GP40 MKT #231 (green, yellow) DCC Ready

I am just now getting back into N scale railroading after a somewhat half-hearted first interest about 5-6 years ago. My previous locomotives had included some much older Bachmann, a GP50 and F unit, an Atlas/Kato RS-3, and a mix of other vintage brands. The old Bachmann units ran well but the Atlas/Kato unit was much smoother, nicer fit/finish, etc. And not being very much different in price it had turned me off of Bachmann N scale from that vintage. Turn the clocks forward 5 years and I decided not to mess with older used locomotived and to purchase something new. So I purchased the Bachmann GP40 in MKT colors as MKT was the main railroad in my area when I was a kid in the 80's. I have to say that Bachmann has made leaps and bounds in terms of quality. The old stuff was decent but the new stuff, like this GP40, is excellent. They're finally using Knuckle couplers and not those old Rapido couplers, the details are much nicer, but most importantly for me, the drive system is VERY smooth and has much better low speed than anything else I own in N scale. The color match, at least to my memories and photos, of MKT is spot on. The handrails are thin enough to look good but are very sturdy and not as delicate as they look. They flex a little bit but bounce right back so while careful handling is of course recommended you're not going to bust off a handrail unless you really ham fist this thing. They actually use a small coiled spring in the knuckle coupler rather than a flexing bit of plastic which lends confidence that these will put up with many switching sessions. Overall I am incredibly happy with the purchase. I was a little hesitant to go with Bachmann over Atlas but the Atlas one wasn't available when I was looking to buy so I took a chance and it paid off. So in summary if you're like me and grew up or lived near an MKT line in the 70's and 80's and loved seeing those big green and yellow monsters then you should pick one of these up. It is money well spent. I believe this unit is only available in DC form currently but there appears to be a space for a speaker in the fuel tank area so mountind a DCC/Sound decoder may be possible.