Ever since I bought and watched Pentrex’ Rio Grande DVD from 1986, i am impressed by this railroad, it’s EMD locos and beautifull mountain scenery where D&RGW run trains.
Even though i model primary modern Europe in HO, I have a soft spot for US trains… My idea is to assemble one manifest Rio Grande train of 10-12 cars and two EMD locos… One of the locos has to be Athearn tunnel motor!
So, I have a few questions:
is Athearn RTR SD40T-2 generally good model? I would hate to be stuck with a bad model here in Europe - returning is not a nice option…
other loco in consist can be GP, 35, 40, or 40-2. New Atlas 40-2 is too pricy for now… What are the options here? I would like a good, reliable engine, DCC ready, with good low speed.
what is Bachmann DCC GP35 like? From pictures, it looks OK, and price is low. It can at least be parked on a spur, or I can remove the motor and put sound decoder + speaker, loke Joe does in video #3 with his lashups. What do you think?
I plan to have 4-5 boxcars, 2-3 covered hoppers, maybe a gondola, flat car or a tank car… Any sugestions for good/correct RTR or kits in 10-15$ price range, like Accurail/Bowser/Athearn RTR/Atlas? I am not asking for 100% accuracy!
from DVD, many SP rolling stock can be seen, I assume SP cars and locos would be the most numerous foreign equipment on DRGW rails?
What is with Athearn RTR SD50 model, is it the same standard as new tunnel motors (DCC ready, improved drive, more details)? Same question for Ath GP40-2.
Proto has model of SD7/9, and those locos were active on DRWG till 1991… For what were they used in the 80’s?
I am working on a L shape 2-segment layout which is 75% complete. I am considering this layout as a test one.
In a few months I plan to start a new, shelf layout in the basement, where I have space of about 4,15m x 1,50m (appr. 13.5 x 5 foot).
I would have a few places with minimum radius 18", but plan t
I don’t have any Athearn RTR equipment, but I can answer your question about the Bachmann DCC GP35…
It depends on what you want to do with it. The shell’s detail is okay; with wire grabs, coupler cut bars, but not much else in the way of detail.
The mechanism is pretty lousy. It cogs going down any sort of grade, and lacks the weight needed to have much pulling power. Plus it’s loud and doesn’t have a consistant speed range with most higher quality diesels. And I’m not sure if the decoder can even have the speed range adjusted… In any case to program it you need a 100K resister laid across the rails of the programming track to get it to notice anything there.
I’d skip the GP35, or put the shell on a higher quality mechanism such as a Proto 2000. I’ve done that with a GP30 shell onto a Proto 2000 dummy frame, and it fit fine, I just had to cut off two screw holes. I don’t know if the GP35 and GP30 share a frame though… Plus, if you’re buying a Proto 2000 locomotive, there’s not much point in putting a Bachmann shell on it instead, unless you REALLY want a GP35 and Proto 2000 doesn’t make one…
I visited your fair city in Coatia around 1990 with a traveling church band!
For lower priced diesels, probably Athearn RTR are going to be your best bet. While they can have quality control problems and some sound noisy, you can exchange or tinker with them as they are over all good solid chasis and the paint and detail on some of them are quite good.
Athearn RTR SD40T-2 has very good detail and its prototypical best of all. It comes with the low nose signal light, correct snow plow and fuel tank, and other details. This is highly recommended.
Athearn RTR SD45 is nearly as good as the above model and priced the same. It also has a low nose signal light, snow plow and looks great. The only minor problem for picky modelers is the shell is based on the old Rail Power shells so the door and latch detail on the rear hood is not as fine as it should be. But for the price a very good diesel and prototypical details to boot.
Athearn RTR GP40-2 is a more basic version from the RTR line. It similar to the SD40T-2 in shell tooling, good, but less upgrades have been made to the RTR version. It has much less detailling like the plow, no nose signal light etc, but very good paint. With some work you could dress it up well, and the price is modest.
Athearn RTR GP35 is similar to the GP40-2, but the shell is based on the Rail Power shell, and it is a more basic diesel and would need some detailing to better represent an D&RGW loco, mainly low nose signal light and snow plow.
