Does anybody know of a better manufacturer of an HO scale Amtrak P42? Why is Athearn the only manufacturer??? I’ve never been a big fan of Athearn locomotives, especially the blue box kits. Even the RTRs are crummy. I bought one of the P42 RTRs thinking it would be an improvement and it didn’t even run! Is it some kind of plot or something? Just about every other locomotive is done by multiple manufacturers, but not this one. Kato has them in N, but not HO. I’d gladly pay more for a better model.
Brass!
You probably need some assistance learning how to tune Athearn units.
Wray,
There are some debatable issues with Athearns. Chief among them is the use of motors that are inefficient and outdated for today’s electronics standards in model railroading. But don’t give up on Athearn. Overall they are tough rugged units. That’s why my few remaining 30 year old BB units can still strut their stuff.
I’ve seen these Athearn P42s run and one can haul a 7 or 8 car Amfleet consist smoothly. Appearance wise, they’re beautiful units.
Check your unit thoroughly and make sure electrical pickups are clean and snug. If it is a lemon and the motor is bad see if you can exchange the unit for another one. Another option would be to repower it with a PPW setup, but of course that is more money.
Remember it’s not just Athearn. Years back I purchased a brand new Atlas GP7 that would not run. Only the headlight came on. My LHS’s owner found it hard to believe when I took it back to him, until he put it on the test track. He promptly swapped it out for me.
Proto 2000 E units have received accolades from modelers as being excellent locomotives. Yet a friend of mine helped me out and trouble-shot a new P2K E8 of mine that stopped running, cold turkey. Problem was "
I second that Athearn units are tough. Not too long ago, one of my F units took a trip down the steepest grade on the layout. That is, it hit the floor! Other than the motor getting knocked out of place, and a broken windshield, bent handrails, and a dent in the floor (!), the locomotive worked fine…and is still running up mileage. I’ve heard of people putting Kato motors in these things, but since the original setup works fine, I haven’t done that yet. I did, though, dump the top contact strip, and installed wires.
Please keep us posted on your progress.
It’s interesting that there have been various threads on Athearns and LL P2Ks with similar problems.My wife’s cousin, has had numerous problems with the Athearns he paid $100 for. He dislikes Athearn so much that he equated it to TYCO, stating he won’t ever buy one again. I witnessed his problems.
Some modelers have the same type of problems with P2Ks. Yet, in my case and some of the modelers I know, other than a few cracked axles, our P2Ks have been good locomotives overall. Those brick-heavy, punch packing P2K E units can litearlly do damage to other locomotives in a high speed cornfield meet.
Remember that these units are made in C-H-I-N-A. . Point is that sometimes there are problems or defective components on the assembly line that are sometimes missed by the QC reps. So incidents of distributors, like Walthers and Horizon, receiving a batch or batches of locomotives that have similar, annoying problems have ocurred a number of times over the past decade. Things do happen
Extreme Example:
Years back, my sister warned me NOT to buy a Fischer televisions set. Puzzled, I asked her a big “WHY?” She was one of the techs that BUILT all of the IC boards at a manufacturing plant and through her big employee discount I wanted to buy a 32" set. She told me flat out that the pressure was on for volume production and sales, so the QC officer and his assistant were “persuaded” by the higher ups to let small glitches slide through! She was shocked but could not do much about it. Her plant was eventually closed. She made a career change for the better.
I have 5 Athearn P42s in HO and they not only look great, they run great. They are one of the most quiet engines i have and will pull lots of long passenger trains with no problems. Plus they are DCC ready! Sorry to hear you got a bad one. They really are nice units.
I’ve long since hoped that KATO would step up to the plate and do a P42 in HO as they have done in N scale. I’m confident it would be a great seller.
Come on Kato!! We need you to do these in HO!
Are all Athearn HO scale P42’s DCC ready? I have a VIA Rail P42 that I bought over a year ago that I haven’t taken out of the box yet, I’m still searching for some VIA BUDD cars. What decoder did you use?
Only the newer RTR ones are equipt with quick plugs, there are some older RTR ones that are just BB with details installed (i had a walthers exclusive like that). The regular BB does not have any provisions for decoders at all.
Well I guess I’m going to have to rip her apart and find out. I’m not sure how old it is.
If it’s an RTR P42 it should say DCC Quickplug equipped. If it does, it’s DCC ready, if it doesn’t, it’s not.