I have found a Athearn Genesis D&RGW ABB set with the right numbers (#5771/#5762/#5763) that I can buy for 325USD (new). I’m a little unsure if this is a good buy. They are hard to find. It have heard that the drive quality is a little unstable from item to item. Sometimes superior and sometimes not so good. I really love the look of the train, and my idea is to buy some stewart drives if the Athearn drive is not good. What do you guys say about this? This is how it looks.
The Genesis set of F3s I own have been great as far as drives go. I have
noted no faults. So my advice is to get them. If you need to change drives
later Stewart is fine, Intermountain drives are also excellent. I’ve used
several under my Highliner shells and am pleased with them.
I have an ABA set that I picked up for 300 at my LHS. They run and look great. It looks like a pretty good deal and as you said, you can modify later, if needed.
Rick
The key wors are “They are hard to find.” IF they are that hard to find and you’re not sure, get them because you will never know when you’ll fin them again or for how much.
Athearn Genesis locomotives usually have a very good, quiet drive system that should never need to be replaced. Whether these locomotives are selling at a good price depends on whether all of them are powered or only two. I think they are probably two powered units and one dummy. If all 3 are powered, the price is not bad.
The latest batch of Athearn Genesis F3 locomotives that club members purchased have Roco motors in them.
electrolove,
I’m not usually lucky but I apparently have lucked out on a number of locomotive buys-the luck being that I have escaped problems with problem locomotives. Having this kind of luck perplexes me-this isn’t normal for me. It suggests to me that there is a higher probability of getting a good running Genesis set than not. I have an A-B set of Genesis F3 units that run faultlessly. They are extremely quiet and they pull. Make that, THEY PULL!! [wow] [tup] [tup] [tup]
What can one do if one gets a bad unit(s)? From your posting it appears that you have that possible eventuality covered with your Stewart replacement drive system proposal. So, if you read what you have written in your post you’ve already made the decision to proceed. You are simply asking that the doubt be removed from the decision. So, per Las Vegas tourist bureau TV adds here in the U.S., “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”. If your buy decision turns out to be an indiscretion, then “what happens in Sweden, stays in Sweden.” Besides, you’ve already got the possible indiscretion covered by your Stewart plan. Sounds to me that this purchase is a no brainer. [:D]
Comment by GN-Rick re InterMountain drives [#ditto] I agree they’re sweet runners.
I can’t advise you as to price since I’m a confirmed mail order and or eBay purchaser.
Jon
I can’t comment on the quality of your purchase, but I do have to ask what do you do for a living that you can afford to rent a building for your layout and buy stuff like you’ve posted? I’m not trying to be a butt head, I just want a job like yours so I can buy nice stuff too…[:o)][:D][:D][:D]
If the price is right and this is something you are looking for, I say go for it. The 2 Genesis loco’s I have are great runners, and I did get them used off Ebay for a good price.
Electrolove, I can almost see your hands shaking. Looks like you got the [tup] from all of us, just lets use know how the deal went and if your happy with them. Good luck!
I sort of hate to keep bringing this up, but what year were you planning to model the California Zephyr? Or have you switched to a Rio Grande Zephyr?
The paint scheme on the models you’ve indicated (generally called the single stripe Prospector) is from the late 1950s. The F3’s that were assigned to the California Zephyr were in the 55xx series. A 57xx number series would be an F9 as used on and the RGZ after 1968.
Here is the same Genesis brand F3 in the earlier multi stripe (bumble bee) prospector scheme.
Also note that they have announce the single stripe paint on the F3 for June 2006. That would get you the paint scheme you like on the appropriate locomotive for the CZ.
I’m planning at the moment to use California Zephyr, Rio Grande Zephyr and Amtrak Zephyr. Joe Fugate uses a clever way to do similar things. If I understand it right it’s 1986 on his layout right now. He describe this on one of his DVD’s. The thing I want to say is if the time is not static we can use trains from different eras, not at the same time but we can use them. The length of a year can be varied to suits the needs. I’m not 100% finished with the theory behind this but I’m working on it.
I got the following Athearn Genesis AB set last weekend for $207 with both engines powered, DCC ready. I’ve not run them yet as I’ve not got the decoders yet. I searched high and low for these.
I could have purchased via the net for a little less but decided to keep my money with the LHS.
Very nice engines. Must feel good to have them after so much seaching. The three I’m thinking about are also powered. I will buy them as soon as I can. As for the LHS, I live in Sweden and don’t have a LHS so I’m forced to buy everything from the US. But it works.
