So I've tried really hard to be a "Railking Imperial" kind of guy, but last week I just.... couldn't... resist.... the Premier CSX Dash-8 at Pat's. I originally went in to pick up another RKI ES44AC and drop off a couple of engines that were giving me some issues, but I couldn't stomach adding yet another RKI ES44 to the fold no matter how much I like them. I decided to give something different a shot, and it's both a blessing and curse:
The blessing is that the Dash-8 is incredible. Say what you want about RKI having the same sounds as Premier, but I've yet to hear an RKI sound like this Dash-8. It literally transports me back to my youth - specifically at my grandmothers house on Pittsburgh street up above the B&O/Conrail/CSX yards. I grew up listening to that sound. It's amazing how something so simple can literally take you back to a place in time 
The curse is obvious - now I want more. I run my layout in phases. I have an RKI Imperial diesel phase, which is RKI Imperial ES44's and SD70ACe's consisted. I have and RKI steam phase, which is all RKI steam engines - mostly PRR and NYC. Now I'm envisioning a modern scale diesel phase, and perhaps an older Premier diesel phase. ES44AC? AC400? Dash-9? SD-45? U-Boat? I fear that a Premier steam phase might just bankrupt me so I'm trying to avoid that, and with my O-60 curves, it's probably best to walk away.
But man, so those scale diesels look and sound nice rolling through the layout! I don't know what other Premier engines got right or wrong, but the Dash-8 is spot on IMO!
