx

Williams

Dale H

Williams

K-Line

WBB.  If only that less is more.  Less objects to fail.

i suppose it would take some cold-hearted organization like Consumer Reports to perform such a comparison.  personally i could not see putting any of my marathon candidates into a destructive test.

This is "off  scale",so to speak, but a LHS owner I know in York, England told me of a customer of his had a restaurant. The customer had a LGB stater set running in his restaurant full time for about twenty years,figured it had a hundred thousand kilometers before he had to rebuild it. Fred 

Bachmann G scale actually is pretty durable also,considering price.

Dale H

From an ad in a 1965 Model Railroader:

Rusty

Well, apparently "Rob" found a real Consumer's Reports test, but not for durability, but for "Big Brother" safety concerns  (yet I don't THINK the Hogwarts Set has a yellow label stating not suitable for children younger than 18?).   My childhood Marx #999 literally ran until one wheel spun on its axle, and its collector was WELL worn through, however, I have not run original Williams locos, which I had before heard good things about, nor have I run my WBB very much.  And I thought of

K-Line AFTER I hit "Post".  Other candidates? With my Marx experience with a "slider"

collector, a roller collector Williams would be my guess as to the probable winner.

Does this mean quality is an inversion of price?  (where the heck did Williams get

his engines made, anyway?)

Anything with a can motor.

MTH

Dale H

    Any LGB will outlast Bachmann 100:1. 

Don't you think a Motor Trend Head 2 Head-style competition would be more apropos?

What, me worry?

I doubt it.  I think that it was more likely a product of his fertile imagination.

Too much reading CR cover to cover, that's for sure.  I was recently telling someone that every vacuum cleaner I've bought since college was a CR best-buy towards the top of the ratings.  I still have and use all three.

Not likely, and no matter how well constructed, it's still very deceptive and misleading (especially with the quote marks and no attribution).

A fine example of why you do NOT want to believe everything you read on the Internet.

Anything without a can motor (not too many, but I have had a 40% failure rate.)

Id put my money on post war Lionel steamers!

IMO Marx wins, hands down.

I would say lionel we run our layout out side and it just keeps running some times we for get to turn it off and still keeps running.

Weaver

If Consumer's Reports tested trains there would be no "who" that won, but rather several different "whats."  When CR evaluates cars, Ford or Lexus does not win, rather specific models win in different categories: Lexus ES300 as best entry level luxury car or whatever, Chevy Volt in its category, Honda Civic in its.  I see no reason why it would be any different with toy trains, so you might have, among O gauge steamers, something like:

Best Limited Production Brass: 3rd Rail ATSF 2929

Best Premium Production Loco: Vision Challenger

Best Full Feature Scale Loco: (tie) - Legacy 3759 Northern/MTH Euro series 241.A

Best semi-scale full featured loco: MTH 0-6-0

Best entry level basic loco (no sound): Bachman Baldwin 10-wheeler

Best RTR set: Remote Thomas

Now, if J. D. Powers rated toy train buyer satisfaction, I suspect WBB would win: I think a higher portion of those who buy WBB get what they expected than with other manufacturers - but to be frank that's because expectations aren't that high - no sound, no extreme detail, etc.  As anyone here who has been in marketing and brand management knows, success is largely in shaping customer expectations as much as in delivery.  

Many years ago when the Chevy S-10 pickup first came out the CR review pretty much panned it.  A few years later the same model turned up in its list of best used vehicle bargains.  I keep a box of salt handy when I read CR.

Pete

ok. Consumers Reports did test trains. I think it was from the 60s. My parents had a subscription (I do now, also).I have a copy of the report somewhere in my files. They tested train sets and accessories. It will take a few days to find it and I should probably check with CR to see if I can send OGR/TCA/etc a copy of the original or if they will only permit paraphrasing. 

MTH

Atlas

Looks like Rob pulled his earlier "CR" quotes, which possibly were not "real" to begin with.

I did, I did not want Google to index any connection to a whimsical review containing absurdities.  Like when CR nitpicks the design shape of a glove box door on a Lexus.

I don't think I'll worry, stress out...or even read any "CR" reports on model trains.

Over the years, I've learned to trust Motor Trend, Car and Driver, and Road and Track alot more than CR on cars, just as I trust the reviews in OGR and CTT more than I ever would any by CR.