Athearn HO SD70ACe, has there been any problems with them?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Today I spent 45 minutes or so at K-10 Model Trains trying to find a engine I wanted. Been wanting to try a Kato or Atlas and found none that really got me wanting it. Plus I was a little put off on having to install detail parts on the Kato engines. I was wanting to stay under $120.00.

Before I left I saw a SD70ACe in the UP/MP Heritage Colors and was very taken with it. I was looking at the none sound version for $149.99, and they had a sound version for $220.00.

On the Athearn site they listed CV fixes for there sound version. Other than sound has there been any problems with this engine? Does the none sound engine come with a decoder?

I all so did not see what size radius it needs. I have 2 18 inch turns left and my BLI GE AC 6000, RSD 15, E-7, E-6’s, Erie Build’s, SD-7, Dash 9 and big Steamers have no problems with them. But, I never bought a big engine unless they said they would take the tight turn. The 18 inch turns are hidden, so looking funny is not a problem.

On the sound version, are the speakers mounted in the fuel tank facing downward? My GE AC 6000 is side line again because it sucks up rail spikes. If they are facing down, are they prone to sucking up spikes?

Looking forward to what you folks think.

Cuda Ken

2

Ken

A friend of mine has a couple and siad the truck side frames were warped. He contacted Athearn and they told him how to fix and when he tried, he ended up breaking them. He spoke directly to Athean at a recent show and they indicated they would make the trucks right for him. Other than his, I’ve heard of no issue form others that own them.

Ricky

3

Thank Red, one of the reasons I am asking. I know Athearn has had some truck and power pick up problems. Sweet looking engine that does not run is not what I am looking for.

Ken

4

Ken Andrew purchased the BNSF version, non sound from K-10 with his Christmas money, he was running it the same day the Crispy was running the Kato Conrail.

There is no decoder installed, there is an 8 pin or 9 pin plug. They are a beast to get apart, and even worse to get back together due to the sand pipes being attached to the body.

One of the number boards was broken off in the box, and easy fix. One of the ditch lights already burned out and looks like it is going to be a bear to replace. Compared to other large diesel it seems to me that this one is a bit of a lightweight. It really struggled with the train it was assigned at K10 and had to cut off half the consist. With your new job, if there is ever a time when you are off at the same time as the boys are off, then Andrew could bring it over and let you try it on your curves.

Two other snippets, the Kato can pull a lot more.

Your buddy at Ulrich already released a retro fit LED lighting kit for the loco, which says something about the reliabilty of the lamps. You know how much I like those lamps!!

5

I have one and only in one direction it derails on a Atlas number eight but on the other Atlas number eight it runs ok and the turnouts look fine.And Athearn did say that the warped truck can be fixed without a replacement,But with the unit hard to take apart i will run it in that direction that has no problem.

6

Simon, I should get home around 6:00 PM on Sundays if that is not to late? At this point I am off Wednesday and Thursdays. Yep I know how much you like ditch lights, the Dash 9 is pulling a coal drag as I miss type. Or as I call it one eye.

How may cars can it drag and is there any room to add weight? While my days of wanting to pull 60 cars are over, I still think a 6 wheel truck engine should pull 30 cars.

I did see a Kato I liked, but after you told me what a pain Chrisy was to add the detail parts, I backed off of on it. I think it was a SD 70 something in UP yellow or CSX colors.

Ken

7

Ken,

If you want a quality engine that pulls like a clidesdale, get the MTH SD70Ace. I have 4 of them and they all perform great, and very smooth.

8

Ken, I have two of those units with sound in the BNSF scheme. One unit has a slightly warped truck, but has caused no derailments (yet). I am going to attempt to take it apart and see if I can fix it. I am also going to replace the lights with LEDs.

9

I’ll second the MTH version. Good puller and very smoother with a canon motor. Available in DCC ready now too. I have 2 and love them. The handrails are metal with heavy duty stanchions. Also the lighting is LED so no problem with bulbs like athearn.

10

I got one as an early Christmas present and the only issue I have is a burned out ditch light, which seems to be a very common thing. I dont seem to have the warped truck issue as mine handles my couple 18 inche curves and my Atlas Snap Switches in my rail yard with no problem. I did find it to be less forgiving of bad spots in my track which prompted me correct the couple spots and now it runs great.

11

A friend tried his brand new SD70ACe last night, only to have it derail several times in less than one lap around our club layout. The left rear wheel on the forward truck is not sitting on the rails but is suspended approximately 1/16th of an inch above the rail. Does anyone have an easy fix for this or should he return it?

12

The ditch lights are really iffy, Ken. I have the Genesis cousin, the SD75M in warbonnet. If a ditch light goes, it is a replacement…not a repair unless it is a wire or solder. If it is the bulb, the whole unit must be replaced. Or, so my repair guy told me.

The handrails are fragile!!!

These long engines don’t like rails that are not dead even with each other. They’ll take super-elevation, but just a bit at a time…gradual! Curves where the outer rail has been allowed to dip a fraction will produce a derailment at the leading truck.

