Earnst super gears

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi guys.

Does any one remember Earnst super gears for Athearn 2 and 3 axle trucks? Can you still find them?

Thanks.

Pete

2

I found some two axle sets about a year ago at a LHS in Michigan. Sorry, don’t know if they were new old stock or recently produced.

I installed them in a sw1500 and they were way too noisy for my tastes.

3

Sure I remember them – but the name is spelled ERNST so if you spell it wrong you’re not going to find them. A Google search using the correct spelling turns up a lot of information about Ernst Super Gears for Athearn locomotives.

Page 245 of the Walthers 2010 HO Reference Book has them listed as still being made – priced at $9.98 per kit; Walthers catalog number 259-6 for 6-axle trucks; 259-44 for 4-Axle trucks; and 259-66 for an SD40-2.

4

Yep, They are TOPS for re-gearing older BB locos. I re-geared a S-12 switcher some years back and the slow speed was really good.

5

Yup, put a set in an S-12 years ago myself. Could pull a train that we usually put 3-4 GP-40’s on up a hill at the club, if it could hold enough weight. I had the insides stuffed with sheet lead and it slipped, for gins I grabbed allt he weights I could find and stacked them on the outside of the loco and it actually was able to pull the train up the hill. And top speed was like 25mph. The greas I ran in with toothpaste and it was so free rolling that if I put a truck with all gears on a piece of track and tilted it it would roll nearly as freely as a freight car truck with good wheelsets. After doing the usual tweaks n the motor it was also very quiet despite the motor turning over rather fast for even slow movement. Well worth it, but it won’t run with any other loco in MU.

–Randy