Yesterday I ran my HO BNSF Model on my friends layout. I was not happy. The Unit is way under weight. It pulled a string of 18 hoppers and struggled. It did very well on a flat serface. But when it hit a grade it just crawled. Athearn could have done a much better job putting in extra weight in the Locomotive. Kato’s are better. Next time ill run the SD40-2’s. Allan.
Allen,Those Atherarn GP38-2s are the former BB engines.The light weight of these locomotives are well known…
There is a solution.Run 2 GP38-2s like the prototype or add stick on weights to the inside top of the shell.This will add more traction power.
Athearn recently has been focusing more on looks then running quality, and it shows, they do look good. But overall they just arent that impressive from an operation standpoint. I second adding extra weight, but then its not a large engine so dont expect it to pull a ton.
Oh, and no matter what loco you have, Katos are better[:)]
I think it is better is to run these types of Engines is in Units.
if that really is a gp 38 (i didn’t look up the #) remeber those rarely pull coal drags today and have not since… I don’t remember. Adding weight is always a plus, you can use moldable lead to add it around the motor mount. you can use meltable too, but just be very careful and keep it to the corners away from the motor mounts.
Joe,With respect I will put my RTR Athearns up against Kato any day as far as smooth running including my RTR BB GP38-2s and SD40-2s.I also have 4 Kato GP35s…I WILL NOT OVERATE Kato as they are not any better or any worst then my Atlas and RTR Athearn units.I will say they are nice locomotives just like my Atlas and RTR Athearn… [:D]
Ahh, thats right, I’ll give you atlas.[:)] But I have yet to see (hear) an athearn that can match a kato. The comparison would be with an Amtrak Genesis RTR, Dash 9 RTR, 3 Genesis SD70MACs (I sold em cause they were awful), SD40 RTR, and some BBs that dont really come close.
I have also had to do work on the Amtrak and Dash 9 to get them in running shape (both brand new, bad out of box). And the SD70s… well… what a nightmare! All had bent sideframes which I fixed but they were noisy as heck no matter what I tried. I also broke several SD70 driveshafts pulling long trains.
Never had a single problem with a Kato.