Hey everyone, thinking about preordering a Athearn Rs3 in Southern roadname are they okay? It’s ready to run version at First Hobby for 60.00 seems like a decent price the picture looks good. Thank you for your replies.
Most of the new Athearn RTR locomotives are really great. One knock against them is that Athearn seems to have issues with “quality control”. For example, I have an Athearn RTR SD50 which runs beatifully and doesn’t make a sound. However, my friend recently bought a new RTR GP38-2, and it growled like a coffee grinder and had the old Blue Box “bon fire” headlight!
From what I’ve seen and heard, the Athearn RTR RS3s are pretty good. One guy on this board said his growled a bit, but the detail was really good. My advice, I would wait and see what other forum members have to say (never mind the fools who’ll tell you “athearn sucks!” or “athearn? never again!”). Otherwise, go to a hobby shop and check one out for yourself. Although, for $60.00, what have you got to lose?
While not specifically Athearn, I have a pair of Atlas RS1’s which run flawlessly.
Athearns in my experience are good strong engines that can withstand a beating. The only “New” Athearn I purchased was thier 2-8-2 Mikado which was very sweet in running but cannot pull it’s own tender uphill. That one purchase led me to look into Atlas, Intermountain and BLI desiels instead. (Kato too but they are pricey)
I’ve heard that Athearn’s new RS-3 is the best detailed plastic RS-3 made. I own a Ready-To-Roll F7A, and, although it has a Mabuchi motor instead of an Athearn motor, it runs very well, and the gearing is quiet. The RS-3s have the same gearing as the F7s, so they should be smooth and quiet, too.[:D]
That’s actually Samhongsa’s fault, because the 2-8-2s and 4-6-2s were made by Samhongsa.
Actually Darth Santa Fe, your model is Genisis, totally different from a RTR unit.
Thanks everyone, i figured for 60.00 and it being the only RS3 in the Southern roadname available i would give it a try. Does anyone know if it has real lighting or the sad nuclear cab lighting job as the old Athearns?
The picture in my profile is a Genesis F3A, which is probably what you saw. I also own an F7A from the RTR line, which came in a train set I got for Christmas. I did a review on the set, but it got little to no attention. Here’s a link to it:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59474
I also posted a topic with some pictures of when I super-detailed it.[:D]
I’m pretty sure it has new lighting, similar to what’s in their Genesis diesels.[:D]