I was planning on buying some Athearn engines for my layout. Are they a good deal? Could I get cheaper engines with the same detail?
Athearn “kit” engines are a good value. I wouldn’t go with any cheaper brands. Other more expensive brands are even better, but Athern engines are an all-around good workhorse and can be upgraded if desired with new bodyshells and motors at a later date if desisred. They are kind of like the Chevys of model trains.
A guy i knew in a club I joined to get back into the hobby told me
“You can’t go wrong with Athearn”
I now have 28 Athearn locomotives on my roster.
Gordon
When I was in HO, one of the things I appreciated about the Athearn mechanism is the ease with which it can be stripped down and rebuilt. The Athearn engines I had were reliable and fairly durable. They were a bit noisy, but satisfactory.
I haven’t priced HO engines for a long time, but I can’t imagine finding a less expensive locomotive with the quality of an Athearn.
I think the above posts say it perfect. My fleet contains about 20 Athearn engines. Several of them have been upgraded with slow speed gearing and operate great. They are easy to work with since parts are interchangeable, they are easy to modify, and easily obtainable to boot. [#ditto][#ditto]
I think the Athearn kits are the best thing since sliced bread. They are definately a good deal. I think you need to answer the following questions to know if you should buy them or not.
What degree of detail do I want?
Do I prefer adding the details myself or having them factory installed? (Assuming you want a highly detailed locomotive).
How much am I willing to spend?
How many locomotives do I want?
And no, I am not an Athearn sellsman.
YES & NO, respectively.
Life Like’s Proto 2000 I think are arguably a better deal.
YES & NO, respectively.
Life Like’s Proto 2000 I think are arguably a better deal.
[#ditto][#ditto] I also agree. 19 of my 21 engines are blue boxes. They are a great deal and you can picked up barely used ones for dirt cheap at train shows. I’ve gotten Blue box engines for $15 that work perfectly.
Andrew
athearns are good. their detail may not be as high as some of the stuff thats out nowadays but their price is not either. they are easy to work with and many of the parts are interchangable. and as one old timer told me “you cant stop an athearn from running” we have about 40 engines at my house and about half are athearns. they are jsut great engines
I don’t own any but Athearn has a solid reputation. As a inexpensive comparison take a look at the
P1K Proto series advertised by Trainworld in MR.
Other cheapos, sure but they are crap. We have lemons too, so since you have a round trip ticket come on back after you narrow down your search.
Most of the Athearn engines run from $25-35 new at most of the internet dealers, but I have found you can get LifeLike P2K’s for close to $30 if you shop around, depending on what roadnames and era you want. I was fortunate in that I chose Santa Fe, and I have picked up quite a few engines over the last few months. M B Klein and T and k hobby still have some Santa Fe GP9’s and GP30’s for around $30.
Tim
First I own 38 P2K locomotives…So…One thing about the P2K locomotives…These are good units but, some suffer crack gear problems something you will never find in a Athearn locomotive…I replaced gears in 11 of my 38 P2Ks with Athearn gears before I decided to clean out that ton of grease that Life Like uses.This seem to have fixed the problems as I have not had a crack gear since.
Now I have 28 Athearn locomotives…Most are at least 10 years old the oldest one goes back to 1975 the newest is the RTR CF7s…
These units is like that rabbit you see on TV…They keep going,going,going,going-well you get the picture…Athearn locomotives can not be beat as far as trouble free operation and will last for years.
I have a few Ahearn units left on the roster but I have found that Atlas Master Series and Life Like Proto units are well worth the (sometimes) slightly higher cost. If you search around train shows, eBay, etc, you can find Atlas Master Series units (with decoders in them which makes them the Master Series) for $40-$60 and they run incredibly well. I have seen M.B. Kleins sell LL Proto GP9s for $29 each. It is hard to imagine anybody is making money off these units but I built up my GP9 fleet with these incredible deals.
I have mostly Proto 2000, Proto 1000 and Athearn Blue Box engines. All run very well. The Proto 2000 is by far a better engine at running and details. Cost sometimes is a lot more. I have bought them anywhere from $35 to $135. Proto 1000’s are a bargain at $19 when you can snatch them up. The best thing about the Athearns is the selection and availabilty. I buy undecs. and paint them into KATY’s and may start BN’s. It’s fairly easy to do and cost will not hurt you. Recently I bought a bunch of F shells for $1 a piece on ebay.
RMax
I was planning on buying some Athearn engines for my layout. Are they a good deal? Could I get cheaper engines with the same detail?
Athearn “kit” engines are a good value. I wouldn’t go with any cheaper brands. Other more expensive brands are even better, but Athern engines are an all-around good workhorse and can be upgraded if desired with new bodyshells and motors at a later date if desisred. They are kind of like the Chevys of model trains.
A guy i knew in a club I joined to get back into the hobby told me
“You can’t go wrong with Athearn”
I now have 28 Athearn locomotives on my roster.
Gordon
When I was in HO, one of the things I appreciated about the Athearn mechanism is the ease with which it can be stripped down and rebuilt. The Athearn engines I had were reliable and fairly durable. They were a bit noisy, but satisfactory.
I haven’t priced HO engines for a long time, but I can’t imagine finding a less expensive locomotive with the quality of an Athearn.
I think the above posts say it perfect. My fleet contains about 20 Athearn engines. Several of them have been upgraded with slow speed gearing and operate great. They are easy to work with since parts are interchangeable, they are easy to modify, and easily obtainable to boot. [#ditto][#ditto]