Day before yesterday I received in the mail a catalog of Athearn Genesis F-units. God, I was very impressed with the huge variety of road names they are offering (I don’t know how or why I got on their mailing list but I’m glad I did). If these are really all available — or at least if they become available in a reasonable amount of time ---- this is tremendous and a great credit to them.
I’m sure no manufacturer, and perhaps even all manfucaturers combined, of plastic F unit models has ever offered anything like this huge selection of road names and paint schemes.
I received mine yesterday in the mail as well. I do not believe that every model displayed in the catalog is “available” at this time. I model the Boston & Maine RR. In the catalog, they list an F-7 A/B set that I’ve owned for several years and is now unavailable. I think the idea was to show all the models that they have produced over the past few years. They may not all be available at this time though.
I also got one of these and was impressed by the appearance. Does anybody know if both units (either AA or AB) are powered and whether they each have sound ? The price would seem to indicate they have decoders and sound but niether the catalog nor the website mentions it.
I received mine yesterday also, I was very impressed with the catalog and the number of road name. Of course I am modeling the Northeast, B&M in particular, as well as NYC which ran on the old B&A main line to Boston, and also the New Haven which ran here in Central Mass and Boston…they should sell very well if the locomotives have good quality with no Mfg glitches.
Every unit is individually powered. If you get an A+A set or an A+B set, they will all be powered. In the catalog you will see “with sound” in the listing for the item. On page 3 of the catalog, top of the page it says “dual-function DC/DCC decoder with soundboard and speaker.” Keep in mind though that this sound board is made by MRC and there have been several topics of discussion here about the overall quality of the MRC sound. From what I have gathered from reading them, there seem to be alot of people who really don’t care for this MRC sound system.
It’s a historical listing of every F unit that Athearn has produced so far in the Genesis line. Most of them are no longer available, except for recent runs, unless you find old stock at a dealer. It is a nice catalog though, probably meant to inspire future sales as much as document the line to increase their collector’s value.