Well, I spoke with Athearn regarding the Questionable SD40-2. According to them, they did make a RTR SD40-2 and quit within the last year. The one I have isn’t old or necessarily wrong. Appearently, it is what RTR was originally invisioned to be. A thrifty, assembled Blue Box upgrade, but not much of an upgrade. The RTR product line has morphed into a more expensive and detailed almost Genesis model.
Athearn stated they removed the grab irons from the GP series when they went to RTR editions and started adding them back during production, but not on the SD40-2. They did remind me it is RTD (Ready To Drill) and who says these guys don’t have a sense of humor!
Athearn also said they left the one big lamp on the post as a cost saving issue. Of course they found people will pay more for the better electronics. I’m due another call from the technical side on just how complete the board is, so I’ll know how to wire in lighting.
Athearn did say the NEW and IMPROVED RTR SD40-2 will have all the neat spiffy upgrades we modelers are now use to…at a price. I volunteered to be a Beta tester for the new ones, it was the least I could do… [:)].
Anyway, I quess for now, I just get to enjoy modeling the upgrades myself.
Wheww! Ready to drill? You’re right. Athearn really does have a big (warped) sense of humor![(-D][(-D] I’m assuming that the drill sites on the shell are marked, right? I wonder what was the “brass” thinking when they opted to make a “READY-TO-RUN” unit RTD?
I do appreciate this forum. Based on input from you guys, apparently RTR units have been undergoing “Not-so-subtle” changes for the past couple of years. So what my LHS’s owner has been saying confirms some of the info here.
I just remembered that a year or so back I did mention that I wanted an Athearn SD40-2 in UP colors. I think I’ll hold on that one…for a while.
I purchased an Athearn RTR GP50 and purchased a Quick Plug board from Athearn for 18.00. It is complete, all I have to do is wire the unit to the enging. The board is complete, it just needs to be wired. I noticed that only the top portion of the truck where the clip makes contact Needs to be wired an one lead needs to grounded and one lead goes to the bottom of the motor and the two center contacts are for the lights. A total of three of the of the ten contacts aren’t used. All that has to be done is remove the large bulb and the clip on the top of the motor. HTH
Not really. There are two “families” of RTR locos (three if we count your SD40-2). One is the models with the BB shells, the second is the models with the RPP shells, and the third is like your SD40-2 hermaphrodite.
The first family is nothing more than pre-assembled BB kits with the large, single bulb in the cab and no DCC quick plug. Recent-production RTR’s such as the GP38-2’s, GP40-2’s, probably most of the SD40-2’s, and possibly others fall into this family.
The second family, as I posted in your other thread, is the RTR’s with the RPP shells. These get get the directional lights (by virtue of the RPP shells being designed to accept them) and the quick plug board.
It would seem that the third family, such as the SD40-2 you have with the BB shell and light but also with the DCC board, were not widely produced. Possibly they were some sort of production “experiment” that ended up being dropped.
Or maybe not dropped, but ended up reverting to their “first family” origins. In spite of what the Athearn rep apparently told you, the SD40-2 you have shows on both the Athearn and the Horizon Web sites as being available in their RTR line. (No mention of it having the DCC quick plug, though.)