This coming September Athearn has a few new locos coming out and the one I’m interested in… Southern Railway River Street Rambler… SW1500 dcc ready…
is listed as Ready To Run. Is this different from their Genesis series? Better or worse?
JaRRell
The Athearn RTR series below the Genesis series (which is the premium line). That being said, they are often very nicely detailed models. They generally don’t run as well, but can run good. Remember, this is Athearn we are dealing with and even in the present day, they often run a bit on the noisy side.
Caboose Hobbies is advertising them for $70.00, available in September 2008. Maybe $10.00 for shipping.
Rich
So, are the RTR’s basically an assembled Blue Box? Or do they have a different drive train?
You got it, same drive train.
RTRs are better than a Blue Box any day of the week, IMO.
They have better paint jobs, grab irons, plastic handrails (UNLESS you mess with the handrails, the handrails won’t mess with you), a generally better chassis, etc.
The motor is mounted on the frame with screws, and instead of the old pickups everywhere, they are all soldered into a circuit board, and screwed in or soldered to the normal pickups (truck and frame).
Phil
The Athearn RTR models are basically the Blue Box kits that have been assembled in China and are of a higher quality because they have been retooled.
Sort of an in-between model that’s better than a BB kit but not as good as a Genesis.
Hold on, folks. Not all Athearn RTR’s are the same.
Type I - Any of the RTR’s using tooling that came from Athearn itself from before the death of Irv that is pretty much an assembled Blue Box (stock model: old electronics with “cookout in cab”) with plastic handrails.
Type II - Any of the RTR’s using tooling that came from Athearn itself from before the death of Irv that has a DCC socket (basically an assembled Blue Box with better electronics and drive).
Type III - Any of the RTR’s using tooling that came from another company after the death of Irv Athearn (like Rail Power Products, Roundhouse, etc.) that has a new drive, new tooling, new details, seperate grabs, etc.
(Yes, I just made up that Type I, II & III labeling)
To tell the difference at the LHS, look at the model. If there are seperate grabs, it is a Type III (IOW, good quality). If the grabs are molded on, then it’s either Type I or II. To tell them apart, look for the “DCC Ready” tag on the box front. If it’s there, it’s a Type II. If not, Type I.
The Type III’s are usually on par, detail-wise, with any of the better companies like Atlas, P2K, Kato, etc. The drive is about on par with old P2K, but a step below Atlas and Kato.
Type II’s are the old BB tooling with a DCC socket and an improved drive over BB kits.
Type I’s are the old BB tooling with the old Athearn “cookout in cab” light bulb. The drive may or may not have been improved, but they do have plastic handrails.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
[#ditto]
I have RTR models of all types. A couple of additional notes: The type 2 units will have the electronics board with the 9 pin JST plug and the holes to mount an 8 pin plug, but no plug. The current type three (i.e. the GP40x) also have an electronics board with both 9 pin JST plug and standard 8 pin plug. This makes it very DCC ready as you can “plug and play” any decoder.
Tilden
Type II - Any of the RTR’s using tooling that came from Athearn itself from before the death of Irv that has a DCC socket (basically an assembled Blue Box with better electronics and drive).
One needs to be extremely careful here,Some of the eariler runs lacks the added on grab irons.The later runs has the grab irons.The newest SD40-2 is far from the earlier BB RTR SD40-2.
Also the RTR F7, GP38-2,GP40-2 and GP50 does not come with a DCC socket.Also the eariler runs of the SD40-2 does not have the DCC plug.
The newly upgraded RTR SW1500 has many railroad specific details as well.
http://www.athearn.com/Newsletter/042208/04_SW1500_042208.jpg
Whew!
Using the new “system”, these SW1500s will be Type IIIs. One can expect a good motor, possibly on the old Athearn frame, and all the details.
Phil
I think I’m as confused as ever…
A few things from their website about the model:
*Upgraded tooling
*Factory installed wire grab irons
*Separately applied air tanks and piping
*DCC ready Quick plug technology
*Upgraded Hex drivetrain
*Celcon handrails
*Microbulb headlights
I have no idea what a Hex drivetrain is or how well it operates.
