Athearn Genesis announced that they’ll be doing a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy in HO!!! WOOHOOO! It’s AFFORDABLE too!!! They’re also doing N scale Challengers. Here’s some links:
http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/010306/GEN_BigBoy_010306.jpg
http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/010306/GEN_BigBoy_b_010306.jpg
Some of you are probably like, “great, another friggen big boy.” but I’m going out of my mind!!! AN AFFORDABLE BIG BOY IN HO!!! IT’S A DREAM COME TRUE!!!
Repeat thread for a repeat model.
Scratch that on being affordable. $449.00. Crap…
Whoops, guess I didn’t see the other thread. Oh well! Good night everybody.
well, thats still… what $150 less than trix?
Hopefully they get rid of the orange day-glo pilot light and number boards[xx(]! I really like the Challenger except for those silly lights!!!
Fergie
just what we need…Another large engine for our GIANT layouts.ZZZZZZZZZ!
Im sorry but affordable steam engines in my book top out at around $200.00 and then they are overpriced at that.
James
P.S. I own 6 Big Boys already and paid about $30.00 for each of them to.
James
The picture they show is of the 4019, which had smoke lifters for a few trips only. They could not see around them since the smoke lifters on the real ones were set at an angle and obscured the view for the crew. The Challengers had the same problem, but not the Genesis model since they are incorrect. Athearn did not engineer the walkways to slope inward from the line where the smoke box joined the boiler toward the front by about six inches on each side for clearance on curves like the real Challengers and Big Boys.
The Big boy had more of this slope since it was longer and the smoke lifters were a failure and dangerous to operate on the Big Boy. A Little history.
Big Boy–hmmm:
Okay, we’ve got the Genesis coming out, the Trix on the market and Hornby has announced a re-release of an improved Rivarossi. Sorry folks, but to me this seems like a little case of overkill for a prototype that only tallied about 25 units or so and in actuality were relegated to a fairly small portion of the total mileage of the only railroad that owned them. And just my opinion, but as a steamer, they looked pretty ‘blah’ to me to begin with.
Tom
[xx(]
GROAN!!! Another Pig Boy…oh, joy! I think they’re ugly and over rated.
What we really need are more Challengers! LOL
We need some smaller more usable engines.
Roger
I would like to see an NP Z-6 class Challenger, but I agree, more smaller, usable steam power would be
greatly appreciated. A GN P-2 4-8-2 would be nice-or a class L1 2-6-6-2.
Yawnnnn…
In some 35+ years of model railroading, I’ve never wanted to buy anyone’s else’s Big Boy. I guess I won’t be getting my wallet out for this one, either.
I know some bean counter is calling the shots on this. I’m sure Athearn will sell a bunch. I’m equally sure they would likely sell just as many – or perhaps even a few more – if they produced a model that actually fills a hole in the model railroad marketplace.
It would make a lot more sense to actually produce a smaller and far more appropirate loco that could actually run on a far larger number of layouts. That is where to really make some money.
Given the problems i"ve heard of with Athearn’s 2-8-2 – pulling power being among the more significant – maybe Atheran figures the only way for them to build a steam loco that pulls is to build an articulated? Sad to say, the existence of several fine small locos with good tractive force from other manufacturers shows that you can build a loco at a reasonable price with pull that are NOT articulateds.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Well WooHoo for me then.
Personally I like it. Chances are they will come down like the Challengers did. You can get those now for 280. Maybe these will drop down to high 300? 379 maybe after the first dust settles. You may bash it, but that will actually be something could almost [;)]afford. Maybe come down less… Here is hopeing. Maybe by end of summer or by next fall.[:)]
I know I’m going to get flamed for this, but I, for one, am kinda happy this model is coming out (as well as the upgraded Rivarossi). It will give us po’ folk the chance to own a decent model of the Big Boy. I hear people talking about the Trix model going for around $600 (which is still WAY out of my budget), but I have yet to see one for that. My LHS has a USED one, and they still want $700 for it! Totally crazy to me…Even the MSRP of the Precision Craft Models die cast Big Boy is up around $700. [:(]
I can see why Athearn chose the Big Boy next, its an easy adaptation from thier Challenger. Some parts would be completely swapable. Makes sense to me. If they can make money off the Big Boy, then hopefully they will introduce more steamers…
The PCM Big Boy that is coming out is the Trix being marketed by PCM in the USA.
The price is the same, but we should see some discounts from PCM since they are a part of BLI.
The Athearn Big Boy will be a good seller for sure since the price is less and it will probably run great like the Athearn Challenger.
I removed the sound module from my challenger and installed a Tsunami in its place. Makes all the difference in the engine. The running qualities improved 100% over the standard $5.00 drive system.
Thanks BangerT1, I didn’t know that.
My dad is going to get a pair of those to “compliment” his TRIX…I think he is nuts…but it will be fun to see! [:D]
I think they are nice.
Victor
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
Big Boy announcement also available at Horizon Hobby-Brand Detail when searching Yahoo. FYI
Jon