I see ads for Intermountain F-Units at pretty good prices compared to the Athearn Genesis pricing. The detail looks good to the eyes of an older modeler. As far as running and looking good, any comparisons; and since the price is more affordable what do folks think as far as purchasing any of these units.
Robert Sylvester
WTRR
One big difference I have heard is that the people at Intermountain open and test run every engine before it is shipped out. I doubt that Athearn or any other importer does the same…
I have had good experiences with both of them.
Intermountain’s QA/QC has not been as good, in general, as Athearn Genesis, and regarding paint quality, fit, and finish (does everything fit like it should without sloppy scratches or other marks on the finished model), I have to say Proto 2000 (P2K) F Units beat both of them hands down.
Many of the Intermountain F units sit nose high–ie, the rear of the F unit is low by 1/16 inch or more, and this is enough to be visually noticeable on the layout.
The Athearn Genesis F units, generally speaking, have the most road specific details. In many cases they match individual prototype F units in a given era or year as closely as possible. This includes: correct horns, grab irons, extra steps, fuel tank skirting or removed skirting, correct grills and roof fans and other stuff for the model in question, correct radio antenna, etc. One example being the late ex-Rio Grande F units that ran on Penn Central in full Rio Grande paint, but with the mating worms logo. Athearn offered them very lightly weathered (at least the former Rio Grande lettering was weathered) and they exactly matched prototype photos I’ve seen.
Proto 2000 and Intermountain are both improving in the road specific detail department, but Proto 2000, imo has Intermountain beat.
On the layout (I run plain DC) Proto 2000 has all the other F units beat in actual performance and noise-free operation. Although Intermountain, like P2K, has illuminated numberboards, Athearn Genesis does not.
Proto 2000 grills are more neatly placed on the model with little metal tabs holding them in place. They do basically the same thing as Intermountain, but the P2K grills just look better to my eyes. Athearn Genesis grills are held on by a water soluble adhesive which can be cleaned up when they get sloppy and leave it on the outside of the model, but is difficult and a pain in the butt to clean up because it is very tacky. The Genesis grills are d
I’ve used both. Both are very nice. But…
In my opinion the Genesis F unit shape looks better. The cab front windows are so much nicer.
I also like the small bulbs Genesis uses compared to the larger bulbs Intermountain uses. However Intermountian has lit numberboards, Genesis does not. But Genesis has a cab interior…although it has major issues that need correcting. Intermountain does not have a cab interior. Genesis comes with road specific details. Intermountain does not.
I’ve been lucky I guess as all my Genesis F units run great. Never had any issues with bad motors or other issues I’ve read or heard about. This also includes the brand new Genesis GP7 I just purchased. The Intermountain F units I had also ran nicely.
After using both brand of F units and being able to compare the two side by side, I now only use Athearn Genesis F units on the HO layout. Main reason was looks. The Genesis F units I have (all Santa Fe) just looked more like the prototype then the Intermountain Santa Fe F units I had. I have since sold off my Intermountain F units.
Folks, I haven’t had either of them, but do enjoy my Stewart and BLI ATSF F units a lot.
I do have a question… How does the sound compare on Intermountain vs. Genesis???
In many cases, to find a particular paint scheme for the smaller roads, one might only find it to have been made by one manufacturer, and I believe Genesis has likely offered the most different paint schemes, though Intermountain has done a lot. (P2K is in third place for number of different schemes offered).
For example, the visually stunning Central Railroad of New Jersey orange and blue F-3 has only been available from Athearn Genesis. Even though I experienced excessive track dirt issues with the wheel plating on earlier (2005 and previous production) Genesis diesels, if I were to find the CNJ F-3A somewhere, I’d have to buy one and live with the excessive track dirt (or change wheelsets out).
My son is utterly fascinated by the brightly painted E and F units, so currently, to keep his interest, if we see a paint scheme we like, we buy it. So far we have only the Santa Fe and Western Pacific versions, but more will follow.
Walthers is bringing out the neat bright red and yellow Rock Island late version F unit soon…we may need one.
John
I cannot comment on sound. We generally buy the non-sound version and run in plain DC mode.
Our Western Pacific Genesis FP-7A, currently on layaway, does have the sound and DCC–but I have not tried the others often enough to compare.
