I’m seriously thinking of buying this spectacular looking locomotive by Athearn. Does anyone out there own one or use one at a club? If so, what do you think of the performance? How is the sound? On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest, how would you rate this engine overall? Your opinions matter.
PS… I did some price shopping and found this advertised “brand new” in the box on E-Bay with starting bid at $287.99 (less shipping). That’s the best price I have found so far.
JRP Apple Valley
Hello JRP. I’ve got one of these in N scale and I love it!.. I have to admit though that it was awfully hard to turn loose of the $300.00 it cost me, but it’s not often I buy such a loco. I’m only set up for DC, but if you’ve got DCC it’ll make all kinds of cool sounds.
Tracklayer
JRP, I hate to say it but my luck with it sister engine Big Boy just blew chunks. It has two main problems.
1 Tender, my first one pulled like a brick. On a 13% grade test track the tender sat there like it had the brakes on! I could only pull 20 cars with out the engine over heating. My now gone Big Boy’s have the same tender!
2 MRC decoder, if you like resitting decoders you will love it! It has the same decoder as my Big Boy’s. Note I said Big Boy’s! I had 2 of them. Both went back to Athearn and I got a refund and bought a PCM Big Boy.
When the decoder worked right it was great. I turly wished the MRC decoder worked right. I liked it better then the QSI sound in my BLI’s as far as featuers and sound effect.
If Athearn used a 8 pin plug I would buy a Challanger, my LHS has 3 of them at $299.99. Might try the N gauge decoder that track layer as having luck with his.
I think the root of the problem is mainy the tender, think it is something to with the decoder problem. Tender loves to tip, even with 4 OZ of lead in side.
No more Genies again Cuda Ken
Hey JRP, well i do own a challenger in HO and I have to say the sound is less then desired. I was expecting to hear these great sounds from the loco but i got a cheeze ball instead. The whistle’s are not good and the sounds are just poorly done. The best part of the sound is the bell ( and thats being nice) I know there are many other sounds that it has, but with my DCC controller i cant access them so there waisted. performance wise was is ok… its big and heavy and it can pull alot of stock. the lights are a orange yellow and look ok…nothing great. I know guys on here have put different decoders into the loco and vastly improved the sounds. I will leave it to the true guru’s to tell you the names of the decoders to use. On a scale of 5, I give it a 3. Hope this helped you out alittle.
I forgot to mention that when I first got mine, it wouldn’t run on my nine and a half inch radius curves, so I had to replace them all with eleven inch.
As for rating it on a scale of 1 - 5. I’d have to give it a good 4 because of the detailing and all.
Tracklayer
Hi JRP,
I also own a Challenger in HO and I agree with johnnyx, the sound is a little ordinary! Performance wise it seems to pull a good rake of wagons.
The sound is OK but if you’re not a purist you’ll enjoy it.
The detail is very good!
Regards,
Nigel
I have had my challenger for over 2 years & am very satisfied with it. The sound may not be perfect, but detail, pulling power, and overperformance (on DCC) is a 5. Factoring in the sound, it may be a 4 1/2!
$288 plus shipping sounds a little high on E scam! Try your LHS or one of the more reputable on-line dealers rather than E scam.[8D]
Are you talking about the HO scale Challenger or the newest entry to the N scale version. Both use very poor sound and DCC drive, but the models are highly detailed with only one or two minor errors in scale and detail.
They use traction tires, which can cause problems if you spin the wheels. I lost one set already on one of my Genesis Challengers. I prefer a model without traction tires for that reason, but none are available in HO except in brass.
Rating of 4.5 without sound. I removed the MRC sound and DCC electronics. With the sound installed, it is a 3.
Cheers
I’ve got the Genesis 4-6-6-4 3804 in Rio Grande with sound, and it’s pretty satisfactory. A lot of people have complained about the whistle, but it sounds pretty close to what I remember hearing when UP brought the Challenger out here to Sacramento for Railfair, some years back. The loco gives really FINE performance as a smooth puller (I’ve run mine up a 2.4% grade with 30+ cars and it didn’t even flinch), and the overall sound quality on a scale of 1 to 5 would rate about a 4 with me. Nice loco. In DC, that little hand-held radio controller takes a little getting used to, but overall, I like it quite well.
Now if we could get Genesis to do that 4-6-6-4 as either an NP Z-8 or a Rio Grande L-105, it would even be better, at least IMO.
But if you buy one, I think you’ll like it.
Tom
I’ve had one for 2 years now and overall it’s a great engine. The traction tires have come off from time to time but I have put them back on with no problems. It will pull over 90 cars up a 5% grade,
Saying that the Sound… Well I’d rate it a a 2.5/5. I say this because though the chuff and bell is good but the whistle is “clipped”. It sounds ok until you let up on it then it stops abruptly. No resonance, no fade nothing and that’s where the sound looses it for me. So when I get the opportunity I will be removing it and placing it in one of my “lesser” Locos and replacing it with a Tsunami.
Fergie
HO or N scale? I pre-ordered (stuipid me) an HO scale one. I waited for over six months to get it. I put it on the track and backed it up onto the DCC programming track (about 6 feet). In that short move I noted the sound was entirely too loud and was distorted. I tried to program it and it hasn’t worked since. I’ve spent hours and hours trying to reset, re-program, etc. to no avail. I took it back to the hobby store to get help and got the preveribial “running from the room screaming”. The answer was to contact Athearn. Athearn’s (at the time snooty) answer was to contact MRC. MRCs answer was to contact Athearn. The final answer (after several snooty rounds) was to send it back to Athearn (which I haven’t done). To put it bluntly the electronics they contain are simply junk. Just do a search on this forum for “Genesis 4-6-6-4 programming”. Anyway, 18 months later mine hasn’t turned a revenue mile and is sitting on the “rebuld” track awaiting a new DCC sound system and some new halfway good looking headlights. So I have no idea how it really runs or its performance. A couple guys at the club have them. They sound yucky (especially the whistle) but seem to run and pull quite well. I don’t know if they had traction tires on theirs or not.
P.S. If you decide to get one, you should be able to find HO ones for $259.
P.P.S. Mine is not UP, but how it is painted shouldn’t really matter for what you are asking.
&n
JRP, if you have a minimum radius of 22 inches, one of these: http://www.factorydirecttrains.com/12-5083bluelineupbigboy4-8-8-440231944dcsounddccreadyho.aspx would be what you want. That is the Blueline Bigboy. Has sound, but is DCC ready with a eight-pin plug. Loco costs $299.00, but has better sound & is a Bigboy. I know you always wanted one.
Athearn makes a Genesis 4-6-6-4 UP Challanger(sic) with sound? What will they think of next!
Typically, responding to a thread that is 9 months old is a waste of time.
That being said, a Challenger or BigBoy will look horrible on curves under 32 inches.
David B
I have one, and I love it. Sound ain’t great, but she runs pretty well and detail is great.
We have an Athearn HO -Scale 4-6-6-4 Challenger on the BRVRR. It belongs to my oldest grandson. It has gotten a lot of running time in the past 16 months. So far no problems. The sound is adequate for our needs and we have had no trouble with the MRC decoder.
We set the road number, turned down the sound and set the starting voltage and away we go. The loco navigates the BRVRR’s 22 1/2" and 20 1/2" mainlines without a problem. It passes through the 18" curves in the reversing loop, forward or in reverse, without a whimper.
The detailing and finish are very good. For rating, overall I would say at least a 4. Here’s a picture from my website:
I bought it at Trainworld for $279.00 plus shipping a year ago last November. The locos are still in their ads. Give them a call.