Once you get them detailed, decodered, all the niggling bits sorted out, they run quietly and well.

Crandell

13

Roger,

That sure sounds like a warped truck to me, which others have had. I would tell your buddy to return it and get your money back.

14

Starting to think I may pass, don’t like fixing new stuff unless it is a must have for me. But sure is pretty.

Motely can you adjust the volume on the MTH version? What F fuctions can you control?

Thanks for all the answers folks.

Ken

15

CudaKen…

The Athearn SD70ACe is a pretty nicely detailed model and looks very good - when the parts are not falling off.

The assembly quality, i.e, poorly done paint, sloppy glue smears, etc - have plagued a lot of these since the release.

I went ahead and bought all the UP versions, but had to spend about 2-3 hours on each, on average, to get everything as it should be - both cosmetic and mechanical.

I’m not so enthusiastic about future purchases.

But the MTH ComfortCab verisons in UP and BNSF roadnames have been pushed back till April -which is disappointing.

There has been an emerging problem with the Truck Sideframes, being warped and with all axles not touching the ‘ground’ - this creates derailments, mainly occurring on turnouts.

I believe that Athearn is well aware of the problem and I’ve heard from several hobby shops,that Athearn is in the process of determining what to do about it.

There has been some speculation among hobbiests that Athearn is going to re-tool the truck sideframes, presumeably on future releases - but that is not something I’ve confirmed - yet.

If so, Athearn will probably be glad to replace defective sideframes, in the event that they, in fact, do offer new ones.

I have a few fellow modelers that have sent their models back to Athearn directly for truck replacement -if there’s a problem with them, I’m not sure this will solve anything unless they do have a replacement now available.

I haven’t experienced any problems with mine in that regard -at least not yet.

If you intend to buy one and are considering the sound feature, my advice is to just get the sound -equipped versions.

The reason is that, as another poster already mentioned - the removal of the shell is a nightmare -very tight fitting due to the design of the chassis detail strip being glued to the body sill.

Expect damage to paint and a likely possibility of breakage of the sand lines it is nearly inev

16

I have the MTH version and looked at it side by side with the Athearn. The Athearn bent railings was the first noticed difference. Of course the sound is no where near as good as the MTH since the baffling isn’t good. The speakers are in the main body. So, I bought the MP Heritage from MTH, it was my first MTH and it is great. BTW, it has metal handrails.

The MTH also has the function controlled couplers which work OK on large radius track. Only issue with MTH is that you can’t reconfigure all the CVs since it’s really DCS not DCC. Also, to get to all of the functions, you will need more than the 12 or so on a lot of cabs.

So, my next SD70ACe will probably be the non sound MTH and I will add the Soundtraxx decoder. I really like the controllable couplers, but sometimes on 26" R there are issues. On my 36"R I haven’t had problems.

Richard

17

Ken,

Here’s a link to the MTH website online instructions, it will answer a lot of your questions. Yes you can adjust the volume and many other things.

http://www.mthtrains.com/sites/default/files/download/instruction/80dl15194i.pdf You will have to copy and paste. 28 functions, including the front and rear couplers.

LInk to MTH MP/UP heritage unit

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/80-2007-1 There’s a video on this too.

Richard

18

I sent an inquiry to Athearn this morning about the levitated wheel and was very pleasantly surprised to get a response (see below) within three hours or so. It sounds fairly straigtforward so we will give it a try tonight.

Thank-you for your inquiry. We regret to hear about the problem that you have encountered with your locomotive. Please note that there are some options for you to consider in order to correct the problem with the trucks. There is a technique to fix the problem but it is difficult to explain it in this format. First you must remove the trucks from the engine. Place the trucks on a flat surface. (A piece of glass is the best thing to use for this.) Look to see if all the wheels are touching the surface. If they are not then it is a matter of twisting the truck to bring all the wheels into proper alignment. Put each end of the truck in between your thumb and index finger (of each hand) and gently twist/tweak the truck with one hand going one way while the other one goes the other way. Then check to see if all the wheels are touching the surface of the glass. If not try it again with slightly more pressure. Another option is to take the engine back to the place of purchase and exchange it or get a full refund. One last possibility is to send us the trucks and we will either fix them or replace them (when we get new ones in stock) for you. If you should decide to send the trucks back to us please send them to:

Athearn Tra

19

Ken,

Yes you can control the sound, and the really cool thing is, you can control the volume on the fly! Using F7 it steps through the levels of sounds.

I have an NCE Power Pro and I can use all 28 functions supported by MTH.

20

Thanks for all the answers.

I deiced to pass on the SD70ACe rather it be Athearn or MTH. While I found the color scheme to be attractive and I do have a few modern diesels I decide to stick with pre 70’s engines.

Decide to spend the funds on repairing some of my older engines. Bought 6 new motors for my F units and BL2’s and may need new motors for 2 SD50’s. $220.00 would buy me 1 new engine, or get 8 older one back on the rails.

Thanks for all your time and interest.

Ken