Well, it’s not about a fancy job that gives me a lot of money. It’s all about sacrifying other things. And I really love this hobby [:D][:D][:D]
I believe the Genesis F units all use the same drive. I’m inclined to think you won’t find fault with them, I have 6 and they are all acceptable. 5 of them are flawless, silent, smooth and powerful, the sixth runs just a tiny bit noisier than the others, almost as noisy as a Kato NW2, which is still pretty darn quiet.
If you were to get a bad one, the odds favor an Athern replacement being much better, assuming that you can’t tweak or use the warranty to get satisfaction on the original drives.
Here’s some links you might want to file away, just in case:
Replacement F3 A chassis for $30.24
http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/Athearn-Genesis-F-Unit-Mechanism-A/item141-3300.html
Replacement F3 B chassis for $42.88
http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/Athearn-Genesis-F-Unit-Mechanism-B/item141-3301.html
That’s just a fallback position though, I have no complaints about Genesis F units, except that they demand excellent track work, which is something I want myself. I had to make two very minor adjustments to keep my F7s on the track.
The pivot end of one turnout’s movable rail wasn’t lining up with the fixed rail by between 1/64th and 1/32nd of an inch, thirty seconds with a pair of needlenose pliers and a jeweler’s screwdriver remedied that.
One grade transition at the top of the inner mainline was a tiny bit too abrupt on a three inch section of track right where the bridge started. I put a stack of three pieces of very thin cardboard under the flextrack about one inch before the bridge, another stack of two about two inches before that, and a final stack of one two inches before that.
Now I can run the F7 ABBA set with a 7 car passenger train at maximum speed for sustained periods, as long as I want basically, without problems. The F3’s in freight livery just arrived yesterday evening, so they still need to be run in yet, but initial tests showed them running in both directions silent and smooth. All
Two members of our local HO scale club recently purchased an ABBA and AB set of the newest run of Athearn Genesis F3 engines in Santa Fe Warbonnet and SP Black Widow paint schemes.
The documentation that comes with them indicates that they are now using ROCO motors and they do run exceptionally quiet and smoothly.
If the shells are removed, the chassis of the A and B units is identical. Both have cutouts in the rear of the frame for a sound system speaker, and both have cutouts in the front for the cab details – the B units just don’t have the plastic cab casting installed.
On the Santa Fe Warbonnet set, the headlight on the A unit that is running backwards is red. When the engines are reversed, the headlights switch from red to white, and vice versa. A second, lower headlight can supposedly be wired as a mars light if you use a Train Control Systems A6X decoder. The TCS decoder also supports the Athearn 1.5 Volt bulbs without the need for additional resistors, which is a nice feature of the A6X.
I just figured something out, while running in the F3’s.
On number 4 turnouts and 18 inch radius curves, there is interference between the brake lines and the shell ladders, which does not allow the trucks to rotate quite far enough to safely negotiate the curve.
Many times it will go through the curve ok, but even when there isn’t a derailment, there is probably excessive flange pressure in the expected locations, and sometimes, especially at low speed, the leading flange edge of the outside front axles of each truck will ride up and over the rail, causing a derailment. The problem completely disappears when the chassis are run without the shells, and there is visible excess clearance between the gearbox and frame, even on curves as tight as 15 inches in radius.
For unknown reasons, the B units are more susceptible to derailments caused by this problem, on both the Genesis F7s and F3s, but it does affect the A units too, only less frequently.
I’m considering filing the inner rear edge of the front ladders, and the inner front edge of the rear axles on a slight bevel to allow just a hair more truck rotation, since I don’t want to take a chance on having one of these hit the floor.
If that doesn’t provide enough clearance, the next step would be to file off a tiny amount of the brake hose on the outside of where it makes a 90 degree turn into the truck.
Again, if that doesn’t provide the necessary clearance, the next step, a drastic one, would be to thin the side struts of the ladders, but this will require filing on both sides of the ladder to balance them out and will affect the appearance of the model. Before taking the seond and third step step, I may consider exercising the warranty.
The more prototiipical they get, the more they cost, - and the closer they get to prototipical curves - which were about 70" radius, not 18"
Athearn BB and P1K will take those curves, handily.
Electrolove: ALL Genesis engines (so far) have been powered. Only ‘contract’ items Walthers) had dummies.
Grab irons made from 4.5 inch (0.0515") cold rolled steel were prototypical on F3s?
Fascinating.
Problem resolved. Very light filing along the offending edges of the grab irons seem to have resolved the issue. I just did the one unit, as the others have in the past had a problem, but seem ok now.
Walthers is re-marketing Genesis? I know they did it with the old BB.
TZ
WALTHERS marketed Genesis F7’s thru the Contract Div. (with dummy B’s) with certain Walthers Budd cars. It sold out.