I may buy another Big Boy Thursday. Last time I was at K-10 my LHS he had the new weathered Athearn Big Boy and a Blue Line Big Boy.
Prices are about the same, and yes I am versed on the Blue Line Dual Decoders because I all ready have 3 blue line engines. Not a problem for me to deal with.
I had 2 the older Athearn Big Boys with the MRC decoder problem. Besides the decoder it self, both Athearn Big Boys has other issues besides the decoders. They where returned and I bought a PCM Big Boy.
From what BLI told me the PCM and BLI engines are pretty much the same. While the PCM had issues I was able to fix them.
So any new Athearn Big Boy and Blue Line Big Boy owners out there? Like some feed back, and if I do it it will be Thursday.
This doesn’t directly answer your question, but given Thursday is a few hours away. May I suggest you contact(I prefer calling) Athearn and BLI to see what parts availability is, particularly gears and moving parts, like wheels and siderods. I’ve not been too impressed with BLI’s parts availability, but their customer service is good. And the dual decoder deal, means it’s probably a little old and so, again, parts come into question.
I bought an old Rivarossi and put in a Tsunami decoder and 2 HB speakers, one in the smoke box and a big one in the tender. I had to add electrical pickup. But it works fine now and wasn’t too expensive, but a lot of work.
I have had good luck with parts through BLI. But the fact I have a parts record with BLI is one of the reason I am asking this question. While my PCM Big Boy as yet to need any parts, the rest of my BLI fleet has need repair (I did my self) and or parts.
Last week I picked up the newest version of the Athearn weathered DC big boy from Trainworld. I am awaiting a high bass speaker to install in the tender along with my Tsunami Heavy Steam decoder but I did hook up my Athearn 4-8-4 tender with a QSI decoder to the engine to give it a test ride.
I love the engine. No issues at all. weathering is good - not too much but tastefully done. As you are aware, many small plastic pipes, etc so easy to break. The only thing I am not ecstatic about is the yellow lights under the number board and the headlight. I would prefer a lighter yellow/white color. Other than that complaint, it was worth the money to me.
My opinion is that they are both “excellent” values for the money involved, a Trix or an MTH puts you in the same area as a nice brass one currently and for me that isn’t much of a decision.
As for the Athearn or Blue Line versions, they are both nice engines, especially considering the only thing in their price range is a Rivarossi using 40 year old molds. To be able to get a nicely detailed Big Boy for under $300 in this day and time is a value in anybody’s book and I would be hard pressed to pick a clear winner here as in my opinion they are both winners.
I have several brass Big Boys and also have Athearn as well as the Blue Line Big Boys and feel that they are both the best buys on the market currently. I like my brass but these are “runners” so to me it becomes a matter of personal preference, sort of like the old Ford vs Chevy debate, they both have 4 wheels and A/C and they both are made to get you from here to there. Which one you prefer is a personal thing.
Thanks for all the answers. Looks like I am going to have to wait till next Thursday, just ran out of time today. Only day I am off and my LHS is open. [|(]
My first instinct is to go with the Blue Line, I have a PCM and love the Loksound decoder. From what I understand the engine and tender it self are the same as the PCM. So fixing it when it breaks down should not be that hard. ( I know it will break down with the way I run them ) [swg]
On the Athearn review, is that the new version? Sure looks like the older version that had the POS MRC decoder.
Any pictures of the weathered Athearn, was it the one MRR said was over weathered?
Ken, what derailing issues were you having with your old Athearn Big Boy? I have the older MRC version and my pilot trucks are both in need of weighting-or something. It’s an absolutely gorgeous engine though and would like to know what fixes you tried regarding the derailing. Thanks. I’m intrigued by the new BLI release and would like to see one.
Athearn Big Boy 1, could not pull more than 25 to 30 cars. Found the tender seem like it wheels where locked. Have a 3 foot section of rail mounted on a board to test how well trucks rolled when tuning them. Sat the tender on the board and could raise it 10 inches before the tender would roll. Called Athearn and was told to take it back and get a different one from LHS. Plus the MRC decoder was acting goofy.
Athearn Big Boy 2. While it pulled like a Big Boy should, it would do this on every left hand turn.
At the time I posted this problem here, everyone wanted to blame it on the solder joint in the picture. It was not nearly as bad as the picture made it look. Plus it did it on every left turn, that section just happened to be where I took the picture. It is all so a 24 inch radius turn and Big Boy 1 had no problem on that section, unlike # 2.
I was making head way by adding Kadee washer under the front truck springs. But then the MRC decoder went silly and I was done!
Then I got the PCM and over all I happy with it. Not as good as a engine as there PCM Y6 b, but I can line with it glitches. I was ale to fix them.
I can attest to two big boys, one old, one new, and both Athearns. Also, only one is mine.
(Yes, teh front one does have elephant ears, and yes, it is a Big Boy.)
I have seen the pilot hop on mine, but I’ve never had any problems with mine that were consistant and serious. The MRC decoder is “meh”, but it hasn’t done me wrong.
Knock Knock/wood
Good looker though, I’d say better than my PCM T1, but I’ve not had her next to a BLI so I cannot speak there.
The Big Boy behind her is a new release weathered engine. Her owner and I spent an hour chasing a short in the tender. I belive it ended up being the DC jumper plug in the board, as another 8-pin jumper was substituted. Once that was done though, she ran fine. The two of them did get a helper in the form of a Challenger (also Athearn MRC) that ran as Midtrain, as we couldn’t get 76cars around without stringlining the consist. Not sure if that’s a horsepower issue or just that it din’t like the 32" turns. After we dropped the 3985 2/3of the way back though, it ran fine.
You might also consider the MTH version. They make some great stuff. I have a Berkshire and Mikado and they’re great runners. Boilers are also die cast so there’s plenty of weight for pulling. A little pricey but wort it IMO
Hi Ken, thanks very much for taking the time to repost that pic. I’ll have to run mine today and see if indeed the pilot is the only culprit! I assumed that was causing the front driver set to derail, but maybe not… I assume that Athearn wasn’t able to indicate what the specific cause was? Mine behaves itself for sometime and then derails seemingly at whim. The pilots do “dance” themselves off of the rails very easily so I’m planning on adding weight soon and try that.
I remember your older thread and was kind of surprised that you would consider Athearn’s version again. I have their Challenger (MRC version) and have had no derailing issues with that loco at all.
They are incredibly beautiful and detailed engines at a good price point and have been tempted to get another myself but I need to see if I can iron out the cause of the derailments lst.
Captain, reason I am half way thinking about the Athearn is they all can’t be bad. They seem to sell well and not that they have a better decoder might give them another shoot. Plus the LHS has them and the Blue Line in stock.
If the decoder had not went wacky I would have found the problem. It was getting better. One thing I just noticed in the picture is the front driver looks like it is coming off the rail, I could see that pushing the front trucks up.
Thanks Ken. So far my MRC decoder is behaving itself but I’m still laying the remainder of my layout’s track so haven’t run it a lot yet. If I get any perceived “glitches” but I know they are just a time bomb waiting to aggravate. At least from an LHS I suppose you can easily return it if it doesn’t track properly.
I won’t know for sure about mine until I have more time to try some weighting, etc.
I would appreciate more information on the MTH steamers. They have some interesting locomotives in their range, but to be honest they all look to have oversimplified and / or inaccurate bogies and couplers between the loco and tender.