Jarrell
In the old BB locos, you had 3 seperate shafts that ran from the gearbox tower to the flywheel. You had a flywheel connector, a shaft, and a geared connector.
The hex gear is a long or short piece of plastic, with a hex head on one end that sticks inside the flywheel, and a snap type ball/socket at the other end that goes to the connector with the gear at the gearbox tower.
They are just a different alternative that Athearn went with. I find no differences, except that the hex gear is easier to repair, and a TAD bit quieter in some applications. It looks less complex, too.
This is the best I can describe it.
Phil
I bought one Athearn RTR car in HO and I’ll never get another one again. Having bought Athearn cars before I was surprised by the lack of quality in it. I like the shaking box kits that you have to build. The RTR car that I got tends to derail quite frequently and does not operate as such. I have contaced Athearn about it and they didn’t really give me any real help on what to do. I’m thinking the car might not be heavy enough. I like some Athearn cars but the RTR ones I’ll never get again.
On the derailing car, have you tried backing off the truck mounting screws by a quarter to half a turn? Also get yourself a postal or food scale to weigh your cars and then add weight as needed according to NMRA recomendations, (somebody got the link?).
If his experience is like mine, there are no screws…it is the split pin push-in type mount with plastic axles and wheels. I bought a three different Athearn cars, a tank car, a gondola, and a stock car, and neither one will stay on the rails. I was quite disappointed. I learned, and will now only get Genesis brand, and certainly only when they at least have McHenry/Kadee-type couplers. These ones had horn-hook couplers.
Don’t know what I was thinking. [:I]
Just from what you listed here, this model would be a “Type III”, as described by Paul3 in his earlier post; so IMO, it’s going to be a nice looking model and worth buying.
I have a BB GP-60 that came with the older drive train, you know the typical Athearn shafts. I purchased a motor off ebay that has the hex drive shaft and all I can say is that the GP-60 runs a lot more quiter than it did with its original drive train. I’m in process of replacing my two 9-44CW’s with similar motors but these new ones I have come with the DCC ready board and plug.
If it had “horn hook” couplers, it is very likely very old stock, or not even Athearn! Have you used the NMRA gauge to check the wheels? I have BB kits from the late '50’s through todays RTR & Genisis freight cars, and have NONE with “push pin” truck connectors - are you sure it’s an Athearn? Did someone put a Tyco or early Lifeless/Modelpowerless car in a BB? Every new car should have the wheels, weight, and coupler heights checked before going on the layout!! My [2c][2c]
I have close to 58 of these cars and yet to see a push pin for the trucks…I have no idea where you are getting your information…None of the Athearn RTR cars comes with horn hooks in fact the BB kits hasn’t had horn hooks in years…
What are you thinking about Accurail??
Brakie,
Yep, Athearn doesn’t seem to be stagnant when making these. IOW, they keep changing them.
wgnrr,
Right. It looks like I’ll have to change my definition of a Type III, as before all Type III’s were from RPP or MDC. This appears to be the 1980’s/90’s Athearn SW1500 tooling upgraded. I think this may be a first for Athearn RTR…that they’ve gone to such trouble on one of their own original models.
jacon12,
As wgnrr said, the hex drive has a 6-sided drive coupling. It is much quieter than the old slip sleeves as there is far less vibration (which equals less noise). The old slip sleeves had a single key on one side which would leave a lot of slack in the coupling which would flop around. Also, think about it: the key on one side is an eccentric load on the shaft. The hex drive is more balanced, and less floppy.
dale8chevyss,
Just because you have one RTR car that derails, don’t discard all of them. It’d be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Not all Athearn cars use the same frame or trucks, and even getting two identical cars is not any assurance that they will operate the same. If a 40’ boxcar is giving you trouble, the 85’ TOFC is a far different beastie. As far as a fix, as modelmaker51 said, loosen one of the screws if not both of them. One truck should rotate freely but not rock (semi-tight screw). The other truck should rock freely (a really loose screw, IOW). This is called the 3-point suspension system, and has been recommended for decades.
selector,
You have to be pulling our legs.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven