Web page indicates the engine will come with or without sound. Note much in detail or description. The only news on this engine lately is that the production date was moved to July 2009.
Now if only they would release the Harriman series…
We’ll see how the reviews are when they come out. I especially rely on Model Railroad News for a thorough review of new products. I’m assuming since it’s Athearn it will have the MRC sound decoders; if so if I got one I would probably go for a DC one and install sound myself.
BTW it’s “USRA”…United States Railroad Administration. [:)]
I had planned on getting at least one but I’m not holding my breath, those locos were announced in Feb 08, with an original delivery date of July or Aug 08, quuietly changed to Oct 08, Then in October changed to July 09. I wonder if we will ever see them.
What will be their quality and price compared to other brands such as Bachmann Spectrum?
Hopefully, it will be only “DCC Ready” and not have a decoder or sound system in it so we can choose our own instead of being stuck with what Athearn/MDC puts in them.
Another deciding factor for me here in the dry Arizona climate is whether or not it has traction tires. If it does, I won’t be buying one because the tires dry rot and come off within a year.
I had the previous Athearn USRA 4-6-2 and 2-8-2 Genesis engines. both were good runners and looked pretty good. There were problems though with cracked gears, weight distribution and a strange tether that extended into a hole in the tender that the decoder attached onto. All electrical pick-up was in the engine, the tender just went along for the ride. The were great for my B&O layout. I hope they address these problems with the new ones. - Nevin
For an honest review, wait and see if Model Railroad News prints one. They are not beholden to their advertisers like some of the other magazines. If there are problems with a model, they tell you so instead of beating around the bush and trying to not offend a major advertiser.
They disassemble the models and provide detailed, close up photos of the innards as well as the outside from every angle and give them a thorough shakedown run to detect any obvious problems.
I had just purchased my first Spectrum 2-10-2 when I bought a copy of Model Railroad News and by coincidence there was a review of that engine in that issue.
The review was really bad in fact they mentioned the engine they had for review had problems with 24" radius curves in addition to some assembly and running issues/problems.
The engine I had ran perfect right out of the box, needed only a quick break in and had no problems with the 18" curves on my test track. A review by Model Railroader had mention the Spectrum 2-10-2 could handle 18" curves with ease. I bought two of the Spectrum engines based on that review.
Unless the reviewer with Model Railroad News had issues with Bachmann I can only assume the issue of quality control was why there was such a vast difference with the use of the item,.