I bought my first new “higher quality” loco today and will receive it in a few days. It is an Athearn Genesis SD-75i (Canadian) in my protypes paint scheme (Ontario Northland). [:D]
How do I break this puppy in. I want to ensure long life, and hopefully catch any major problems before it is too late to exchange it, if necessary. I want to make sure that I don’t do it incorrectly and reduce the useful life of the loco, leaving myself with a black eye [B)] or worse [xx(].
To be honest, I don’t think ‘breaking-in’ is really an important aspect of dealing with new locos. The most important thing is to get to know their capabilities, and limitations, early, including those limitations for which the loco should be returned to the manufacturer if outside of specs or expectation. Use the loco gently at first, by all means, but use it as you’d like to…presumably like you’d treat any valued object. Run it in both directions, at different speeds, and with different loads, or lengths of trains, up and down grades if you have them.
Some locos are not pre-lubed externally, like the BLI steamers, because they don’t want you to receive a new loco with gungey-looking packaging.
In short, read-in, and use normally. If there are flaws, you’ll know soon enough.
I havent done a “break in” on any of my genesis engines. I run them a lot at the mall every weekend, probably several miles a day. After a few months of this heavy running, all of them (i run all 3 in a consist) are smooth as can be.
I usually run the new engine for 15 - 20 minutes in both directions at various speeds ( I don’t run it at full speed for the first two or three times) unladen. If it’s a steam engine make sure the pushrods and valve linkage are lubed (a little goes a long way) before I do any break in running. I don’t “stress test” it for the first or second runs (loading it up to see how many cars it will pull ) after the break in.
The Athearn Genesis SD70 doesn’t like anything tighter than a 22 inch radius curve, and is extremely sensitive to derailments if there is the very slightest dip or rise in your trackwork.
Lubrication after a short period of running is very important for any model coming out of China because they are usually not sufficiently lubricated at the factory.
The tightest curve Athearn’s SD70 series can run on is 18" (except for the new SD70MAC). My SD75M makes it around the curves without a problem, unless there’s a bump or bent rail on the track. The light bulbs on these engines burn out pretty quick. One of the headlights on mine burned out after maybe 30 minutes of running. If they had drives made by Kato and the detail to go around the pilot (where the couples are) they would probably be as good as the newer Atlas diesels.
I don’t see what all the fuss about running 6 axles on 18" curves is about. I run my Athearn Blue Box FP45, Athearn RTR SD50, and Athearn Genesis SD70M on 18" in the same consist and I’ve never had a problem. Who cares if it doesn’t look right or it never happened. Life’s to short to rivet count.
So Chris, your SD75I can be run on 18" (I’ve never had any problems with mine), but I’d still go with 22". Probably get better running on a 22" because the trucks won’t be as tight and they’ll grip the rails better.