hey fellas,
I want a athearn rotory snow plow. but I dont want to buy it if it is crap, so has anyone bought one yet? if so how is it? hows it look? how fast does the blad spin? is it prototypical speed? ETC ETC.
The Athearn rotory snow plow is a model of a Lima-Hamiton built plow ( the last rotorys built in the U.S. ). They used two 3 cylinder steam ingines from the shay loco design. Gerald M. Best wrote a book “SNOWPLOW Clearing Mountain Rails” and in it there is some pics of two being built on the shop floor. I don’t know how many RRs had that model but there is a builder’s photo of one lettered for Soo Line.
Unless Athearn has upgraded the model, it doesn’t use a motor. It uses rubber bands from the four wheel truck axles to the rotor shaft to turn the blades. So however fast the plow is being pushed is how fast the blades spin. Som modelers have retrofitted them with motors. It being a steam powered plow it should have a tender with it to look prototypical when operating.
my friend,
you are terribly uninformed. take a look:
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH93801
The original Athearn snowplow(in BB kit form) had the rotary powered by a rubber band drive from the front axles. The current RTR version has an electric motor driving the rotary, and a tender is included(at a much higheer price). If you find a loose Athearn rotary out there in a swap meet, it is one of the older ones…
Jim
Hi Sean…the new Athearn rotary snow plow, while certainly priced a bit higher than the original kit versions with the rubber band drives, are a good value if you ask me. Yes you may be able to find an older kit that MSRPd for about 12.00 but remember that it also did not come with a matching tender like the new version. The painting is very crisp on the models I’ve seen. Someone may point out that not all of the paint schemes are exactly prototypical. Some folks consider that nitpicking, some don’t. You asked about how fast the blades spin, they spin as fast or as slow as you like as they run off of the amount of power from the throttle. They do not actually run down the track themselves, you’ll need a locomotive for that, but the blades do spin…when they are at high power they are spinning so fast you can’t see them and when you power down they spin slow enough to see the blades. For what it’s worth I’ve sold a few of them, and we’re not exactly in blizzard country.
I have heard great things about them. I also noted that the lettering looked really nice, and they also come with factory installed glazing.
On a note about something mentioned above; I don’t believe the Lima-Hamiltons were the last built in the US. I thought that those Union Pacific monsters were the last ones built in the US. I wished I could get my hands on one of those, but only Overland did them and they are a might bit pricey (eBay) for something that I would just put in a display case anyhow.
I had one of the old BB kits, and it did look nice, but for me, anything beyond display was too much for it. It was not heavy enough to counteract the resistence of the rubber bands. I promptly put it back to the ebay world from where I got it.
I dont know anything else about it
REeves
The smaller Walthers rotary plow (no longer available I think) had a motor powered blade that was controlled by a constant lighting circuit. This means the blade turns at a constant speed, no matter what the track voltage. I checked mine out recently and it does not work. The motor was attached to the rotary blade with a rubber band (a black one, more like an “O” ring), which had broken. Newer operating features that the Athearn, but still suffering from the same broken rubber band problem! Of course I’ll have to take it apart to replace the band.
Bob Boudreau
you mean on the new one there is a motor but the blade is powerd by a rubber band?
The WALTHERS rotary plow is powered by a motor. The motor is above the drive shaft of the motor, and runs the shaft with a rubber band on a pulley. I don’t have any idea how the revised ATHEARN one operates by motor.
Bob Boudreau
I don’t know about the older plows compared to the newer ones. But, I do know that the prototypes are just huge! If you’re ever in the St. Louis area, make sure you stop by the Museum of Transportation.
My father-in-law standing in front of one.
Those are the ones I was talking about in my above post. I have been there several times and that thing amazes me every time I see it. I would have loved to see one of those in action!!
I’m not sure I see the need for a working rotary plow. I can’t imagine anyone actually using it to clear their track. Even if you model a winter scene, your track is going to be already clear. Running a plow up a line that is already clear would like odd. I’ve thought about getting one strictly as a static display. My question is where would railroads typically store these plows in the warmer months. Would they be with the rest of the MOW equipment.
Although it was a different scale, there was a forum member that posted a video awhile back where he used a working rotary plow to clear snow from his garden railroad. I believe he used a motor from an electric drill to power it. I can’t remember his user ID, but it was a pretty impressive garden railroad.
I, too, see no real need for a working snow plow…that said, I bought one anyway. It is very impressive with the blades turning but as I am operating DCC with the power on the track full time there is no way to turn the thing off so I wound up disconnecting the motor leads. There may be some way to figure out how to turn it on and off but doesn’t seem to be worth the effort. It IS an outstanding model tho a bit pricey due to the motor. Personally I wish they would offer it un-motorised. Athearn has recently announced additional road names due out in a few months.
You can always pick up an older model on eBay or at train shows. I have several and see them offered semi regularly.
Bob Boudreau
If you are already in DCC, why not install a decoder…use the light portion and then you could control that motor just like you turn your lights off and on with a regular decoder…
JE, from what I’ve seen and read, they typically had snowsheds they kept them in.
why dont you just use the decoder to controll the motor, it will be just like an engine, so you will be able to have the blade spin at prototypical speeds at all volts.
There is NO decoder in the unit and it hardly seems worth the effort or expense to install one…perhaps someday when I get all the other things done that seem more important, but it is an idea worth considering. I have never installed a decoder in any unit so it might be a good place to start for practice…hmmm?