Well, UP fans can rejoice!!! Athearn is coming out with an HO UP Gas Turbine. I’m amazed that Athearn is releasing this. Surprisingly, this is RTR and not Genesis despite the fact that the retail price will be $229, though discount prices will probably be under $200. I wonder if this is based on T55 tooling since they were rumored to have planned a gas turbine before Athearn bought them out?
Where is this announcement? I have seen nothing from Atherarn News. The Genesis turbine is one of the original single unit(4500 hp) with tender, and that is scheduled for July last I heard. I just looked at the Athearn web site and see nothing about a 2 unit ‘Big Blow’(8500 hp) unit. Got a web link?
Jim
MRR had something in there about the new turbines comming out. Think they are the Veranda type if I recall.
I heard that they canned the order because of tooling problems. They said it was to hard getting all the details correct. And at that price it would have to be a really cheap one. Under $200.00 for a “Big Blow” even in plastic would be questionable.
Mike
And the “Big Blows” were 3 units, not 2.
I saw one of those in a hobby shop in Tucson, Arizona last week. I never really looked closely at it because I had no interest in purchasing one, but do remember that it was an Athearn. IIRC, it was listed as being a Varanda with a single tender.
There’s no way Athearn could have brougth former Tower 55 products to market so soon unless they were already on a ship from China bound for the U.S. The lead time for Athearn to contract with a company in China to manufacture them would probably take months.
The Athearn Turbines were announced at the 2008 NMRA show, and they even had a pre-production model.
http://www.pbase.com/tracktime/image/100358244
Pretty nice looking model!! I want one. Please Santa?
Does “Big Blow” only apply to the 8,500hp model, or was it a generic name for all of UP’s 1950s era gas turbines?
The Big Blow’s were 2 ‘power units’ and as many fuel tenders as required(usually just 1). The tenders were not ‘powered’ and were not attached with draw bars, IIRC.
Lyon,
I am not sure if there was a ‘name’ for the full car body 4500 hp units. The follow-on order had the ‘Veranda’ car body, and the 8500 hp units were know as the ‘Big Blow’ units. All of them made a quite a ‘howl’ at speed!
Jim
http://www.athearn.com/Newsletter/121608/03_TURBINE_121608.jpg
This is the link to the announcement of the RTR UP Turbine and it is priced rather conservative I think and comes DCC ready with 8 & 9 Pin Plugs!
Price is $229.98 for the Turbine
$299.98 for the Turbine with Tender
$ 89.98 for the Tender
The pricing seems right, as they are RTR/DCC READY. Thats actually higher than a RTR SD40, for instance.
The GREAT news is, the tender is available seperately!!! This style tender is used on the 844 AND Challenger fan trip locos, as well as having been used on other locos over the years!! The only other tenders of this style available previously were brass or the plastic “dummy” from the Revell/Monogram plastic BB static model!! (I know there are many variations to this tendeer “type”, but they all share a “family resemblance”).
As soon as I finish this post, I’m e-mailing my LHS to order a loco & 2 tenders!!![8D]
I rode the Big Blow
Trains, July 1953 page 18
Union Pacific’s gas-turbines
( “ABBEY, WALLACE W.”, TURBINE, UP, TRN )
Contact Walley Abbey and tell him he wrote about a Big Blow turbine five years before it was built. Data from the MR Magazine Database. It is a great article. More likely Walley Abbey coined the term Big Blow or heard it and repeated it in his article. IMHO Big Blow applies to all UP Turbines.
The 51 series 4500 HP unit is the one Athearn is bringing in, but it is in the RTR classification. I had been under the impression it might be a Genesis model, but it is RTR. The price sure seems high considering it is not a Genesis with sound, not that the MRC sound would be correct.
CZ
http://www.athearn.com/Newsletter/121608/03_TURBINE_121608.jpg
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The GREAT news is, the tender is available seperately!!! This style tender is used on the 844 AND Challenger fan trip locos, as well as having been used on other locos over the years!! The only other tenders of this style available previously were brass or the plastic “dummy” from the Revell/Monogram plastic BB static model!! (I know there are many variations to this tendeer “type”, but they all share a “family resemblance”).
Jim
This tender was the ones made from the 9000 series locomotive tenders. It is round, unlike the ones made for the 8500 HP Turbine which used the FEF-1 tenders for their start.
CZ
The Big Blow’s were 2 ‘power units’ and as many fuel tenders as required(usually just 1). The tenders were not ‘powered’ and were not attached with draw bars, IIRC.
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I am not sure if there was a ‘name’ for the full car body 4500 hp units. The follow-on order had the ‘Veranda’ car body, and the 8500 hp units were know as the ‘Big Blow’ units. All of them made a quite a ‘howl’ at speed!
Jim
The first series were called the Standard Turbine or baby turbines, then the 61 to 75 were called the Veranda type and both types were 4500HP units. The last batch with 8500 HP units were called Super Turbines and Big Blow. They were very large and very loud but so were the so called small turbines.
The fuel tenders used for these were much different than the tenders used to build the 8500 HP units. Only number 61 had a modified tender that was much like the FEF-1 type, but it was replaced by the Standard round model like all of the 1st and 2nd series 4500 turbines used. They can be run without the tenders also since that is the way they were used for several years when they were new.
CZ
You can always try on the internet for a brass loco, that should only run you about $3,500.00
The nickname for the first generation units was “Baby BLow”
next came the “Veranda” units with the covered walkways,
and finally the 8500 Hp three unit “Big Blow” turbines.
the tenders used in excursion service with the 844 and 3985 are the ones from the three unit turbine, and not the tender version offered by Athearn.
What is the difference between RTR and Genesis?
Does this mean there is no sound available?!?! That just sucks. I’ve got two of the Lionel Verandas and that’s first thing folks will comment on is when that puppy fires up!!
The only Turbine sound is available from QSI - so you have to add that yourself! Lionel also used that QSI sound I believe.
There is a video from the Anaheim show and there the Athearn guy talks about a “Genesis level model” - and DCC ready and shows where there’s enough room for the two speakers.
I guess that confused some people into thinking that this will be a Genesis model with Installed Sound (but who wants Genesis sound anyway?).
It has the 8 and 9 Pin Plugs for easy DCC installation - and this will turn out a great model I’m sure.
Genesis line is a step up from the RTR line (someone will correct me if I’m wrong but both the motor and body is better). RTR line does not offer sound.