In Praise Of Walthers Mainline

I recently picked up two Walthers Mainline SD60s that a retailer seems to have been anxious to clear out. I assume these were the least popular roadnames from the last run, and they let these sound-and-DCC locos go for roughly half price.

Between the paint and drives, I'll take just about any roadname, especially since for some decades, pretty much any roadname can turn up on any prototype railroad. The paint is even, opaque, and sharp. The sound is budget, reduced-function, but that's fine, especially for a trailing unit. The only CVs I need to tweak are CVs 3 and 4, acceleration-deceleration momentum. which I switch to 0, simply because I'm used to it as an old DC operator.

For some time, I've noticed that the Walthers quality assurance is head and shoulders above the competition. It's been some years since I had a loco with a missing part (a cab side window), and Walthers supplied a new one by return mail.