Proto 2000 GP30 - out of production but can find at swap meets and Ebay if you keep looking. It has nice detail, but an incorrect low nose light. Paint is very good, and overall there are two phase version which are both correct for D&RGW
Atlas GP40/GP40-2 - if you can swing it, Atlas engines are amo
Just to add onto what I already said, the Bachman GP35’s are probalby better avoided. Why by a loco and have to strip out the mechnism? The Athearn RTR GP35 is probably a better buy and not more more expensive. Something to keep in mind is GP35’s were mostly stored in the early to mid 1980’s and rare on manifest trains. When the Rio Grande bought SP in 1988, power was short in supply so most or all of the GP35’s were reactivated and thrown into the breach. The main point is if you are only getting two diesels, probably avoid GP35’s.
I did leave out the Athearn RTR SD50 - those are fairly accurate models for the Rio Grande and as most HO diesels lacks the correct low nose light, which has to be added as an after market part. I have 3 of those and they run pretty smooth and look great. The plow isn’t very well rendered so an after market plow would look much better if you car to do it.
One thing about the SD loco’s is they are fairly long, so if you are planning on tight radius curves, like 22-inches or less, they won’t look the best. If you can make 24 or 26 inch curves in the space you have, it helps a lot. For tight curves it is certainly prototypical to run trains with only 4 axle diesels (GPs)
Additional note: Digitrax sells a clip haress that mates to older AThearn motors. Looks like this: http://dcchobbysupply.com/zcart/images/DHAT.gif I don;t know what;s under the GP35 mechanism wise, but you might need this. Set you back 10-20 with shipping plus labor plus 25 for the decoder itself
Vow, thanks guys for the quick and long answers! [tup]
It seams Bachmann GP will not be in plans… I asked because I saw them go for 25-30$ on ebay.
About length of the tunnel motor - I will try to hide minimum radius inside tunnels or canyon… Bit will try to use at lest min.20".
Unfortunatelly I am limited with the basement width.
Flashwave, this is interesting - I have one Digitrax DH123AT decoder in Spectrum Shay, connected through separate Digitrax 8-pin harness. Those Athearn clamps were not needed, but may come up valuable if I get Athearn Geep without DCC socket! Thanks! [;)]
Like Ty said, looks pretty good. Doesn’t run very good. No fly wheels. Mine squeels going down hill or when stopping. Their standard line drives are better than the DCC Onboard ones.
Yeah, use the biggest radii you can manage on curves. Twenty inches is pretty sharp for tunnel motors but mayb work… I"m not sure the minimum for SD40-T2, but 22 seems lowest I’d go, they are pretty long. I’d stick with mainly 60 foot or shorter freight cars too.
I have an Athearn SD40T-2, and would caution you against using anything less than 22 inch radius with them. My minimum radius is 22 inches, and the locomotive itself will negotiate the curve, but the coupler swing is just enough to derail the car behind it by pulling it sideways off the track. However, this was observed (and reobserved to verify) during only 10 minutes or so of operating time. Also, I used the same railcar the whole time (I forget which one, but it was either a 50’ boxcar or grain hopper). I haven’t used the loco very much at all, but this is one thing I did notice and want you to be aware of.
Having said that, there are ways to work around the problem, but it might take a little fiddling to make it work right. I’d start by making sure your second engine also has a longer wheelbase, i.e. not a GP30 or GP40-2 or else the tunnel motor will yank them off the track as well. Of course, if you can get 24 inch or greater curves, then all those concerns go out the window.
The SD40T-2 is a very handsome engine with some pretty, pretty good detail on them. There was actually an article in Railroad Model Craftsman magazine a couple of months ago on superdetailing these models (i.e. the D&RGW versions, specifically with the 81" nose - my particular model is of the “2nd run” and has the 88" nose). After reading the article, though, I decided I wasn’t that hard core about detailing mine and will be perfectly happy with it just the way it is!
I agree. At lower radii, each inch you add makes a very big difference. Going from 22 to 24 inch radius will have a much bigger improvment in operation and looks than say going from 32 to 34 inches or 42 to 44. So finding ways to squeeze out an extra inch or two will yield large dividends in reliablility and looks better too!