I did have problems with an Athearn Genesis (mostly yellow box) F-7 with sound years ago. It seemed to produce a lot of track dirt, and as a consequence the sound performance did not make me happy. However, this would have been about 6 years ago now, and Athearn has made continual improvements in the entire Genesis line (including what appears to be different, better quality and more smoothly finished wheel plating on the more recent all blue box Genesis models).
I can say the earlier (mostly yellow box) Genesis F unit wheel plating wore prematurely for me. One unit had all bare brass wheelsets in about 50 hours or less, but recent units seem to be much better.
John
My roster contains F units by Athearn, Intermountain, BLI, Stewart and Walthers.
I consider my Intermountain units to be my premier units. my Athearn Genesis by next best units with the Walther and BLI units tied for 3rd. the Intermountain units I have do have interiors, as do the others except BLI.
I have had some problems with units from all of these manufactures, with Intermountian it was a broken detail piece and with the others it was drive train problems that warranted replacement units.
Intermountain was a pleasure to do business with and to ask questions, as was Stewart. with the others I had recieved no word from those manufactures, they did replace the units but without any explanation or even a note saying they were sorry that their product was defective.
As for Canadian Road Names, Intermountain has had more runs than the others by far.
HOWEVER, there is a new player in town.
Rapido has just released their EMD FP9 A in the CPR, CNR, VIA versions.
Iam not sure what other roads will be released in the future, but this engine is AMAZAING in its detail and sound
Hi Rob-
Unless you absolutely have to have the highest level of detail and prototype fidelity, the IM F’s are a good model. I have several IM, Genesis, Proto, Stewart and BLI. As has been noted, Genesis has perhaps the best rendered model based upon the HighLiner molds.
I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the above. For a sample of the PCM/BLI F’s check out this video I shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIB8R9yEBlw
Erik
The Athearn Genesis body/nose is widely considered to be the best in terms of fidelity to the Prototype F nose - the complex contours etc. The post between the windshield windows on the Intermountain F units looks a bit wide to me compared to the Genesis, Stewart and Walthers Proto 2000.
For the record I own 17 Stewart F units, 12 Genesis F unites and 4 Walthers Proto 2000 F units. To date I have elected not to buy any Intermountain F’s, but the reason is partly due to the fact that the other brands already offered D&RGW paint schemes I needed and Intermountain was very late to the table with their F units. Only now have they finally offered single stripe D&RGW and they aren’t due to ship for several months so I’ve already gotten my single stripe F7’s from Walthers.
I can only comment on the Intermountain FP7A’s and B’s:
My first IM FP7 purchased through eBay is amazing! Good sound, fantastic slow speed operation, smooth as silk! Subsequently I bought two IM DC F7B’s hoping for the same performance, and intending to add DCC sound decoders. The first had a bogus truck that caused the engine to hesitate every few inches along the track. IM replaced the truck no questions asked. The second had a squeaky motor, and again IM replaced the motor no questions asked. Excellent customer service but obviously a bit of a PITA in terms of trying to get the engines to run properly. I have since installed QSI Titan sound decoders in the two B units and they appear to run fine with the new truck and motor (although I have not attempted to speed match yet).
By the way, IM’s F7 side grills come loose by just looking at them and they are another PITA to glue back in place without having the glue show.
My conclusion: Sorry but you will have to form your own opinion. I am so happy with the first FP7’s performance that I guess I am willing to accept a bit of a bumpy ride in order to get the same performance out of their other products. Also, their willingness to ship me a replacement truck and motor reflects well on their intentions . OK, call me stupid but I am still a fan!
Dave
I wouldn’t suggest that one glue the Intermountain F unit grills. They are held on by small metal tabs. With the body off, try to tighten the loose tab from behind. Because the grills are metal, and metal expands or contracts at faster rates than the plastic during temperature changes, they need to be able to have a little bit of “flex” in them. That’s why Athearn has elected to use a flexible, tacky glue…
UP 4-12-2
You are correct - the newer units use the tabs you mention to allow the grills to expand and contract. I was referring to the older units where the grills were glued in place. As you said, the expansion and contraction of the metal grills which occurs at a different rate than the plastic body typically results in loose grills.
Thus far I have had success with the older grills by using Aleene’s Tacky Glue VERY sparingly on the edges of the grills. Since I don’t yet have a layout (work has started!) I can’t tell you whether or not the Aleene’s glue will work over time.
Dave