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And what is Atlas or Kato do not make the style of engine I want? Like a F3A? Also, I can actually take my engines apart and ‘fix’ them…
Jim
Who paid for the original post?[}:)]
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I like Athearns because they are easy to maintain, affordable, and with a just a little extra effort, good runners. Keep in mind that model locos are like any other piece of machinery-- In order for it to last long, it needs proper maintenance. My oldest Athearn BB unit is a GP38-2 from 1988 and it still runs like a champ.
I do have a break-in and maintenance program for my Athearn units: Every newly-purchased unit gets the break-in treatment, which includes complete disassembly, deburring the gears and driveline, gear polishing with toothpaste, cleaning, proper lubrication and washers to take up excessive slack in the worms and motor armature when necessary. After that, every unit gets a yearly maintenance tear-down and relube.
I have no doubt my Athearn BB locos will still be in tip-top running shape 20 years from now. [|)]
NSR, I feel sorry that you have had problems with your Athearn locomotives.
Wow, I have close to 50 Athearn locomotives either BB or RTR.
Have I had problems with them. Yes I have. Not all of them, but a few!
I’ve had axles out of gauge, motors that were louder than normal, cracked gears etc etc etc.
Everyone complains about this or that, but I should tell you that Atlas, Kato, Proto & BLI are not with out faults.
DIdn’t BLI have a complete run of a locomotive delayed or recalled recently due to a manufacturing defect?
Didn’t Proto have serious problems with gears cracking in there early models?
My first Athearn locomotive ran like crap after a couple of years. A freind came over one day to run some trains & mentioned something about locomotive maintenance.
I ran like a top afterwards!
I have a Stewart C628 that’s louder than my BB’s. Have I complained to anyone that it is crap? No, I have not. Why? Because I want to find out why the locomotive is loud & get it fixed instead of complaining about it. & this is the most expensive loco in my fleet!
Athearns are no worse than any other manufacturer out there.
But if you truely don’t like Athearn anymore & since the ones you have are crap, I’ll send you my address so you can ship them to me! [:D]
Just my 2 cents
Gordon
Badly operating locos can be very irritating, especially if they are new. On the other hand, the bottom line can drive you to do things you claim you will never do. Click on this link and you’ll see.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=61687
I have an athearn SDP40 that is 30 years old and it still runs good. I have a ton of BB engines and only one has problems. I will continue to buy them.
maintenance…
grab that plastic compatible oil and lube them up time to time.
wheels, axle bearings, motor…no oil…SCREECH
You must really be having a bad day to make the above statement. You can find a thread or two here discussing Bachman and P2K issues, my guess is that all of them have shipped a clunker or two, maybe even three.
Things with moving parts gum up, gunk up, and break. You can shake your fist at the gods or roll up your sleeves and fix them, but you will confront this same issue as long as you own an automobile, and a fridge, a CD player, a lawnmower or any other piece of machinery. The price of owning machines has always included maintenence and repair and many times this is an appreciable fraction of the original purchase price.
Get out the screwdriver and get those bad boys running again. You own them, not the other way round.
Just like any car you drive, a loco needs maintanance. Some more expensive cars can go longer between schedualed maintanence than cheaper cars.Same with locos.
I have a couple of Athearn BB loco from the mid 80’s that still work fine with regular cleaning and oiling.(I just bid on two more BB kits on E-Scam)
It’s like the old commercial said…You can pay me now…or you can pay me later…
I like paying later because I can do all the maintanence work myself. Some folks would rather pay 3 times more up front and not have to to do work on their fleet.[2c]
Us Norfolk Southern fans needs to stick together. While I am not ready to ban all Atherans, over the past 2 years i find myself buying the high end locomotives more than the lower. Quality costs more and Athean doesn’t make sound units yet. For my last 8 locomotives, 4 have been Atlas Golds and 4 BLI sound units. Over the past two years I’ve purchased 18 locomotives. 2 have been Athearn with one being a Genesis unit and the other a C44-9W, which isn’t available frrom anyone else right now. Kato made them 5 years ago and I have one Kato unit. I modeled as a teenager 30 years ago and Athearn was all you could find. Since being back in the hobby for the past 5 years, things are a lot better with regards to choice and we now have DCC !!
In fairness to Athearn, their quality has gotten better over the years especially with the Genesis line. The Genesis rolling stock is great. But all things being equal, I’ll likely pick an Atlas, BLI or P2K locomotive over an Atheran. I ahven’t started changing any of my Athearn locomotives over to DCC yet. That may have some bearing on my decision in the future.
What mean BB ?
Number 1. I just Display my Athearns. And you know why Athearns are junk? Made in China. And number 2. You know why Kato Models are so darn good? Made in Japan.
Allan.
At one time i didn’t want to purchase anymore Athearn locomotives but i have…I have found that they are the strongest pulling locomotives from all my others including atlas, and proto locomotives…yes they do need detailing but that’s just part of the fun in the hobby, once i get one, the first thing i do is pull out the steel clip and solder wires to the motor and frame and then install kadee couplers…if it’s making noise, teat it down and oil all the gears and burni***he comutator on the motor…(i’ve found parts in the gears before right from the factory that weren’t supposed to be there causing the unwanted noise)…I still like Athearn, they keep me within my budget, and will probably purchase more of them in the future…chuck
If Kato are so darn good, why couldn’t they get the livery right on a CP Rail SD40-2?
DXR, BB stands for Athearn Blue Box
Gordon
Athearns pulling more than P2Ks ? I find that hard to believe. My P2K’s are quite a bit heavier than my Athearns and will out pull them everyday. The SD60s and SD60Ms will out pull any other locomotives that I have but they also are full of lead and weigh in at 1 lb. 9.25 oz . An Atheran C44-9W weighs in at 1 lb. 3 oz (and that includes the box it comes in). Atlas 8-40 CW Gold weighs in at 1 lb. 1.4 oz but it has sound in it so less room for weight.
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Oh Man after reading this post and after 40 some years in the Model Railroad Hobby I am going to trash all of my Athearn BB and only go High End!!! " Not !!!" Each of us has our own opinions and that what makes America Great!!! If It wasnt for Athearn we would still bee running Tyco and Bachmann stufff on our layouts. Just my .02 ideas. Or is that 0-.02-0 Ideas!!! Kevin
What is Norfolk Southern Railfan smoking? I’ll tell you that I’ve had more problems with my Kato SD80MACs, my P2K SD60M and my Atlas GP7 than my Athearn RTR SD50 and BB FP45.